A look back to a stylish wedding from last summer – Kate and Will’s beautiful wedding on a hot sunny summer’s day at the charming Swallows Oast in East Sussex.
Swallows Oast is a lovely traditional Oast House wedding venue in East Sussex with a lovely outdoor ceremony location, it’s own woodland walk and another ceremony location in the woods, and then further on a stunning meadow with views – great for photographing couples portraits!
I arrived a little early on the morning of the wedding so took a walk up to the meadow for a look, only to find myself stuck sheltering under the oak tree for 15 minutes while the heavens opened – not a great start! Luckily the weather cleared eventually leading to a beautiful hot, sunny, summers day!
Bridal Prep
I do love it when everything’s on one site – no mad dashing around going from parents house, to the church, to the venue etc. Everything’s on one site at Swallows Oast meaning I could dip in and out of bridal prep to capture Will’s arrival, the ceremony location (set up late due to the rain) and guests arriving.
As usual I started the day with Kate and the bridesmaids in the stunning bridal suite at Swallows Oast – the bedroom provides a very stylish and chic backdrop to photograph the details, including Kate’s beautiful Kate Halfpenny wedding dress! That skirt – OMG!
Bridal prep was a very laid back affair as the ladies were all doing their own hair and makeup, which also meant I could sneak out to capture a few photographs of Kate’s amazing bouquet, supplied by the talented ladies at Colonnade Florist – in a lovely, unique move, some of Kate’s friends had arranged for artist Nicola King to paint her bouquet, so we both had fun photographing it. If you’re on Instagram, Nicola’s subsequent painting of Kate’s flowers is up on her feed @kingnicola
Arrivals and the boys
During a few opportune moments in bridal prep I nipped out to catch Will and his entourage arriving, the guys admiring the setup inside the barn, button holes going on before we made our way up tot he top field for a toast and a few quick portraits.
Ceremony
All too soon it was time for the guests to be seated for the ceremony and for us to await the bridesmaids and then Kate’s entrance. Kate was walked down the aisle by her brother, but stopped and had a lovely moment with her dad before finally making her way up to Will for the start of the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Kate and Will made their exit and then came back through a confetti line before leading the guests over to start their reception with a very welcome cooling drink and some amazing canapes.
Reception
Some lovely candid moments to capture during their reception with LOTS of hugs (which I love photographing!) and excitement. Soon it was time to capture a few group shots (in some shade!!) before I accompanied the wedding party on the short walk up to the meadow for a few more stylized portraits of them all, followed by some quick couples portraits.
Wedding breakfast & Evening
After the big group shot of all the guests and a few more candids, I made my way in to photograph the lovely details inside Swallows Oast, including a drink (Sloe gin etc.) for each guest – always fun capturing these going down!
Soon it was time for everyone to make their way into the Oast house and be seated for the entrance of the bride and groom!
After the wedding breakfast we were treated to some really funny speeches with some heartfelt moments as well.
Once the wedding breakfast was finished I quickly whisked Kate and Will back up to the meadow for some golden hour portraits in the beautiful evening sunshine before we came back for the cake cut, first dance and then some amazing dance moves from Will as the guests partied to an amazing band!
Congratulations to Kate & Will! If you’re interested in having me photograph your wedding, please contact me I’d love to hear your plans!
All images copyright David Burke Photography 2023