There were swords.
There were hidden Pokémon.
There was a dog under a wedding veil.
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And, later in the evening, a bridesmaid took a pair of scissors to the wedding dress while Ashley stood on a chair in the middle of the dance floor.
So it’s probably fair to say Ashley and Keiran did their wedding their way.
And I absolutely loved it.
They’d booked me a long time before the wedding, so by the time the day actually arrived we’d already got to know each other pretty well.
They’d even travelled down from Plymouth for their pre-wedding shoot with me at Tehidy Woods, where we had a gorgeous wintery wander through the woods together.
Which turned out to be pretty appropriate preparation for a March wedding in Cornwall.
Although, as it happened, the weather had other ideas.
A wintery pre-wedding shoot at Tehidy Woods
I always enjoy having that bit of time with a couple before the wedding.
There’s no pressure. No timeline. Nobody waiting for you to get back to your wedding breakfast.
We can just go for a walk, have a chat and take some photographs along the way.
For Ashley and Keiran we chose Tehidy Woods, which was properly wintery and looked beautiful.
More importantly, by the time their wedding came around, being photographed wasn’t some completely new thing they suddenly had to think about amongst everything else happening that day.
We’d done this before.
They knew how I worked.
I knew them.
And we could all just get on with enjoying the wedding.
An emotional morning at Avalen Farm
The morning at Avalen was great fun.
Ashley had her bridesmaids around her, music on, everyone getting ready together and plenty of laughing and dancing.
But there was a lot of emotion in there too.
Ashley had lost her mum when she was young, and one of the really special moments of the morning was her first look with her dad.
Those are the moments where my job becomes very simple.
I don’t need to manufacture anything.
I just need to be there, quietly, and photograph what’s actually happening.
Because nobody needs to be told how to react when they see their daughter in her wedding dress.
Inspiration is brilliant. But your morning is even better.
Ashley had also sent me some inspiration for photographs she’d seen and liked.
And I am genuinely always happy for couples to do that.
If you’ve spotted something on Pinterest or Instagram and thought, I’d love a photograph like that, send it to me.
It gives me an idea of what you’re drawn to and what’s important to you.
But I also don’t want recreating somebody else’s photographs to take over your wedding.
There were a few different ideas for getting-ready photographs that we could absolutely have set up and recreated that morning.
But doing every one of them properly could easily have meant Ashley and her bridesmaids spending the best part of an hour standing in particular places, moving things around and repeating moments for the camera.
Instead, I kept the ideas in the back of my mind and they got on with enjoying themselves.
And then one of those photographs happened anyway.
Ashley was getting into her dress, her bridesmaids naturally gathered around to help her, there was beautiful window light and suddenly there it was.
No recreation needed.
But we also got photographs of them dancing, laughing and having an absolute blast together.
Those moments couldn’t have happened if I’d spent the morning directing everybody.
And I’d much rather you look back at a photograph and remember how that moment felt than remember how long it took us to stage it.
A very Ashley and Keiran wedding
That same attitude pretty much carried on throughout the entire day.
There were little Pokémon figures hidden all around the wedding for guests to find, turning it into a kind of Pokémon bingo.
There were swords.
There were games.
There were loads of little details that felt completely like Ashley and Keiran rather than things somebody had told them they ought to have at a wedding.
And that is always the good stuff.
The things your guests remember aren’t necessarily the things on a traditional wedding checklist.
They’re the things that make them say, “Of course they did that.”
March sunshine at Avalen Farm
Considering they got married on the 18th of March in Cornwall, Ashley and Keiran absolutely won the weather lottery.
It was chilly, obviously.
We weren’t suddenly in the Mediterranean.
But it was dry, the sun was out and people could actually make use of the courtyard and outdoor space.
They’d brought in games from Cornwall Hire, including golf, and throughout the afternoon people were outside playing, chatting and generally having a brilliant time.
I really like things like this at weddings because they give people something to naturally do together.
You’re not forcing entertainment onto everybody. Some people will have a drink and a chat, some will get intensely competitive over a completely unnecessary game of golf and the kids can get involved too.
And from my point of view, all of that gives me something real to photograph.
The dog and the wedding veil
There was one particular photograph Ashley really wanted.
Her dog underneath her veil with her.
Now, whenever animals are involved in wedding photographs, my approach is pretty similar to small children.
We’ll give it a go.
But they get the final vote.
Weddings can be strange days for dogs. There are loads of people around, routines are completely different and suddenly somebody is trying to put a large piece of fabric over their head.
Not every dog is going to think that’s a brilliant idea.
Fortunately, Ashley and Keiran’s dog was an absolute star.
Completely unfazed by the whole thing.
And we got some really beautiful photographs of Ashley and the dog together underneath the veil.
Sometimes the Pinterest idea works perfectly after all!
Sunset at a March wedding in Cornwall
And then we got a sunset.
In March.
In Cornwall.
I’m never going to promise anybody a sunset on their wedding day because I don’t possess that particular superpower.
But when one appears, I’m definitely going to use it.
We slipped outside with Ashley and Keiran for a few minutes as the light dropped and got some gorgeous photographs together.
Again, no massive photoshoot.
Just a little wander, a few minutes away from everybody and then straight back to the wedding.
It’s one of the reasons I like having plenty of space around a venue like Avalen. If the light suddenly becomes incredible, we don’t need to drive somewhere or turn it into a production.
We can just step outside.
And then somebody cut the wedding dress in half
This may be one of my favourite wedding evening moments.
Some brides have a second dress to change into for the party.
Ashley had another solution.
After the first dance, she climbed onto a chair in the middle of the reception and one of her bridesmaids started cutting the bottom off her wedding dress.
Not delicately taking it away to a sewing room.
Scissors.
Chair.
Middle of the party.
Obviously everyone gathered around, there were plenty of cheers and the whole thing was completely brilliant.
And then there’s a photograph of Ashley marching away afterwards, swinging the bottom half of her wedding dress above her head.
I think that photograph probably sums up their wedding better than anything I could write about it.
It was theirs.
They did what felt right for them.
And they had an absolute blast doing it.
Have the wedding that actually feels like you
There’s so much inspiration around weddings now.
Pinterest. Instagram. Magazines. Blogs like this one.
And that’s brilliant.
Use all of it.
Steal ideas. Save photographs. Find things you love.
But then make them yours.
You absolutely don’t have to spend your morning recreating somebody else’s Pinterest board.
You don’t have to do things just because they’re wedding traditions.
You don’t need a second wedding dress if you’d rather take a pair of scissors to the first one.
You can hide Pokémon around the venue.
You can have swords.
You can bring your dog.
You can do whatever makes the day feel like the two of you.
Because the best weddings I photograph aren’t the ones where everything is perfect.
They’re the ones where the couple are surrounded by the people they love and aren’t particularly worried about what a wedding is supposed to look like.
Ashley and Keiran absolutely nailed that.
Overline
Why I love photographing weddings at Avalen Farm
Avalen works incredibly well for this sort of wedding.
It has that lovely Cornish barn feel without a wedding having to become overly formal.
There are different spaces for different parts of the day, plenty of room outside when the weather behaves and the whole place lends itself to couples putting their own personality into it.
Which Ashley and Keiran certainly did.
For me, that’s one of the biggest benefits of a venue like this.
A wedding can actually breathe.
People can wander around, play games, sit and chat, disappear inside when they’re chilly, come back outside when the sun appears and generally spend the day with each other rather than constantly being moved onto the next thing.
And that’s exactly where the photographs I love tend to happen.
Ashley and Keiran’s day had huge emotion, ridiculous amounts of fun, gorgeous March sunshine and two people who seemed completely comfortable doing things their own way.
Exactly my kind of wedding.
Ashley & Keiran’s wedding suppliers
Venue: Avalen Farm
Food: Kernow Hog Roast
Games: Cornwall Hire
Chocolate fountain: Absolutely Chocolate
Flowers: County Flowers – Roxanne Bowden
Hair: Tamsin Chance / Hair You
Photography: Thomas Hare Photography
Planning a wedding at Avalen Farm?
If you’re getting married at Avalen Farm and you’re looking for photography that lets your wedding actually feel like a wedding rather than a photoshoot, I’d love to hear what you’re planning.
My approach is relaxed and mostly documentary. I’ll help when you need me, we’ll make time for a few beautiful photographs together and then I’ll get you back to your friends, family, games, dogs, Pokémon, swords or whatever else you’ve decided belongs at your wedding.
Feel it. Live it. Remember it.
