Healey Barn - Melissa and Alex

Laughter, fun and emotion, warm people with warm hearts, stunning light for a late afternoon walk in the woods and a wonderfully atmospheric venue.  All words that go together to describe Melissa and Alex's wedding at Healy Barn last year.

Handing over to Melissa to let her tell us about their day...

How did you meet? How did he propose? What is your story?: 'Alex and I met at secondary school; he was 2 years older than me and once I got his attention we were inseparable. We were childhood sweethearts! 9 years later we bought our first home and I never thought Alex was actually going to propose. But in 2015, on a very wet and windy holiday in the lake district; he got down on one knee and proposed. I cried and cannot even remember saying yes but it was perfect.'

What was the inspiration behind your wedding?: 'We always wanted a very relaxed and laid back affair and Healey Barn was actually the only venue we visited. We loved the setting and rustic nature of the barn and booked it straight away. We didn't want a traditional wedding and Healey Barn was the perfect escape from this. We chose not to have a specific theme for our day but the tables were each named after a family from Game of Thrones - the head table obviously being Stark.'

What was the most memorable or your favorite part of your wedding day?: 'We loved absolutely every minute of our wedding day from getting ready, seeing Alex waiting for me at the end of the aisle and enjoying the company of all of our family and friends. Our favourite part was dancing to our amazing wedding band on the evening.'

Why was photography important to you and why did you choose 2tone Photography ?: 'We both agreed that this was the most important choice to us as we wanted the pictures to be perfect and capture the memories forever. We met Nigel and Chrissie at a wedding fair at Healey Barn and loved their work and how they managed to capture natural moments rather than any forced poses. They are both very friendly and we felt at ease with them, which was so important for our wedding day as we wanted everything to be relaxed. We like the fact that it was a husband and wife partnership and they work so well together, each capturing different moments for us to look back on. They were excellent to work with and cannot thank them enough, everyone was so impressed with them on the day! The pictures they captured are amazing and their attention to detail made it really difficult to narrow the pictures down for the album.'

What is your favorite part of being married now?: 'We are expecting our first child next year and we are looking forward to raising a family of our own. We cannot wait for all of the exciting moments we are going to share in future.'

Do you have any advice for brides and grooms who are currently in the planning process?: 'We planned everything very gradually and did not feel stressed or worried about it at all. The best thing to do is remember that it is your wedding day and therefore choose what you want and pick what will make you happy. It should be an enjoyable planning process trying on suits / dresses and eating plenty of wedding cake! The day goes unbelievably fast so make sure you both enjoy it and take a moment to yourselves to take it all in.'

Venue: Healey Barn

Venue styling: Emma Bunting

The wedding dress: Mori Lee

The men's suits: Moss Bros

Wedding cake: Dreamworld Cakes

Flowers: Healey Flowers

Hair and Make up: Hair - Kerry Mobile Hairdressing. Make Up - Lucy Matthews Make-Up Artist.

Entertainment: The Emerald Thieves

Photobooth: Limelight Photobooth

Light up letters: Coco Luminaire

Transport: Lovedub Cars

Middleton Lodge - Claire and Dan

It was another beautiful winters day for Claire and Dan's January wedding at Middleton Lodge.  This fantastically fun couple spared no expense to make sure that their guests were entertained throughout the entire day.  A visit from Primo the robot (from don't tell the bride) was there to greet their guests into the wedding breakfast.  The beautifully decorated marquee featured floral displays alongside fun disney themed table decor and festive snowflake garlands and festoon lights were strung up here and there.  The giant disco ball heart from luxlumina stood pride of place on the dance floor and the huge firework display ended the day with a bang!

Here are a few of our favourites from their big day...

Horton Grange - Joanne and Liam

This weekend will see Nigel and I at Horton Grange photographing for Danielle and Daniel so while we get ready for the big event, I though it would be nice to take a look back to the last time we were there.  

It had been some years since our previous visit to Horton Grange and so it was wonderful to revisit to capture Joanne and Liam's wedding day last October - to look at the place with new eyes and to be re-inspired by this lovely wedding venue.

Joanne and Liam chose to keep their wedding ceremony very intimate, with only their closet family and friends present with the rest of their loved ones joining them a little later for their wedding breakfast and evening party.  The couple's portraits were very important to them so they gave us lots of time to photograph them together throughout the venue and grounds before we left them a little earlier than normal to party the night away.  We loved every moment photographing for this great couple. 

Here are a few from their day...