Carina and Damo’s Ettington Park Wedding photography 

On this grey January day I want to bring you a bit of wedding joy and tell you all about the gorgeous and love-filled wedding of Carina and Damo.

This lovely couple were married back in October 2021 at the beautiful Ettington Park Hotel. I love this local Warwickshire venue, it’s got such unusual architecture, with huge brick turrets and neo-gothic arches, it really looks like a fairytale castle.

Carina and Damo had chosen it as their wedding venue because of its location; just outside Stratford-upon-Avon, it’s got plenty of rural charm, but it’s in a brilliant place when you’ve got guests arriving from every corner of the Europe and even further afield, Cornwall.

Carina and Damo both work in the world of super yachts, which totally fascinates me, it’s glamorous on a whole new level! I’d first met them at Ettington Park Hotel back in 2018, when they’d come to the Midlands to check out suppliers and plan their wedding for 2020. We’d really hit it off and I’d spent ages grilling them about the luxury lifestyle of super yacht billionaires!

Theirs was one of the first weddings that I knew of to be cancelled because of the pandemic; many of their guests were travelling from overseas, and as flights became more and more difficult to navigate in the early months of 2020, they’d made the decision to delay. Almost two years later, I could tell that Carina and Damo were absolutely thrilled that their wedding day had finally arrived – they’re such a loved-up couple, and their excitement for the big day was infectious.

The morning of the wedding was a lovely occasion as Carina and Damo’s guests started to arrive. Carina’s Dutch, and her family were coming from the Netherlands, with many of Damo’s family travelling from Cornwall, so getting them all in one place was no mean feat and it was clear that everyone was delighted to be united after such a long time apart.

There was mild cause for concern when I met Carina’s beautiful bridesmaids – I’d describe my height as ‘modest’ but Karina and her friends are all statuesque beauties! I did wonder if I’d need to employ a sturdy box, or a few copies of the yellow pages, to get the shots I needed throughout the day. Carina proudly told me, in fact, that Dutch women are the tallest in the world! I started to feel smaller and smaller as more and more very tall and beautiful bridesmaids turned up but I think I managed to do them justice in the photos! 

Carina’s bridesmaids arrived with hair and make up sorted, so there wasn’t too much last minute prep to do, and since the entire day’s events were being held at Ettington Park Hotel, I was able to nip out from Carina’s bridal suite and see Damo greet his guests too. The families and guests had plenty of time to chat and share stories – they had a lot of catching up to do, having flown in from all around the world and with the separations of the last two years behind them.

Carina and Damo’s wedding was at the end of October, and the weather was just incredible! In a way, despite all the cancellations and postponements, Carina and Damo got the wedding they had hoped for all along – their original wedding date had been in the late spring, when this is the sort of weather we all cross our fingers for! What luck to have the sun beaming down on them, on this late October afternoon. Guests enjoyed the sunshine before the wedding ceremony, looking out over Ettington Park’s beautiful grounds.

The start of the wedding ceremony is usually a time when grooms are waiting nervously at the top of the aisle, trying to resist the urge to chew their fingernails or tap their toes, but Damo and his groomsmen were feeling a lot more relaxed than many grooms, and I enjoyed listening to them share stories of their youth in Cornwall – many of which are not repeatable in this blog! Damo’s mum enjoyed reminiscing about these teenage japes as well, and by the time Carina arrived looking beautiful in her gown, there was a very smiley and giggly atmosphere in the room.

After a beautiful ceremony, the wedding guests headed back outside into the blazing sunshine. The grounds at Ettington Park are really romantic, with ruins, a ha-ha, and rolling fields stretching out into the distance making the perfect backdrop for the day.

Carina and Damo had arranged for some entertainment following the ceremony, a ‘mystery guest’ who blended in with the other wedding guests but kept wowing them with his incredible magic tricks and mind-reading abilities! Carina’s Dutch friends and family especially enjoyed the show and his impressive talents had some jaws dropping right to the floor!

This meant there were plenty of opportunities for lovely candid shots of Carina and Damo’s wedding guests, and that’s exactly what the couples that book me are looking for – natural shots that capture the spirit and atmosphere of the day. Carina was also keen to make sure we had the opportunity to shoot some creative portraits, another mode I really enjoy working in. It was really important to her to have some impressive and beautiful shots of the two of them that they could treasure forever, and so we ducked out to get some shots of the newlyweds around the venue, in all its autumn splendour. 

As the sun went down, I made sure to capture the glory of Ettington Park in the dark – it looks so spectacular all lit up, and makes a beautiful backdrop for some real ‘wow’ portraits. 

Before too long, it was time to head back inside, and unbeknownst to me and their guests, Carina and Damo had been practicing their moves! They made a big entrance onto a Mickey Mouse design dancefloor, filled with dry ice for added drama, and their friends and family eagerly looked on as Damo span, lifted, and twisted his new bride around the dancefloor. What a fitting end to a spectacular day! Thanks for letting me (finally) be part of it all, cant wait to see you on thr yacht ;) 

 

IF YOUR LOOKING FOR A ETTINGTON PARK WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER , THEN CONTACT ME TODAY TO DISCUSS.