Kayley & Alexander’s French Countryside Wedding

I started the day a short drive away from the house, where Alexander was getting ready with his dad, his brother and a few friends.

His dad helped him with his tie and with the final bits of getting dressed, and the whole atmosphere was very easy. I only spent a short amount of time there because I didn’t need to manufacture anything. I wanted a few photographs that showed what it had actually felt like to be in that room.

Before I left, I took Alexander outside for a couple of quick portraits and then headed back to the family home to see what was happening with Kayley.

She was getting ready upstairs in a lovely, very French-looking bedroom. Her girlfriends were doing her hair and make-up. There was no professional hair and make-up team, which really set the tone for the whole wedding. Everybody was helping with something.

Back upstairs, I concentrated on the moments between Kayley and the people around her. Her friends finishing her hair, jewellery going on, make-up being touched up, conversations between sisters and bridesmaids.

Her parents saw her in her dress before she left, and then her bridesmaids did too. Their reactions were lovely.

Just before we finished, a small piece of family fabric was pinned underneath her dress as her something blue. It was a tiny moment, but exactly the kind of thing I always want to notice. Those details often mean much more later than anything I could have arranged myself.

While I was photographing the preparations upstairs, I spotted Alexander’s mum and sister downstairs making very loose bouquets from the flowers that had arrived and getting the house and barn ready for the guests.

I always like to move around during preparations. Of course I want photographs of the bride getting ready, but there is often just as much happening elsewhere. Somebody is arranging flowers, somebody is carrying chairs, somebody is trying to find something that has disappeared. All of those small things become part of the story.

The family had actually had the barn floor done especially for the wedding, so it felt surprisingly smart inside while still keeping all of its character. It was also wonderfully cool, which mattered because it was a very hot day.

The decoration was simple and really pretty. Loose fabric had been looped over the chairs at the ends of the rows with flowers tucked into it. There were wildflowers in jam jars and little bottles, dried rose petals ready for confetti and fans for guests to pick up if they were getting too hot.

There was also an old pot en grès filled with wildflowers, which looked completely at home there.

The ceremony was held in the old barn at the property.

Alexander and his groomsmen waited inside as everyone came in, and Alexander’s mum acted as celebrant. That made the ceremony incredibly personal.

There were two readings, lots of laughter, quite a few tears and vows that Kayley and Alexander had written themselves.

The ring bearer was tiny, still very much a baby, and watching the wedding rings being brought down by somebody that small was one of those moments that was both very sweet and slightly unpredictable. Exactly the sort of thing I love photographing.

After the rings and their first kiss, Kayley and Alexander walked back down the aisle and gave me a rather enthusiastic little kissing dip at the end, which made everyone laugh.

Then one of the groomsmen handed out the dried flower confetti and they came out of the barn through a shower of petals.

The drinks reception was held just outside the barn and it was brilliant.

There was that lovely few minutes after the ceremony when everyone simply wanted to hug and kiss them. I stopped directing anything and just concentrated on what was happening around me.

The barn and reception area had been decorated by Kayley and Alexander with help from their families, and there were so many little details.

The tables were laid with beautiful mismatched china and little bottles filled with loose wildflowers. There was an old piece of furniture, the sort of cabinet you might once have had in a kitchen or dining room, which had been turned into a station for the glasses.

All the glasses were different, and there was a sign telling guests to write their name on whichever one they chose. I loved that.

There was a little bar in one of the sheds, and an old wagon had been covered with cushions and blankets to make a seating area. There was bunting hanging above it, more cushions and blankets on the ground and people naturally gathered there with their drinks.

On the side of the barn was a mirror with “Say Fromage” written on it, which made me laugh every time I walked past it.

There were big paper lanterns in dark pink, pale pink, mint green and white, baskets of flowers, pots of sunflowers and lots of things that looked as though they had simply been gathered from around the house and countryside.

It all worked because nothing was trying too hard.

Once everyone had relaxed into the drinks reception, we did the family photographs. I always try to make those quick. They matter, but nobody wants to spend an hour standing in different combinations while the rest of the wedding carries on without them.

The difficult part that day was finding a background because the ground around the barn was quite hilly. Then I spotted the chicken coop.

It had weathered timber, bunting above it and just enough rustic chaos to fit the rest of the wedding perfectly. So that became our backdrop.

We did the family groups there, kept them relaxed, then I photographed everyone together outside the barn before going straight back to documenting the reception.

Once the formal photographs are done, that is really where I want to be. Watching who is together, who is laughing, who is having a quiet conversation and what is happening around the edges.

The catering was by Hog King, a Welsh family-run team who travel around France doing hog roasts, barbecues and all sorts of outdoor catering.

I spent some time talking to them during the afternoon and photographed the family working together. They were lovely. I have a little bit of Welsh blood myself, so naturally we found plenty to chat about.

Eventually everyone moved back inside the barn for dinner.

Alexander welcomed everyone first, followed by a short, sweet speech from Kayley’s dad.

Then Alexander spoke and had everybody laughing. His speech was warm and heartfelt without becoming overly serious.

His brother, who was also his best man, followed him and got that difficult balance of humour and sentiment exactly right. It went down very well.

I sat down in the barn with the guests for dinner, which I really enjoyed. By that point in a wedding I like feeling as though I am part of the room rather than someone standing at the edge waiting for the next scheduled photograph.

It gives me a chance to get to know people a little, and I think that helps with the photographs too. People stop noticing me quite so much.

And the food was genuinely delicious.

Just before the light disappeared, I asked Kayley and Alexander if I could steal them for about fifteen minutes.

They had both already told me that they hated having their photographs taken. I hear this all the time.

Most people are not used to being photographed and the idea of spending an hour being posed by a stranger sounds fairly awful. I don’t blame them. So I keep this part of the day short.

We started around the barn and then walked down a little lane by the house.

We didn’t get one of those huge, dramatic golden hours, but I found some beautiful warm light coming through the trees and worked with it as it became lower and softer.

I kept the photographs loose and gave them gentle direction when they needed it. I didn’t want them thinking about where to put their hands or whether they were doing something correctly. I wanted them concentrating on each other.

I also think those few minutes gave them a bit of a break. A wedding day is noisy and busy. Everyone wants to speak to you, hug you, congratulate you and ask you something. Sometimes fifteen minutes away from everyone can be quite welcome.

When we finished, both Kayley and Alexander told me that they had actually enjoyed it and hadn’t felt uncomfortable at all.

I showed them a couple of photographs on the back of my camera and they were delighted. For two people who had warned me how much they hated being photographed, that meant a lot.

When we got back, it was time to cut the cake.

True to the rest of the wedding, it was homemade, and Alexander’s mum had certainly decorated it.

She came outside carrying it and said to me, “I don’t know where to put this, Kerry.”

There was an old barrel nearby covered in empty glasses and bottles. So we cleared everything off it, found a little green cloth, borrowed a few flowers from the tables and within a couple of minutes we had made an impromptu cake table.

And it looked completely right.

I actually like helping with things like that.

Of course my job is to take photographs, but after all these years of photographing weddings I think my job is also to notice when something needs sorting before the couple have to think about it.

They are already caught up in everything that is happening. They shouldn’t have to suddenly worry about where the cake is going to go. If I can solve something quickly and quietly, I will.

Kayley and Alexander cut the cake and fed each other some, with varying degrees of elegance, and then it was time for the first dance.

By then all the fairy lights were glowing outside and the coloured paper lanterns that had looked bright and cheerful during the afternoon had turned warm orange in the evening light. It completely changed the atmosphere.

They had their first dance underneath the lights, surrounded by their friends and family, and that was where I finished.

I had a long drive home that night, about three hours through country lanes and winding roads, but I remember thinking as I drove that I had really enjoyed the day.

What stayed with me was the homemadeness of everything. Not homemade because somebody was trying to imitate a grander wedding for less money. Homemade because the people who loved Kayley and Alexander had actually made the wedding with them.

Friends did the hair and make-up. Family arranged the flowers. Alexander’s mum conducted the ceremony. Old bottles became vases. A cabinet became a glass station. A chicken coop became my group photograph backdrop. An old barrel became the cake table.

None of those things came from a wedding brochure, and that was exactly why the day had so much personality.

Kayley and Alexander were an absolute pleasure to photograph, and their friends and family made me feel incredibly welcome.

It was warm, relaxed, funny, emotional and completely their own. Definitely one I will remember.