The Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club is a great place to choose to get married, it has extensive grounds to use for photos as well as dedicated wedding coordinators to make your special day run smoothly. It’s been a few years since I’ve photographed here so it was good to get back to the Forest of Arden Hotel with new ideas for photos in mind. The weather for the day was chilly but dry and the light throughout the day for me as a photographer was great, nice and soft which is really flattering for portraits and I loved photographing the couple against the autumn leaves the venue has running down the side of the main entrance later on in the day.
I met up with Rachael and her bridesmaids in the morning and was pretty shocked to see the hair and makeup artists were just finishing on time and everything was running as planned! Normally things are a bit more chaotic and stressful at this point at some weddings with everything running behind and people panicking the bride won’t be ready on time etc, so it was quite strange to see how calm everyone was. Rachael looked stunning in her dress and I loved having lots of time to take some beautiful portraits of her, her bridesmaids and her parents before she went into the main ceremony room to get married.
Rachael and Luke’s Wedding at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club
The wedding ceremony was held in the main room which is a nice large bright room that can easily hold 250 wedding guests. The registrars were totally fine with me photographing during the ceremony which was great as I could get some fantastic documentary photos throughout the proceedings. I love just capturing natural moments as they happen throughout the day and staying as unobtrusive as possible and the ceremony is great for that. The beauty of having a wedding at this time of year are the autumn colours and I found a lovely red leaf to use for the ring shot as you’ll see in the pictures.
After the food, speeches, cake cutting and first dance it was onto the party. Most photographers only photograph up to the first dance, but I love staying around to capture the madness that happens on the dance floor and everyone letting their hair down. I like getting onto the dance floor and getting in close for this to show what the atmosphere is like in the evening. It’s important to choose the right DJ for your wedding and getting him to play the right tracks for the majority of people who are going to be around by this point. Rachael and Luke had obviously put some thought into this as the dance floor was never empty and everyone was having a great time.
I had an amazing time at this wedding and wish Rachael and Luke all the very best in their future together.
If you like the small selection of photos from Rachael and Luke’s The Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club wedding and are looking for a wedding photographer yourself, then please get in touch as I get booked up very quickly.
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