Gloucestershire Wedding : Megan & Wayne : Part One

When I find myself surrounded by accents half of which don’t sound entirely dissimilar to those of the Beatles and half of which have a distinctly New Yorkian brogue about them I sense that I’m in for a good time. Two value driven sub-cultures with an abundant sense of community and a certain spirit of fun, of having a good time amongst friends, old and new. How often I’ve found myself surrounded by this combination of accents I’m not sure. Quite possibly just the one time. This time. My sense of the potential outcome didn’t fail me at all.

Megan hails from New York, in part by way of a family line from Macedonia. Wayne hails from Cheshire; the etymology of his surname suggests his ancestors were from a valley, even though ironically the name was first recorded in a part of the country that is entirely flat from horizon to horizon. I don’t know where I was going with that particular online ramble but it was fun going there, even more fun to come back though. I could wax lyrical but in a nut shell they’re a fantastic couple of people to spend time with.

When I arrived at Frampton Court on the morning of their wedding day Megan was doing the traditional thing and keeping out of sight on the upper floor (the opening picture isn’t of Frampton Court itself though but of The Orangery, that sits in the Court’s grounds, just to balance potential confusion with hopeful clarity); it was a day laced with particularly interesting traditions as it happens, a cross-cultural pollination of marriage rituals from morning through to the deep of night. Both sets of families and the direct wedding entourage were breakfasting in a room on the main floor. Wayne introduced me to each and every member of the party present, individually. I see things in a way that I see them and I photograph that which I see but I’m certain it makes all the difference again to be made to feel so welcome and genuinely accepted into the fabric of a wedding day. I truly felt as though I were a welcome guest throughout the entire day. That’s how Megan & Wayne are.

Wayne stayed in The Orangery in the lead up to the wedding. A particularly lovely building visually and dare I say mathematically, it echoes the essential structure of a beehive throughout. Whilst awaiting Wayne’s arrival I found a marvellous spiral staircase that went right to the top of the building, and then to nowhere. Into the ceiling. I believe there was a small window letting out onto the roof as well. I placed myself at the top of this staircase for quite some time, waiting for Wayne and perhaps his best man Daniel too to ascend to an upper level chamber to get ready. It would make for an interesting graphical marker in the progress of the morning’s narrative. So wait I did. And then some more. They arrived, I saw them through a window, I heard them enter the building. And I waited…

After quite some time it dawned on me that they must be getting ready on the ground floor…

Wayne is the guy that does everyone else’s ties up for them at weddings. What Wayne could have done with on his wedding day was a Wayne, to tie his tie (though I hasten to add I was impressed by Daniel’s input as best man; he did a brilliant job of keeping Wayne on track and focused, or indeed distracted as needs might dictate). I think it was after attempt number five that I had to leave The Orangery to make my way across the field to Frampton Court.

Whilst not strictly speaking labyrinthine there’s a lot of upstairs and downstairs to Frampton Court so I followed the shoes to find my way to where I needed to be…

It’s not just semi-abstract precociousness. There was actually a large, ornate bath in the middle of Megan’s room. The stairs are rather special, rather significant too. Megan & Wayne had initially been looking at barns in the area to conduct their wedding celebrations in. Frampton Court does have a barn on the grounds but it was the staircase that sealed the deal, particularly for Megan as she immediately visualised her father walking her down it on the morning of her wedding day.

Oliver promised to keep out of my shots. I made a specific point of including him in a few as he was brilliant and his involvement in the day is worthy of record. Except by my own deliberate framing he lived up fully to his promise, which has not always proved to be the case in some encounters I’ve had elsewhere. He was absolutely everywhere he needed to be at all times to piece together the story of the day and conducted himself with ease and a lack of obtrusion that could only serve to contribute to the effective telling of that story. If you’re looking to have a filmic record of your wedding day he’s on my list of those that will truly serve you well. Aside from all this, the picture adds a touch of film-star atmosphere to proceedings :~)

Megan’s bother, Mike, traditionally accustomed to dressing himself no doubt. I always find it heartening to see people work together on wedding days though. On any other day too for that matter. Their father, Mendo, does the honours. I’ll say hi to mum, Madeline, while I’m here too…

Megan’s other brother, Tom, pieces together the puzzle himself (though he’ll not evade the wider social ritual for long)…

The significance didn’t fully hit me at the time but as I reviewed the day’s images the profound nature of what had passed before me became apparent. I’m accustomed to seeing a small procession of people make alternative attempts at tying someone’s tie for them or applying a buttonhole to someone’s lapel on a wedding day but as far as I could see Tom had tied his tie perfectly well himself, a little earlier on. But then he has his sister set to work on neatening it, then his older brother, then his mother (I think his father might have been busy elsewhere wrestling with his own tie at this juncture). It was all quite spontaneous and fleeting as it passed before me on the day but looking back I saw what was really going on. In part it was akin to a sartorial pinch of a youngster’s cheek to show him how proud you are of how he’s turned out. Deeper yet it was a practical expression of a bond that ties a family together. Moments like these, regardless of the images not in and of themselves being compositionally profound, bring home to me why I really do this…

And then it was time for all the menfolk to be expelled from the chamber, time for the dressing of the bride…

Not that I become a honorary woman at this point in the day. More a honorary wall watcher. In the past I might have waited outside the door or in an en-suite bathroom (in this case laying face down in the bath might have proved rather ungainly) but the problem I found with that was, such is the level of excitement and focus at this point in proceedings, the bridal party would forget to call me back in with good time to photograph things beyond that which they’d likely not wish to have photographed. Nowadays I ask if I might just stand in a corner and stare at the wall. Sometimes it’ll be a particularly interesting wall and I might feel tempted to photograph it whilst waiting but I always resist the urge; the sound of my shutter firing might not instil confidence in my discretion. In the best possible circumstances though there’ll be a window. Walls have limited appeal all in all.

Megan’s dream staircase…

And a rather dreamlike staircase number two, though somewhat more precarious this time…

The wedding… car…

Typically I have to set off in advance of the bride to ensure I arrive at the ceremony venue in good time to park and get in place before her arrival. I must say I like the wedding bus model though. Plenty of room for everyone to come along on the journey.

Megan laughed her way heartily up the aisle. A somewhat unusual phenomena I might say. I did once see a bride laugh at this point before, though in that instance more through excited nervousness than anything else. This was something else altogether though, quite a joy to behold. The reason for the laughter is between Megan and Wayne though. And me I suppose, as I was photographing everything. And the congregation of guests. And the vicar. I found it all positively enriching.

I could have photographed the first kiss from where I was, walked to the back of the church and photographed it from there, continued to the opposite side to get the reverse angle and I dare say make it all the way back again in time to photograph its conclusion. Had I known I was about to witness the longest first kiss in the history of first kisses, I dare say I would have done…

Ahem! Hymns guys, hymns…

A theme was emerging…

Introducing Wayne’s Mum and Dad, Helen & Michael (the latter a little blurry with happiness, screen left)…

Wedding train bus…

Wayne prepares to launch his bride into the next chapter of the day (I prepare an alternative career to writing)…

And then came the rain…

So what was meant to be an ornamental garden cocktail reception turned into a Pimm’s pit-stop en route to shelter in the Tipi…

Spirits weren’t dampened in the slightest though. In my experience they never are when rain decides to join in on a wedding day.

Soon enough though the rain abated…

And back they all came again…

That’s the group photos all sorted then…

Then back to the Tipi once more…

Food, speeches and dancing galore in Part Two >>>

Contact Gloucestershire Wedding Photographer Phillip Allen : phill@misterphill.com : 07870 696248