The Sandbanks Hotel Wedding of Kayleigh and Matthew, in August last year, brought us back to the beautiful Sandbanks peninsular.
When we first met Kayleigh and Matthew, it was obvious that they both loved the outdoors, and were both very keen for their wedding guests to enjoy a relaxed beach themed reception, at The Sandbanks Hotel, in Poole, a great location for their reception. The Sandbanks Hotel is set within the beautiful Poole Harbour, with stunning views of Brownsea Island, and the Isle of Purbeck on one side, and on the other, the beautiful golden sands of Sandbanks beach. Just step off the hotels rear terrace, straight onto the beach, and enjoy views of Studland, and Old Harry Rocks to the right, Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight to the left.
Kayleigh and Matthew both had work hard with the decor for the reception, making the decorations themselves, transforming this area into a beach theme, even down to making sloe gin for all the guests!
The plan was that Kayleighs’ bridal preparations were to take place in the village of Bere Regis, with the ceremony at the gorgeous St Stephens Church, Pamphill, Kingston Lacy, just outside Wimborne. Kayleigh and Matthew had been looking for accommodation for Kayeigh to get ready, in the village of Bere Regis, which is a 20 minute drive from the church location, and it was Kayleigh’s mother who had found the perfect location, in the form of a 550 year old picture box Honeycombe cottage, just outside Bere Regis, with it’s thatch roof, and beautiful manicured gardens. All that was needed now, was a lovely sunny day, or at least a dry day.
Our coverage started on a glorious sunny morning, at Kayleighs’ bridal preparations, at Honeycombe Cottage. When we arrived, we found Kayleigh chilling out, and having her makeup applied in the kitchen area, her bridesmaids filling the air with laughter, everyone seemed relaxed and just enjoying each other’s company. Time seemed to fly at the cottage, and before we knew it. we had taken some lovely natural interactions between everyone at the preparations, and just needed to set up a simple shot to camera, of Kayleigh and her bridesmaids’ as requested, in the cottage garden. Andy and I love to just capture the natural proceedings on the day, without giving direction, however, we do realise that’ if requested, a simple setup shot looking direct to camera, is not the end of the world, and can give a lovely momento for the bride.
We knew that we had a 20 minute drive ahead of us, to meet up with Matthew at St Stephen’s Church, and were keen to avoid the notorious Wimborne bypass and the traffic jams that came with taking this route, so we had previously recced an alternative route cross country, to get to the church and avoid the traffic on the bypass. The countryside, being the countryside, did’t necessarily mean there would’t be any delays, what with the occasional caravan being trailed behind a 4×4, or a farmer moving hay with his tractor, you just did’t know.
We arrived at St Stephen’s Church, with no delays, and proceeded to cover Matthew and the guests arrival. Before we knew it, Kayleigh was pulling up in front of the church gates.
The ceremony was beautiful and heartfelt, with the Vicar adding a touch of humour to the proceedings. Andy and I were relieved to be able to take photographs throughout the ceremony, without any intervention from the Vicar, and we caught some lovely, touching moments. After the ceremony, everyone congratulated the happy couple, we then managed to find a shaded spot in the church grounds, to take a few small formal family group shots, before taking Kayleigh and Matthew back into the church for one or two portraits at the alter. We then met up with all the other guests back at The Sandbanks Hotel terrace, where everyone was enjoying a drink and listening to the live acoustic music.
After their wedding breakfast, it was time for the speeches, with Matthews Best Man trying his hardest to embarrass Matthew, with a nostalgic slideshow presentation of Matthews’ life history.
Then everybody was asked to go out on the terrace to allow the hotel to turn the room around for the evening, so everybody decided to go onto the beach and enjoy the wonderful setting sun, and taking photos of each other frolicking around.
The evening celebrations continued on the terrace and disco area, with guests mingling whilst being entertained by a live band, and Matthew and Kayleighs’ first dance.
I hope you enjoy viewing the following image highlights from Kayleigh and Matthew’s wedding. May I recommend viewing a fuller selection of images from Kayleigh and Matthew’s wedding, by selecting the following link, which will take you to my main website pages for Kayleigh and Matthew. Here you will have a better viewing experience, and get a better idea on the consistency of our coverage.
