Fay & Chris asked me to be their East Sussex – and West Sussex Wedding Photographer after meeting me at a small wedding fayre in 2012. I say the wedding crossed into both counties as the wedding ceremony took place at the Holy Cross Church in Uckfield, while the wedding reception took place at the Felbridge Hotel and Spa in East Grinstead.

From the getgo, everything about Chris and Fay’s big day was F U N! I met Fay, her mum and bridesmaids (including Fay’s sister and daughter) at the hair salon where they were having hair and make up. Despite a few hiccups along the way, such as a downpour on the way home – and my managing to pick up a puncture on my car between the salon and Fay’s home, hairstyles survived intact and the rest of the day went off without a hitch! And indeed, here’s another advantage to always working with a lighting assistant (my second shooter on this occasion was the brilliant Soven Amatya) – I was able to get picked up en route, and still make it to where we needed to be!

Weddings are usually very joyous occasions, but I can honestly say, there was so much laughter on the day that it just seems to jump off the pictures. I also was really touched about how Fay and Chris made the event so much about them all as a family, including their son and daughter all the way through the day.

A pink cadillac drove the bride and groom from the wedding ceremony at Holy Cross Church to their wedding reception at the Felbridge Hotel and Spa. Felbridge is a fabulous wedding venue in East Grinstead – awarded 4 black stars, which is the highest accolade available to wedding venues. Fay and Chris had put a lot of thought into every element of their day – including entertaining their guests with a magician and a caricature artist before the wedding breakfast, and possibly the best table names I’ve ever encountered. The speeches were another genius element – it’s fairly unusual for the bride to give a speech, but when she hands over to the band for the lead singer to ‘sing’ her speech to the groom, written using alternative words to a favourite song – Chris’s reaction was just priceless. Finally, the traditional first dance quickly gave way to an amazingly choreographed routine involving the entire bridal party…. in the best possible sense, this is not a wedding that I will ever forget! Thought I could absolutely have done without fixing the puncture before making my way home… 😉

It was such an honour to document Chris and Fay’s special day for them – may they always have the cheekiness, mischief and laughter in their lives that they had on their wedding day.

I hope you enjoy the photos – Contact Me today if you would like to discuss photography for your own wedding.

By John Erskine

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