We had the privilege of attending the very funky wedding of Holly and Steven at Northampton’s Guildhall and then their reception at the Hunsbury Hill Centre. It was a great day filled with fun and laughter. It followed a village fete theme with more than the odd nice touch (see the knitted cake, below). This is a short-ish post to whet the appetite as i’m still processing the full set.

Gotta love a red bus!

The characaturist was excellent.

Plenty of fun and banter during the group shots.

Steven was unceremoniously dropped after this (and yes, i got pics).

The may pole happened, but perhaps not as the purists would have liked

Nipped over to Cambridgeshire for the marriage of Pippa and Joe at Abington Pigotts church and then on to the gorgeous South Farm: a superb venue, close to perfect. Here’s a selection from the day.

Show off!

Dodmoor House was the place to be for the marriage of Nathalie and Mark. It’s a fantastic venue – don’t delay to avoid disappointment – that even the damp British summer couldn’t affect. En fait, il pleuvait comme une vache qui pisse! We had surprises galore, several songs, a game of Mr. & Mrs. and there was entente cordiale all over the place as half the assembled guests were French (see above for some bad French). D’accord, allons y!

Nathalie’s sister arranged a surprise slideshow which got some great reactions.

This was Mark’s reaction to a pic of him in a Hooters bar… apparently, i didn’t look.

It’s a charming French tradition that the bride has a waltz with her father before the first dance.

We were back to Harrowden Hall for the marriage of Tracey and Paul. The day was chock full of emotion and humour, plenty of humour

Great Harrowden also did its best to better the weather of Hawaii – the honeymoon destination – although it couldn’t deliver on the wild dolphin front.

Fetch the guitar…

“Trraaaayseee” still ringing in my ears! How do you follow that?

As you can see Tracey was exceptionally elegant in her dress..

… but a simple change of shoes allows refinement to transform into rowdy

Finally Spinal Tap fans, Paul’s guitar even went to 11:

[Update]: direct from Hawaii, the happy couple are “chuffed to bits” with the pics. Yay!!

OK, as promised, here’s some more from our fantastic day with Hema and David. Both Hema’s preparations and the wedding breakfast where held at the Staverton Park Hotel with the ceremony in Northampton’s resplendent Guildhall.

After some interesting encounters with the general public of Northampton town during group shots, we were able to get 10 minutes with the happy couple:

It was then time to make the journey make to Staverton Park for the reception:

Their first dance was nicely done [although anyone who has seen me dance knows i'm no Len Goodman - but then i just need to be able to say "Seeeveerrrn" don't i?]

Looking for a band to really bring the house down?. Look no further than Funkify who more than ably soundtracked the evening’s festivities.

Pete certainly got into it, as you can see:

Although that view did strike fear into the eyes of one very special bridesmaid:

Although she recovered later when the disco played Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”

Now dear reader, remember the golf reference? Well, David is a performance coach of some repute (just ask one of the fastest women on two wheels, Maria Costello MBE) and has picked up golf along the way. He couldn’t resist hitting a ball whilst we waited for some of the guests to assemble for group shots:

He even sorted a romantic hoon around the course in a golf buggy – he wasn’t even wearing a gaudy polo shirt!

With almost divine timing, torrential rain gave way to blazing sunshine for the wedding of Jo and Nick. Now a conspiracy theorist might see links to the fact the father of the bride was also the minister presiding at the wedding ceremony at Stapleford church – but not i no no. The godlike BBC weather site predicted it, and so it was: a brilliant day. Here’s a brief look:

For the reception, we moved to the fab Barrington Hall, a truly beautiful house.

This week’s cameo was Malcolm the cat. When out of his Suitcase Under the Bed™ [look out for it on Dragon's Den], he rampaged through the wedding preparations with feline disregard.

I really don’t know where he gets his belligerent behaviour from though, someone must be teaching him bad habits

Now listen up conspiracy fans, it turns out the vicar father of the bride happened to have a third role (you might call it a holy-ish trinity, but i wouldn’t) = photographer! He has almost as much equipment as me – an almost biblical feat in itself – and has photographed the real actual Queen, he had to make do with me and the D3 on this occasion

We found our way back up the Wellingborough Road to Harrowden Hall again…. but this time, for the Halloween wedding of Paula and Adam The day after the clocks went back meant less light and more time for ghoulish behaviour. It was an honour for me and Cathy to be part of a great day.

The emotion started early: Paula’s sister gave birth the day prior to the wedding but still managed to fulfill her bridesmaid’s duties!

On to the party, which began with a pumpkin piñata:

A rather more sedate 1st dance…

…until the chorus kicked in

We were also able to put on a Crazybooth

Final word to the bride and groom:

After all the planning and work pressures, Vicky & Ben got married at Dunchurch Park in Rugby. As you’ll have seen from the blog, we aren’t strangers to the odd away day. However, we couldn’t claim this as one, not with several people venturing over from Hong Kong – mind you, i am looking forward to the referrals from this one

The evening was a sight too: with a dance off and even a hokey cokey! – i do blame the [excellent] Midnite Function Band for that though!

Yes, destination wedding photographer… has a certain ring to it doesn’t it