Another amazing wedding from Enchanting Woodlands Weddings!!

What’s not to love about photographing a super cool wedding in an amazing location? Beautiful wedding photography comes easy when you get the chance to attend an Enchanting Woodland Wedding at Umberslade Adventure in the West Midlands. This is my second time visiting Umberslade Adventure and I can’t wait to go again. It is amazing!! Congratulations to Kathryn & Craig! You were both very chilled and easy to get along with throughout. I wish you all the best or your future journey together! 

Their Love Story

1) Please tell me how you first met? 
We first got chatting on a popular online app, we’d both been attracted by the other’s travel photos and soon hit it off talking about different places in the world we had been to. Craig was just about to head off to Australia so we kept in touch while he was away and arranged a date when he got back. We went to a bar in Brindley Place in Birmingham, I was late due to the snow, he was early and a couple of wines in by the time I arrived. We had a few drinks and chatted like old friends until the lights came on for the end of the evening.

2) When was it you knew they were the one?
Well, we can narrow this particular moment down to our first weekend away together and a rather awkward car journey to Woolacombe, Devon! I had managed to get a plus one invite for my friend, Kelly’s, wedding by telling her that Craig was my boyfriend…but it occurred to me on the way there, that I probably ought to mention it to Craig…before someone else did! So in an extremely embarrassing conversation, I confessed…and, naturally, Craig found the whole thing incredibly amusing! We spent the most wonderful weekend in Woolacombe and from that moment we were both pretty set. We go back to Woolacombe every year and it will always be special for us.

3) Could you give us the story of the proposal?
We had been discussing getting married for a while and had even taken a trip to the Jewelry Quarter to look at what style engagement rings we both liked. Even so, the proposal itself was still a massive surprise and shock; I had no idea he had been back to buy the exact ring we were looking at. We were camping at Polkerris in Cornwall and had just set up the tent and took a walk down to the beach. Craig was pacing and as the sun went down I turned around and he was down on one knee. It was the perfect day.

4) What is your perfect day together?
We enjoy anything – from lazy days on the sofa and a takeaway to going up to the peaks and hiking for the day. We love discovering new places and often go out for the day to just enjoy each other’s company, usually eating something delicious and drinking a new brand of gin.

6) Apart from the obvious, what are you most looking forward to on your wedding day?
Now that it’s after the wedding day I think the best thing for us was getting to celebrate with all of our friends and family, from our friends who live a 5 minute walk away to friends who flew in from China and America to spend the day with us, it was special to have everyone in the same place celebrating with us.

7) What was it that inspired you to go for the theme or the decor you chose for your wedding?
We knew we wanted something very chilled and the décor to have a rustic, relaxed feel. We made a lot of the décor ourselves: the seating plan we printed and made, the pallet order of the day, the table centrepiece logs were from a tree on one of Craig’s sites and were his pride an joy once sanded and waxed. The gin bottles were each lovingly drained of gin (definitely the hardest task), my mum and bridesmaids arranged the flowers and we collected bits and pieces throughout the planning process. My Dad and Craig made the tripod arch at the end of the aisle out of logs they found in the wood the day before – it was amazing!

8) Please tell me one thing you wish you had known at the beginning of your wedding planning process, that you could pass on to future bride’s reading this blog?
The small things aren’t worth the stress – whatever happens the day will be perfect. Take a minute on the day – easier said than done – to reflect on what you have created, it’s over before you know it.

9) When searching, what were you were looking for in a wedding venue?
We definitely knew we wanted to get married outside as we both love the outdoors and spend lots of our spare time outside and we knew we wanted something completely different. I’d always had a dream of a woodland wedding and so the hunt was on. We compromised on the venue not having a license as what we wanted was quite unique and so got married legally a couple of weeks prior with our immediate family present which was a lovely way of ticking the legal box. We searched the internet for the perfect woodland when a colleague at work mentioned Umberslade Adventure – she had seen a wedding being set up when she was there with her son. So we had a look on the internet and then met Emma who showed us around. It was perfect – the woodland was dense with a beautiful clearing for ceremonies and an area for a Tipi, plus a low ropes course for good measure. We booked that afternoon for the one available date – Craig’s birthday.

10) Could you tell me the process you went through when you were looking for a wedding photographer? 
Neither of us are very photography savvy and so didn’t really know what we were looking for. We searched through many different portfolios to find the right style. We wanted someone who could catch the natural moments throughout the day without too much posing – neither of us enjoys being the centre of attention too much. I was looking at the venue’s Facebook page one day and saw photos of exactly what we wanted our photos to look like, the light and the wood were caught so beautifully, the venue is so green and beautiful we wanted someone who could easily catch this. The photos we saw were Duncan’s and so we got in touch and now we couldn’t be happier with our choice. Our photos are everything we wanted them to be and looking at them I don’t know how he got them all – he must have been running through the trees to get all the different angles. On the day Duncan was so lovely and at times we didn’t even notice him. He caught beautiful moments of ours but also beautiful moments from our guests, he has an eye for a special moment and captured them so beautifully. One of our guests asked if he was a family friend as he was so friendly and mixed well with all our friends. I could not have wished for anyone better to capture our day or more beautiful photos!

Suppliers

Photography | Duncan Cox Photography
Ceremony Location | Enchanted Woodland Weddings, Umberslade Adventure, Hockley Heath.
Celebrant: Laura Gimson, Humanists UK
Reception Location | Enchanted Woodland Weddings, Umberslade Adventure, Hockley Heath.
Florist | Snapdragon’s Florist, West Bromwich
Wedding Planner | Ourselves
Wedding Band | We Have You Covered
Dress Designer | Lillian West

 

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