Woodland Wedding Photography

I always get excited when I get the chance of Woodland Wedding Photography at Umberslade Adventure (a.k.a. Enchanting Woodland Weddings). It’s definitely one of my favourite places to photograph! Every time I go, there is such a relaxed party atmosphere with zero stuffiness! All fun, without the formalities… I mean, what wedding venues have you been to where there is a zipline? Please do read on…. while I must send a massive congratulations to Adam & Georgia! …sorry it has taken a while to get your blog online. 🙂

About Adam & Georgia…

1) Please tell me how you first met?
We worked in a bar together for a couple of years and became friends and things just went from there really. When we met I was dead set on emigrating to Australia and so a relationship was the furthest thing from my mind. We became friends and Adam was one of the few people I kept in contact with whilst I was travelling. I came back and we started working together again and slowly, slowly our friendship turned into something more… If you’d have told me when I first met Adam that we’d end up married I would have never believed it, but here we are!

Umberslade Adventure Wedding Photographer

Umberslade Adventure Wedding Photographers

Umberslade Adventure Wedding Photography

2) When was it you knew they were the one?

It sort of snuck up on me really. Our whole relationship took me by surprise, as I was convinced we were just friends and it took quite a while for me to figure out that maybe it was a little bit more than that… When we first got together I was still planning to move once I was qualified, and so never really thought about a future together. At the time I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life in the UK, and over time that sorted of shifted. It feels weird to remember that at one point I felt like that, as now I couldn’t imagine anything but life here, well at least until we retire anyway!

3) Could you give us the story of the proposal?

Adam had bought us plane tickets to the Philippines for my birthday. As usual, he always goes a little over the top with presents…

It turns out that he had an elaborate plan to propose over a lookout in the ‘Chocolate Hills’ which would have been incredibly romantic, but as usual, I threw a spanner in the works… In the car on the way, we had a huge bust-up and I was absolutely not talking to him by the time we got there, and we marched up to the lookout in moody silence. Needless to say, he didn’t think that would be an ideal moment.

Instead, he proposed on the beach after dinner one night. It was nothing wildly elaborate or over the top, but it was perfectly Adam- just quiet and peaceful. He didn’t quite manage to even ask the question, he just fumbled a ring our of his pocket and said, “So I’ve been thinking about it and…” I always tease him that he should have held his nerve for another day, as the day after we took a boat around the islands of the Philippines which has the most unimaginably beautiful scenery and was the perfect day with just the two of us.

4) If you don’t mind sharing, can you tell me something quirky, funny or silly about your partner?

Adam cannot do anything by halves. He’s generally quite reserved and his version of excitement is barely discernible to most people, but give him a job or a hobby or anything really, and he’ll do go to town. So, for example… We went on holiday to Egypt. I absolutely love the sea and would happily spend all day in the ocean, but Adam, on the other hand, can’t even stand seawater in his mouth. So I convinced him to go snorkelling- his version of this was lying belly down on a jetty with just his face in the water. A few weeks later, he’s decided he wants to do a scuba diving course (in a quarry, in the UK, in February, I mean talk about easing yourself in…), then an advanced scuba diving course, and then before I know it he’s waking me up at 4.30am so we can go diving with sharks at sunrise. Everything Adam does is full-on and to the extreme, which is infuriating and endearing in equal measure.

5) What is your perfect day together?

Waking up early on a Sunday, and going to see my horses with coffee and breakfast from the garage on the way (which Adam swears do the best breakfast baguette) Then a drive, (Adam driving, me DJ’ing our favourite Tomorrowland tracks) to take our dog somewhere for the day like the beach. Back to tuck the horses up for the night, then home for Adam to cook a Sunday dinner with a few beers and some impromptu dancing around our kitchen (badly) before we sit down for the night with dinner with a film on and the log burner going.

6) Apart from the obvious, what are you most looking forward to on your wedding day?

There’s so many… Firstly, my mom has made our dog the cutest bow tie and cuffs and I literally can’t wait to see him all dressed up! I’m also really looking forward to seeing the tipi’s all decorated- our florists have been amazing with so many ideas, and they’re decorating on Saturday morning, so I won’t get a chance to see it until we get there for our reception.

Finally, and probably most looking forward to Adam’s speech. He told me for the longest time he absolutely was not doing a speech after I inadvertently offended him about public speaking, so up until 2 weeks before I was fully expecting him to be sat in silence whilst I fumbled my way through a speech (well, at least one of us would have to say a few words) cracking jokes only myself and my dad would find funny (it turns out an incredibly dry sense of humour is genetic)… He’s now admitted that he is doing a speech, so I’m excited to hear what he has to say and proud that he’s pushing himself out of his comfort zone.

7) What was it that inspired you to go for the theme or the decor you chose for your wedding?

I don’t know if we really have a theme, it’s just a collection of things we like I guess, but I’ve always loved being outdoors, and knew I didn’t want to spend the day in a stuffy hotel, so when I saw the venue and it was only 10 minutes from home I was set! Everything else sort of fell in after that, but we were never too strict with a theme, for example, my dress does not look like it should be in a woodland wedding, and the cake doesn’t scream outdoors, but who cares!

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 brides reading this blog?

As important as the little details are, no one is really that bothered what colour your napkins are, so don’t spend hours agonising over the little details… Or just save yourself a whole load of hassle and elope!

9) When searching, what were you were looking for in a wedding venue?

Something different. We’ve been to a couple of hotel weddings and whilst they were lovely, they weren’t us. I’m definitely an outdoorsy person and originally wanted to get married outside, until Adam pointed out the unpredictability of the British weather. A woodland venue with a tipi was literally the only thing that would deter me from getting married abroad, which whilst would be lovely, would obviously limit the people we could enjoy the day with. The fact that the venue was local was important- most of our friends and family are local (with a couple of exceptions), so we didn’t see the point in making everyone trek to somewhere a fair distance away, which just seemed like an extra hassle.

10) Could you tell me the process you went through when you were looking for a wedding photographer?

My dad and I met Duncan at a wedding fair at Umberslade Adventure, and I was blown away by Duncan’s gorgeous photos in the woods. The lighting looked amazing, and some of your ideas worked so well and were things I never would have thought of… When we were first looking I was very cost-conscious, and so we had originally booked a different photographer, but I just kept comparing everyone’s photos to Duncan’s and they didn’t come close. After several people had said that the photos were the only thing that lasted we decided that it wasn’t worth a bit of a saving, so went and booked Duncan Cox Photography anyway, our previous deposit be damned!