August Wedding at Weatheroak Hall with Rhian & Craig

Rhian and Craig celebrated their August wedding at the beautiful Weatheroak Hall at Kings Norton Golf Club in Alvechurch, with everything from their ceremony through to the evening celebrations taking place in one location.
I came to photograph their day through a recommendation from Nik, someone I used to work with, and recommendations are always particularly lovely to receive. There’s a real sense of trust involved when someone puts your name forward to photograph such an important day.

I wasn’t actually booked to photograph the bridal preparations, but anyone who knows me knows I’m early for absolutely everything.
Arriving ahead of schedule gave me around half an hour to dash upstairs and capture those final moments of the morning. The bridesmaids were getting into their gorgeous black dresses while Rhian was putting on her wedding dress and making those last preparations before heading downstairs.
It was an unexpected little extra chapter to the wedding story that I was really pleased to be there to capture.

Then it was downstairs to the ceremony room, which was flooded with beautiful natural light, where Craig was waiting rather nervously for his bride.
After around 15 years photographing weddings, I’ve learnt that despite all the talk about emotional brides, it’s very often the groom waiting at the end of the aisle who gets me.
Craig was absolutely no exception.

Rhian looked incredible as she entered the ceremony, with the black bridesmaids’ dresses and coordinating black suits of Craig and his wedding party creating such a striking, elegant look.
With around 50 day guests, the ceremony felt wonderfully intimate. There were two readings and plenty of emotion throughout, particularly from Craig, who certainly wasn’t trying to hide the tears.
Their son was very much part of the ceremony too, making it feel like a celebration of their family as much as of Rhian and Craig becoming husband and wife. Seeing him walk back down the aisle alongside them afterwards was a particularly lovely moment.

After the ceremony everyone gathered in the entrance hall for reception drinks, which gave me a chance to catch some of those completely unscripted moments that often end up being favourites.
This included a family member disappearing underneath Rhian’s dress to help pin it up. Glamorous wedding photography at its finest! If it happens in front of my camera, there’s a fairly good chance it’s going in the gallery.

We headed outside for the group photographs, but August apparently had other ideas and the heavens opened.
We managed to get the full group photograph before retreating back inside, but thankfully Weatheroak Hall has a fantastic indoor balcony and staircase area, so the rain certainly didn’t stop us.

We used the balcony for photographs of the wedding party and some portraits of Rhian, making the most of the natural light and architecture while we waited for the weather outside to settle.
And then came their alternative to traditional wedding confetti.

Instead of confetti, Rhian and Craig chose bubbles.
We positioned the newlyweds downstairs while their guests gathered around the balcony above them, blowing bubbles down into the entrance hall. It created a brilliant alternative to the traditional confetti photograph and gave us something completely unique to their venue and their day.
Sometimes the weather forcing you to change the original plan actually gives you something better.

Eventually the rain eased enough for us to sneak back outside with just Rhian and Craig.
We headed down towards the lake and around the grounds for their couple portraits, as well as making use of the beautiful exterior of Weatheroak Hall itself.
Because I’d photographed weddings here before, I already knew some of my favourite areas to take them, and the softer light after the rain was perfect for relaxed portraits without the harsh August sunshine.

The speeches followed, with Rhian herself taking the microphone, along with her dad, Craig and his two best men.
Speeches are one of my favourite opportunities to stop concentrating solely on whoever has the microphone and watch the rest of the room instead. The reactions are often where the real photographs are, and there were plenty here, from laughter and slightly nervous smiles to some genuinely emotional moments between Rhian, Craig and their families.

Before the evening celebrations properly got underway, there was time for the traditional cake cutting and a few photographs of the cake and its details.
Then the evening guests began arriving and it was very quickly apparent that this was a group who were ready for a party.

Rhian and Craig’s first dance was genuinely one of the loveliest I’ve photographed.
It was beautifully romantic and emotional, giving the two of them a moment together in the middle of a very busy day. Before long, their family and friends joined them and the dance floor filled.
From that point onwards the evening celebrations were well and truly underway, with everyone dancing and making the most of the party.

From an emotional ceremony and a few August rain showers to balcony bubbles, lakeside portraits and a packed dance floor, Rhian and Craig’s Weatheroak Hall wedding certainly gave us plenty to photograph.
Having the whole celebration in one venue allowed the day to flow naturally, while Weatheroak Hall gave us plenty of options when the weather changed its mind halfway through.
Thank you to Rhian and Craig for trusting me to capture their wedding day, and to Nik for the recommendation that brought us together.
If you’re planning your own wedding at Weatheroak Hall or Kings Norton Golf Club in Alvechurch and are looking for relaxed, natural wedding photography that captures all the emotion, laughter and unexpected moments along the way, I’d love to hear from you.