Somerford Hall Wedding Photography | Lara + Mike

Spring Somer­ford Hall Wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy with a harp-play­ing Moth­er of the Groom, kids galore, fun with After Eights and a BGT contestant!!

Wedding Photography at Somerford Hall, Staffordshire

Quite a few years ago, in a pre­vi­ous (pro­fes­sion­al) life, I worked in hos­pi­tal­i­ty as a hotel/pub/restaurant manager

One of the sites I man­aged was to the north of Wolver­hamp­ton, which even had a func­tion room where we host­ed the odd wed­ding reception

Well just a few miles along the A449 is Somer­ford Hall, an 18th Cen­tu­ry Pal­la­di­an Style man­sion house (accord­ing to Wikipedia!!) It is now a won­der­ful exclu­sive-use wed­ding venue, set in the South Stafford­shire countryside.

When I was look­ing after the guests at that hotel it nev­er occurred to me that years lat­er my career would have tak­en me down a dif­fer­ent path. Tak­ing me back in that neck of the woods, but now as a Stafford­shire Wed­ding Photographer.

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Documentary Staffordshire Wedding Photography

With some wed­dings I stay in the same place all day, get­ting ready, cer­e­mo­ny and par­ty all under the same roof.

At oth­er ones Gog­gle Maps (oth­er sat navs are avail­able!) becomes your best friend, as was the case at Lara & Mike’s wedding.

Candid, unposed, documentary Somerford Hall Wedding Photographer

Bridal prep was at Lara’s par­ents house, near Telford, before head­ing to Bre­wood and St Mary the Vir­gin and St Chad’s Church. Bre­wood is an ancient lit­tle mar­ket town, about a 5 minute dri­ve from Somer­ford Hall. I’ve tak­en some pho­tographs before around Bre­wood for the local coun­cil but this was the first time I was there to pho­to­graph a wed­ding ceremony. 

I always try and get to the church at least half an hour before the cer­e­mo­ny so I can pho­to­graph the build up from the Groom’s point of view. Doc­u­ment­ing the guests arriv­ing, the excite­ment and some­times the nerves!

The church organ­ist looked famil­iar and was incred­i­bly enthu­si­as­tic, putting every­thing into her play­ing. It was only after the wed­ding cer­e­mo­ny that I realised where I’d seen her before. She was as a con­tes­tant on Britain’s Got Tal­ent! Jean Mar­tyn was a final­ist on the show and was clear­ly enjoy­ing her music as much as ever, play­ing in the church for the wed­ding ceremony. 

Somerford Hall Wedding Fun

Guests arrived at Somer­ford Hall on a coach which the Bride & Groom and laid on for them. At the back of the house is a ter­race that looks out over the lawn and gar­den. It’s the per­fect place for the drinks recep­tion. Whilst every­one was enjoy­ing their refresh­ments, the Moth­er of the Groom enter­tained them with her harp playing.

Then it was into the light and airy ball­room for the wed­ding break­fast. There’s a few pho­tos at the end of the gallery show­ing some of the wed­ding guests with After Eights on their faces. You might be think­ing WTF?!

Let me explain.

After the meal, some of the guests decid­ed to play a game. You start off with the choco­late on your fore­head. Then you have to try to manip­u­late it down your face and into your mouth, with­out using your hands. As you can see from some of the pho­tographs, this leads to peo­ple pulling some very spe­cials faces!! ????

If you’re inter­est­ed in Somer­ford Hall Wed­ding Pho­tog­ra­phy, (or for any­where else in Stafford­shire!) then please get in touch