Amanda + Ian | Colchester Town Hall Wedding
Warning! Amanda and Ian’s wedding is a bit of a joyous blub-fest, so please sit down before reading if you’re susceptible to emotional outbursts. Amanda and Ian’s day was a little more special for me than usual, due to it being (cue the music) ♫ It’s a family affair ♪ with Amanda being my husband’s cousin. So ordinarily I would have been a guest, but of course I was delighted to photograph their day, on the proviso I could do have a drink too!
We did their pre-wedding shoot down at Walton beach a few weeks prior, where afterwards I knew these guys were going to be brilliant in front of the camera!
Fast forward to mid-June, and I arrived at their house where Amanda was getting ready with her daughters and her friends, and already the happy tears had been flowing before I’d even got there. This was a continuing theme.
Amanda had a surprise for Ian – and everyone else – in the shape of her wedding dress. It was red! I couldn’t wait to see everyone’s expressions, especially Ian’s, when they saw Amanda’s unique, alternative wedding dress.
An emotionally charged ceremony ensued at Colchester Town Hall, and once the formalities were over, we all headed to one of their friends’ houses in Stisted, near Braintree, to party in a marquee in their back garden. I loved the unconventional elements of this day; the red dress, their first dance songs (Glitterball by Sigma, followed by When Love Takes Over by David Guetta), photos by a chicken coop….!
After dinner, Ian said in his speech that he’d only cried in public twice during his lifetime before his marriage to Amanda, and it was beautifully ironic as he’d cried about 5 times during the course of the wedding day! (And then Amanda cried.) He also told a great anecdote about how, after seeing each other for a short period of time, he realised he felt stronger feelings than just ‘liking’ Amanda, but didn’t know how to articulate it without blurting out that he loved her. With Amanda feeling the same at that early stage, they decided to say they ‘loked’ each other. I liked that. (But did I loke it?)
So, hold on to your hankies, and scroll below to see a selection of images from Amanda and Ian’s wonderfully emotional wedding day!
