Matara Centre Wedding Photography: I’d already had the privilege of photographing Andrew and Sneha’s wonderfully colourful Hindu ceremony in London so was really looking forward to seeing everyone again at their traditional English wedding, albeit in quite different surroundings: Gloucestershire’s Matara Centre is a classic Regency house nestled within twenty eight acres of uniquely landscaped gardens. It really is like no other wedding venue I know.
I knew there were so many interesting aspects to the Matara that I arrived a little earlier than usual in order to have time to capture them. These shots always look great in an album, complementing the people shots and giving it an added dimension.
Sneha was in fine form when I arrived at the bridal suite to begin capturing her day: relaxed, happy and really keen for me to capture everything! Perfect. Andrew arrived mid morning with his best man and ushers and it wasn’t long before the lads were playing up to the camera. A mix of the formal with the plain daft is probably the best way to sum it up as you’ll see below!
Their ceremony was held in in the wonderfully romantic space outside the main house overlooking a pretty, landscaped pond – unique and very beautiful. Then came something quite special that I’d never seen before: everyone made their way to the back of the house to begin a walk deep in to the gardens for a tree planting session to celebrate the occasion. The Matara Centre offers this unique aspect to its wedding clients and it really is a lovely thing to witness as well as making for some great photographic opportunities.
Following the wedding breakfast I suggested to Andrew and Sneha that we make the most of the remaining ambient light and gorgeous evening sun which they were more than happy to do. We’d already done similar shots at their Hindu ceremony a month or so earlier so the guys were really relaxed, knew what to do and got straight in to the slot. It was lovely to watch the two of them lost in the moment and to know how happy they were going to be with the results.
I knew the evening was gearing up to be a lively one – on nights like this you have to get right in amongst it to get the best shots so that’s just what I did. After spending two days with Andrew and Sneha, I’d become really fond of them, their friends and family and was actually quite sad to see the final moments of my time with them draw to a close. It was very hard picking out the best moments but I’ve given it a go. Hope you like them…
