Chris and Sam's wedding preview.....

We had a truly memorable day a couple of weeks ago with Chris ans Sam and their lovely families and friends. We set off early and made our way to Sam's mum and dad's house where Hazel stayed to cover the bridal preparations and Ian headed up to Rivington to join the Groom Chris and his party. there was a lovely atmosphere at both locations as everyone was looking forward to what would unfold during this most special of days.

Sam had arranged some very special gifts for her groom Chris including a red (great colour, I know Sam's dad would approve!!) Kitchen Aid mixer with his name engraved on (hint, hint!) and also some first Edition Winnie the Pooh books, incredible!

The groom's party, and the majority of guests, were taken to the church on a vintage double-decker RouteMaster bus....they had originally looked at a red RouteMaster but it was too tall for some of the roads it would be using, so they booked a model that wasn't as tall but was certainly as cool!

The journey to the venue on the bus was great, if a little tricky to photograph, however, the Fuji X100s was perfect for this. Everyone was a little nervy when we took a wrong turn, but we were soon back on track.

The ceremony took place at the beautiful Rivington Parish Church, which is very special for Sam's family, as was Rivington, where we had shot their pre wedding images.

After the ceremony, we shot a few portraits around the historic church grounds before making our was to the awesome Rivington Barn a couple of miles away. We did a few more portraits here as well as the group shots.

Sam and Chris had organised a balloon release which was a really nice idea and, although it was really windy, the balloons got away, well most of them anyway, apart from a few caught in a nearby tree!).

The speeches were brilliant, especially the Fresh Prince of Bel Air inspired best man's speech, good work Matt! Sam also made a speech, only the second time we have seen a bride make a speech and it was very moving.

Another surprise was the first dance. Sam and Chris had worked on a routine which they executed brilliantly, one of the images here shows a last minute rehearsal.....

We have so many images we love from the day, it's been so hard to pick some to show here without showing the whole lot, but that wouldn't be fair on the happy couple!

Hopefully, this very small selection will give a flavour of the joy, love and happiness of the day which was plain for all to see....

Enjoy....