Missenden Abbey Wedding – Claire & James

Hyde Heath Church & Missenden Abbey

I recently attended Claire and James’s fabulous summer wedding at the tiny church of St.Andrews in Hyde Heath, followed by their reception at the nearby Missenden Abbey. This proved to be such a magical and fun packed day!

The stunningly beautiful Missenden Abbey needs no introduction from me, this gorgeous historic venue has been a regular stomping ground for me over the past 20 years! Even though I return to this wonderful venue regularly, each and every time it totally takes my breath away with its striking architecture and landscaped gardens.

No doubt this is one of the smallest churches in Buckinghamshire, so some seriously creative thinking was needed by Claire and James to fit so many guests in!

They opted to construct a marquee extension to seat all of their guests for the ceremony! Space was still very tight as everyone crammed in to witness the marriage of this popular couple.

As a result of the configuration and sheer number of guests, I don’t think I’ve ever dashed from the front door to the back door of a church so many times in all of my career. With no aisle space inside the packed marquee, I was outdoors using the discreet side entrance of the church, followed by a short step over a flower border between a gap in the marquee to gain access to the front area of the church extension!

Instead of grabbing a discreet hiding spot inside the church (there were none) or walking my usual 10-15 metres between shots, I was dashing 3-4 times further around the outside of the church to ensure I captured the many crucial moments during the ceremony.  Sure I was huffing & puffing a little, but I just made sure no one noticed!

I just loved the images I captured in the confetti aisle after the ceremony, the reactions of the newlyweds and their guests are priceless! Add to the mix some blue skies and a sea of colourful confetti for what proved to be some of my favourite pictures from the day.

Bringing movement as much as possible into my pictures really makes the images come alive!

I enjoyed capturing the drinks reception on the lawns of Missenden Abbey. Meandering between the guests seeking out candid photo opportunities is always one the best opportunities on the day for fun reportage imagery.

It wasn’t long before I was now onto the group shots for Claire and James, they asked me to keep these as relaxed as possible. And as always, the backdrops at the abbey didn’t disappoint. In every direction at Missenden Abbey, the views are truly fabulous for photo opportunities.

At every wedding I go for a stroll with the newlyweds to visit some of the venue’s finest backdrops. At the abbey this takes in the distant views across the landscape, the majestic 500 year old cedar tree, the River Misbourne, & the rustic hidden away summerhouse.

As the be expected at this lively wedding, the speeches were fabulous from each of the speakers. As the saying goes – ‘an image is worth a thousand words’ – so I’ll leave it to you to imagine what’s being said in this capture!

Most couples who book me request some of my signature floodlit night shots, and I have to say I’m always challenging myself to try new backdrops. In this instance I’ve opted for the abbey’s summerhouse, this was a first for me after nightfall (after 120 weddings at the abbey). Claire and James were thrilled with the resulting image, in fact they opted to feature this one image on a double page spread within their wedding album.

Without my special lighting in place this entire small building and trees would have been shrouded in complete darkness!

To conclude my attendance on the day, I captured about an hour of the lively dancing in the marquee. Heaven knows where these guys got their energy from, but boy they knew how to let their hair down! From an energetic dancing vicar to some break dancing from the groom, my camera was worked silly!

As you’ve seen in these pictures, the lovely Claire & James really knew how to throw a damn good party, I just wish I could share more images with you in this blog post! The smiles and laughter were evident in almost every picture from their magical wedding day.

Mark Sisley was absolutely amazing. He captured our special day perfectly. The professionalism was impeccable , Mark worked very hard and was not intrusive at all. The photos he took are beautiful and have captured the ambiance of the day. All our guests said how amazing he was and we have everyone present laughing, happy and enjoying themselves in our photos.

Mark was fantastic at taking impromptu and difficult shots that just look amazing. He stayed all day and it was so lovely to look back on pictures of our day that we hadn’t seen . We cannot recommend him highly enough.

Here’s Few Extras From The Day