Love and marriage go together like a hall and carriage - Jess & Matt at The Carriage Hall

This wedding has come around far too quickly, just feels like yesterday we were having a google meet with the 2 of them and Beau (their pup). If you have a pet and we see them on a video call, we class that as a meeting with them and will mention them in the blog, now you know. 

We then met up with them in person in our old stomping grounds of Derby and had a nice chat about their day. I was in between barber visits and was sporting a beard that made me look like the northern second coming. So I ordered the most inappropriate food and ended up looking like one of the twits. One thing we discussed was Matt being uncomfortable in front of the camera and how we could accommodate that. Honestly, he was great and we think our photos and films will show that he might be a reluctant natural.

Our day started with arriving at The Carriage Hall and remembering that Tara Knott or as I felt necessary to call her “Tazza” was also there contributing to this beautiful wedding. We had a little catch-up, momentarily forgot we had a job to do and went up to Jess for a bit of bridal prep. Little side note Tazza, or Tara Knott as she is professionally known is an absolute beast in the wedding stylist game. I bet that is the first time she has been described like that! So if you are in need of some style being pumped into your day, give Tazza a call.

We met my new favourite Vicar too (sorry previous favourite, my heart beats for another now). She had the best attitude towards videography and photography, basically that the couple wants us there and we can work respectfully together with the vicar. I mean that was enough to be my favourite, but when the organ didn’t work at the beginning of the ceremony, to paraphrase “it’s the wrong kind of organ not to be working on the wedding day”, she was a regular Jimmy Carr up there!

We then hopped over back to The Carriage Hall where Tazza had gone into beast mode and beautifully styled the space with peach fabrics and gold touches. Proper ace! The day was a chilled affair, with people having fun, even one lad bringing some poker dice and a game from my childhood called “Pass the Pig” and the games got heated and slightly confused as I’m pretty sure only the chap that brought the game knew what was happening. There were also hushed tones about a little side bet for the best man’s speech, he had to get in a certain word and would win a cool hundred quid. I might have poked the hornet's nest and egged it on a bit, I will say not as much as the groom's pals. Safe to say he is a richer man after this wedding and I don’t mean metaphorically!

The night ended for us after the first dance and half a dozen songs which were expertly played by Wedding Jam who we have worked with before back in the Peak District and had recommended to J&M at our meeting. Accompanied by a Saxophonist who got amongst it on the dance floor. Something I learned was a live sax playing alongside dance music is an unbeatable combo plus he had a few moves like Leo P from Too Many Zoos, if you know you know and if not go forth and enjoy the king of sludge!

We might not have won Matt around on generally having his photos taken, but we definitely won him around on us exclusively taking his photos. After the couple shots, he gave us some glowing feedback :) And that is what we strive for, we want our couples to feel comfortable with us and not be put under pressure.

Plus a little shout out to Jess’s parents Sue & Lance and funnily enough Jess channels Bart Simpson and calls them just that, they are on a first-name basis. I did the same thing with my Dad as a kid, directly inspired by Bart and we had a sit-down conversation about whether it was appropriate haha, horses for courses hey. You keep being you El Jesso.