Hartlebury Church / Redhouse Barn Stoke Prior
The wedding of Hannah and Dan’s was probably the wedding I thought about most this year – The wedding was on the 29th of December 2010 and as you can probably remember the week before the UK got totally swamped with snow. We had around 10 – 12 inches and 3 days before the wedding there was still 6 – 8 inches on the ground. I am fortunate that I could walk to Hartlebury Church if needed but getting to Redhouse Barn in Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove would be a whole different story. But the gods must have been smiling because there was a major thaw for 2 days before the wedding and the roads were just about clear !!!
So I turned up to Hannah’s mums house ready to start my day, the house was in full swing with girls getting ready everywhere you looked. I normally start off with a nose about for locations for photos and things that are important to photograph, flowers, details etc etc and The flowers Hannah had chosen were amazing to say the least.


While I was looking around I spotted a beautiful blue box with white ribbon on it – having lived in New York for a number of years I instantly knew what this box was – it was a Tiffany’s box and I knew it would contain a special gift for the bride on her wedding day – after checking if it was okay to open I snagged a couple of photos.




as you will see later, the snowflake was a theme of the wedding.
So I went in search of the bride and her wedding dress – I found Hannah having her hair done so grabbed a couple of photos and then went dress hunting.




and after hearing a lot of giggling went down stairs to find Hannah about to pop the bubbly !






then after a slurp slurp it was time for Hannah to pop on her wedding dress – naturally when I say pop on her wedding dress it not quite that simple – buttons buttons buttons – the back of the dress had hundreds of buttons on it 🙂






Then it was a quick dash downstairs to get shots of Hannah coming down and shots with Mum and Dad, talking of Dad when I got downstairs, If found that Dad was having a few issues with his neck tie


then it was outside for a final photo of Hannah, Mum and Dad before I dashed to the church to to get shots of the boys and the arrival of the bride.


With the weather changing so dramatically it turned out we had a foggy day, there was still a bit of snow on the ground, it was cold but I thought it looked amazing for photos as you will see shortly. I arrived at St James Church in Hartlebury


and went inside to find the boys already hard at work as ushers etc, I grabbed hold of Dan and the boys and grabbed a quick shot at the back of the church


and after talking to the vicar and getting instructions on what I could and could not shoot, I went outside to wait for Hannah to arrive. The scene looking from the church down the drive onto the stourport (direction) road was beautiful – The weather made it all the better in my opinion.
The following shot is in both colour and black and white as I can choose which I like the most






then it was SHOWTIME – normally I work with my assistant Helen however due to the weather conditions Helen could not make it so during the wedding itself I had to work twice as hard to cover all the angles – I am very thankful to the officents at St James for allowing me to move around – some church’s let you some dont and its one of the reasons I like working with an assistant.
Walking down the aisle


At the alter


closer….


a quick run upstairs


During one of the readings


The signing of the Register


Walking out of the church


Then it was outside for the confetti shot


and a big beautiful kiss


then it was into the cars for a quick dash over to Stoke Prior in Bromsgrove to the stunning Redhouse Barn wedding venue.


As you can see it was still pretty wet and there was a little un-melted snow on the ground, one of the problems is the grass areas were very wet so we ended up shooting all the photos inside but this did not detract from a truly amazing wedding venue.
The inside of Redhouse Barn




The view from the top table






during the drinks reception the guests were entertained by a fabulous musician, unfortunately I didn’t get one of his cards but he has one of mine, if he drops me an email I will pop his details here as he was brilliant


even the kids loved him


A few of the formals




and a couple of the bride and groom


and since it was a wedding day and a Christmas wedding you have to have mistletoe and a quick snog !


They also have an amazing bridal bedroom at Redhouse Barn so I took the couple up there for a few ‘nice’ photos


and Hannah having a laugh during out photos


Then it was downstairs for the cutting of the cake






During the wedding breakfast I put together the slideshow (we normally run a slide show for the couple just before the first dance)
Redhouse barn has the BEST equipped AV system I have seen at any wedding venue, we just had to plug a laptop into the wall and a BIG screen dropped out of the ceiling for the slideshow.
Here is a shot of the bride and groom watching the slideshow with friends and family.


and as I was setting up the lights for the first dance I grabbed a shot of Dan and his best man just to test them out – notice the light behind them, this is one of my lights used to make sure we get GREAT first dance photos – you will see them in a minute.


So Dan and Hannah had a band for the evening entertainment






Then it was time for the first dance – the dance floor at Redhouse barn is a bit special 🙂


then all the kids joined in – this was very much a children friendly wedding which seemed to put great big smiles on the faces of both the bride and groom




The kids were jumping for joy on the dance floor


and last but not least, the sign of any good band / dj is how he / they fill the dancfloor !


By the time I packed up it was close to 11pm, after big hugs and kisses from the bride and a smaller hug from the groom – its a guy thing 🙂 I said my goodbys and made my exit.
It just goes to prove that all you need to get married is someone who your truly and madly in love with, someone to say the magic words and friends to share the day with. The weather did not play ball but it was no problem at all, Hannah and Dan had an amazing day, it was my last wedding of 2010 and one that i thoroughly enjoyed.
I just wish to pass along my congratulations to Hannah and Dan, wishing them all the best.
take care, hope you have enjoyed this look at their special day.
ciao
dp
David Purslow
Wedding Photographer
http://www.davidpurslow.com
Phone 01299 250114
Cell – 0759 0076666