Notley Abbey wedding photographs – Ben & Amy

Ben and Amy had their civil ceremony and reception at one of my favourite venues, Notley Abbey.

One reason why I love it so is because of the Buckinghamshire registrars. They are so friendly and really very relaxed about photography happening throughout the entire ceremony, which unfortunately is quite unusual.

Amy wore a Sassi Holford gown in the most beautiful lace and had the cutest pair of shoes, Buttercup by Diane Hassall. The raspberry colour scheme was stunning and I particularly loved Ben’s made to measure shirt with raspberry flower detail. There was a strict dress code of ‘hats’ on the wedding invitations and it was great to see that everyone complied, including some jester hats from the boys!

The dining tables looked really elegant with tall candleabra, simple white tulips and splashes of raspberry pink ribbons. Ben and Amy had debated the merits of candelabras vs flower arrangements at some length, finally opting for the former, which turned out to be a very wise decision since there was a power cut during the meal!

There was not one, not two, but three table plans. Between each course the guests would look at their placecard and then move to a new seat. It was a lovely way for everyone to mingle and get to know each other. I wanted to show the movement of people in my photo of this so chose a slow shutter speed and shot from above on the minstrels gallery – the resulting mix of colours is really fun and it’s probably the only time you can get away with a blurry photograph!

Some serious shapes were made on the dance floor later and fireworks topped off an amazing day.