When Emma asked me to document her and Davids’ special day the the hydro I was so excited… Not just because the Hydro is 5 minutes down the road, but because I have been wanting to film at this venue for a while now! They had booked me for a documentary film (where I film from ceremony to first dance and make them a longer film of all the footage in time order) I love doing these, as the couple gets to relive all the moments of the wedding and not just a highlight reel where they may miss certain parts of the day.
I arrived at the Hydro and began getting some establishing shots of the venue, then while setting up for the ceremony I found best man Andy outside practising for his speech.
We then headed inside to find David mingling with guests and having a drink before the registrars took him off for the pre wedding interview. Soon after, the guests were all taking their seats outside at the stunning garden terrace ready for the ceremony to begin. David seemed calm and nerve free, I think he was just excited to see his soon to be bride walking down the aisle. The bridesmaids came down first, along with an incredibly cute Teddy and Emily and last of all was the stunning bride Emma who was arm in arm with Alex.
The wind somewhat dies down for the ceremony and the registrar were great throughout, she even got slightly distracted when Emma struggled with the word ‘Solemnly’ Best man Andy then provided the rings (which were ironically wrapped up in a face mask, a real sign of the times) and not long after David & Emma were now officially married!
After the ceremony the couple had a little Prosecco toast together before we headed into the group shots. During the photos we had some great moments... starting with Alex taking a mighty strong kick from Teddy on ‘a slightly delicate area’, then David making the bridal party laugh by shouting “Willly’s” just before the photo and then to the boys having a strange pregnancy shoot style pose!
We then went off with the newly weds for some couple shots, although Emma first of all needed David to help get a stone out her shoe and resulted in a cinderella moment of David trying to put her shoe back on. We had some lovely couple shots and by the end of it Emma & David felt like Eastbourne’s next top models.
After the food we had the speeches, which started with May doing a lovely little welcome and then passed over to best man Andy who cracked some great jokes, gave us lots of fishing trip tales and gave a great speech. Last was the groom himself and as he said, he kept it ‘short & sweet … like Emma’ and although short, he had some really lovely words for his new bride and gave a lovely speech. After speeches, the guests mingled and the drinking started. Mainly involving Alex and table 2 with multiple Sambuca’s, most of the table then also went off for a private mock engagement shoot out on the garden terrace - the pictures must have been brilliant! Then after a quick costume change from David, the couple made their way to the dance floor for the first dance. They had a loving dance to 'Rob Stewart - Have I told You lately' & It was clear to see how in love they really are, afterward they went straight into 'Ed Sheeran Perfect'. The whole wedding party linked hand in hand in a circle around the couple and it was honesty a really moving moment and most the guests were in tears at the end. The dance floor was such great fun afterward and we captured lots of twirling, lunges and great moments!
I had an absolute blast at the Hydro and its definitely one of my favourite venues.
David & Emma - thank you so so much for letting me capture your day, it really did feel like such a loving atmosphere from start to finish and you both have some really special and caring people around you.
Watch their teaser trailer below…