Maria & Tom - A Beautifully Joyous Vow Renewal 2 Years Later - Holford Estate Weddings
“ I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again… I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment.”
There is comfort in a familiar space with faces you know well, connections strengthened over time. In my line of work, often the spaces are familiar and fellow suppliers are comrades I’ve worked alongside before but the focus of the day, our couple, whose love story is the reason we’re all there, that is transient. I must have memorized many tens of thousands of faces over the years of photographing weddings. But more often than not, those faces are confined to a single day and then I move onto the next beautiful humans who choose me to tell their story. I cannot tell you how much I love when couples recommend me to their friends and family and we get to share a hug and a squeal at the next wedding where the focus has shifted from them. But that bond we form over the sometimes years of communication and then pre-wedding shoots and the big wedding day itself is truly something so unique, it never fades. And I’ve said it before but I mean it so so strongly: I fall in love with each and everyone of these couples and their wonderfully unique and weird and wild and perfect love stories.
Today has been the first time I’ve been asked to shoot a vow renewal and celebration just two years on from when we shot Maria & Tom’s STUNNING wedding day bacck in July 2020. The world and our normal looked very different the first time round - numbers were restricted to just 30 including the happy couple. We were scared to get too close to each other…and yet that connection formed and strengthened. The original wedding plans were scuppered by the first wave of Covid and, both being doctors, plans were scaled back to just very close friends and family. Despite the size and number of people on that bittersweet day, it contained no less joy and love. And I was right here with them, telling this very timely chapter of the story.
Two years on and Maria & Tom have FINALLY got the wedding day of their dreams. And what a spectacular day it’s been. The bridal party is the same and expanded thanks to a mini baby boom in the interim. There were more family, more pals and a hell of a lot more dancing. Following an emotional ceremony led by Maria’s sister Emma and with poignant and plentiful tributes to both Maria’s late father Tony & Tom’s late father Chris, there was no shortage of tears both happy and in memory. The Holford Estate has fast become a home away from home for me, I cannot rave about it enough - the staff run to perfection by the INCREDIBLE superwoman that is Hannah under owner Frances’ watchful gaze, the unreal food by Sam and his team of amazing chefs, the gardens, the sunsets, the horses chattering away to anyone who’ll listen. Holford is pure magic and I love it so so much. Maria & Tom fell in love with it too and I think we left no corner of those gardens un-captured. There was an ease to the day, a delight in the company but also just in the fact that after all this time, we were all right back where we needed to be: celebrating two of the most wonderful humans I’ve been lucky enough to meet. They were so conscious to keep the same suppliers as the first go-round and so it felt like a reunion of sorts greeting and hugging and capturing the extraordinary work of my pals Lisa Simms and Sasha of Sassflower. Homage was paid but today’s whole style and vibe was more relaxed down to Maria’s exquisite Catherine Deane jumpsuit and the more muted but still colourful florals.
Two more faces in front of my lens, another chapter of a love story captured but most beautifully, a connection and trust created that gave me a freedom to move throughout the day discreetly and unseen when I needed to be and included and bantered with and engaged to create images that are authentic and silly and romantic and intimate and fun but most of all, full of enough joy to power a city. After the last couple of years of hard things and monsters looming ahead, isn’t it pure magic to be reminded of what is still so sweet in this world? That beauty and love - above all forever love - still exists. Let’s grip tightly to that, shall we?
Maria & Tom, I adore you…here’s your sneak peek!
DREAM TEAM
Venue - The Holford Estate
Florals - Sassflower
Hair & Makeup - Lisa Simms
Catering - SJE Event Catering
Bride’s Jumpsuit - Catherine Deane
