A stunning late summer wedding with incredible florals! Sharing real couples’ weddings is our favourite thing at English Wedding, and this gorgeous pair had the most amazing day! Sam’s beautiful in an Evelie dress and Jamie looks great in a custom made suit. The happy couple celebrated at Longstowe Hall in Cambridge and give a glowing review for their wedding photographer Damien Vickers!

Wedding photographer’s website

Damien Vickers – https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk/

Wedding photographer review

We cannot recommend Damien highly enough as a wedding photographer. From the first conversation Damien really stood out for his professional, experienced, but also relaxed approach. We chose Damien because of his focus on capturing candid moments as well as getting the more formal shots. Damien was with us for the full day, and expertly captured amazing, memorable moments throughout.

We are two people who don’t feel particularly comfortable in front of the camera, but Damien made sure that we were at ease and enjoying ourselves. The formal photos themselves only took about 15 minutes leaving us to enjoy our time speaking to guests. Rather than stilted couply shots, Damien suggested that we just “go for a walk” around the venue while he photographed. This worked really well and resulted in much more natural looking photos.

We received a “sneak look” of 12 photos within 2 days, and then the full album within the month. Another really nice feature was receiving both the colour and black-white versions of every photograph, leaving us to choose whichever version we preferred. We loved working with Damien!

Longstowe Hall wedding photographer Damien Vickers

Your best moment or memory

Walking down the aisle. Both of us were barely holding it together and couldn’t take our eyes off one another while trying to hold back the tears! We clung onto each other for support the whole way through the ceremony.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

Our speeches – we each did a speech and so did our best man and maid of honour as we wanted it to be gender-balanced!

Venue name + review

Ceremony: Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge Reception: Longstowe Hall
Our caterers – Portfolio Catering – were incredibly responsive, helped us choose a fantastic menu and provided a brilliant service on the day.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

Bride – I wore a classic A-line gown by Sincerity Bridal and bought at Evelie wedding boutique in London. It had beautiful lace detailing and a gorgeous train. I then changed into a white jumpsuit for the dancing! Groom – I had my three-piece suit made in Pakistan when I was visiting Sam when she worked there, and I wore the tie that she gave me for the first birthday of mine we were together for.

Dress or suit shop name + review

Dress – Evelie. They were great, made it a really nice experience choosing my dress with my bridesmaids, and made the whole process of ordering and fitting very easy.

Florist name + review

Clemmie and Twine were stand-out wedding suppliers. From the initial conversations about the kinds of colours and theme that we wanted, to delivering the flowers on the day and clearing up, they were excellent! We weren’t entirely sure what we wanted from our florist so during the initial 1-hour conversation we spoke through our vision for the day, and they advised on how we could invest our flower budget in the most impactful way, including across our two venues. In the end we went for a wildflower theme with “pops of colour” which was absolutely stunning. From the bouquets, to the pocket holes and the table centrepieces, everything was beautifully put together, stayed fresh throughout the day, and for days afterwards. Kelli and Tina were also absolutely lovely throughout the whole process and on the day.

Cake maker name + review

The cake was made by the groom’s sister and was delicious!

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

All the tables had a Polaroid camera so guests could contribute to the photos!

Wedding readings?

Both our mums did the readings which was very special for us. The two readings were 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and an excerpt from The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach.

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Our first dance was Your Song by Elton John, played by our wonderful band, The Kings of Soul who we would highly recommend. Playlist recommendations – start with anything upbeat and classic that gets the guests on the dance floor (young and old), and ensure a mix of songs throughout – we had lots of classics and noughties hits and our band did some excellent medleys!
Kings of Soul were fantastic, had the dance floor packed the entire time and really helped us with our playlist as well!

Hair + makeup name + review

Ellie Norman – Ellie was excellent. She was incredibly attentive and organized, setting up a trial multiple months ahead so we could test my ideas out and see what worked best. She was happy to tweak my final look on the big day and did a wonderful job creating the style I wanted.