It was a rainy summers day in Manchester (aren’t they all?) when I first met Kiki and Ming, a couple of months before their wedding at Combermere Abbey in Cheshire. We had a coffee at Dukes and talked weddings and cameras for a bit. These two are such a great couple and were a little nervous about having their photo taken. I know how they feel! But they enjoy each others company so much and have this connection that’s a bit contagious. We deliberated about going out in the rain but decided to give it a go anyway. Needless to say it was a lot of fun.

Combermere Abbey Wedding Photography

Combermere abbey is a truly stunning wedding venue with a lot of history. It’s set in a huge estate with woods, gardens and an organic farm. There are numerous buildings including the Glasshouse, various cottages and the Abbey itself, looking out over Comber Mere. It’s roughly on the border between Cheshire and Shropshire. I had been looking forward to this for a while, and having met Kiki and Ming previously, I knew it was going to be a great day. It did rain quite a lot I have to say, what with it being British Summer Time. But that didn’t spoil what was a fantastic occasion and a lively party atmosphere from the off.

 

 

Ceremony, portraits and Speeches

The wedding ceremony itself took place in the Glasshouse and Kiki arrived via a walk through the walled gardens and orchard. It was a great wedding ceremony, conducted by Cheshire Registration Service. After all of the confetti had been thrown we took a short trip down to the lake for a few minutes of portraits before heading into the Pavillion for the wedding breakfast and speeches. There were speeches from several guests including friends of the bride and groom. Speeches were accompanied by some crazy video messages and fun photographs which sparked great reactions from the crowd, and particularly Kiki and Ming.

In the evening there was a photobooth provided by Liverpool Photobooth company, Smileomatic as well as some singing and dancing from the wedding party, in particular, a whole group dance after the first dance and later, a song from the groom and ushers. The night was rounded off with sparklers, more shots, and more dancing. All in all, it was a truly brilliant wedding day. It was also a pleasure to be accompanied by Adam from Adam Wing Films. Even though he didn’t bring any chocolate.

More about this wedding from the Bride and Groom

We chose Combermere Abbey because it was modern and allowed flexibility of how we wanted it to look and feel. We loved the fruit maze. The venue wasn’t too far from our home and also gave us the option of renting out the on-site cottages for our guests.

The icing on the cake was the stay at the North Tower on our wedding night. Butler service and a whole wing of the abbey to ourselves. It made us feel super pampered.
What was the theme/look of your day? Why did you choose this theme/look? No particular theme. I wasn’t going for anything extravagant. We had a very slight Disney theme running through – table names were named after places in Disney films and our cake topper was based on the couple from “Up”.

What decorations did you have? Did you make any of them yourself?
We had trees provided by Woodyatt Warner as our table centre piece. I didn’t make any decorations myself but my sisters had a guestbook similar to the adventure book from “Up” made for us.

What colours did you choose, and why?
We like neutral colours. Groomsmen were dressed in blue and bridesmaids were grey. Flowers were light blue.

Did you use flowers to decorate?
Yes, provided by chloe Robinson designsng to create?

The Dress

My dress was bought from Hong Kong. I previously worked in Hong Kong and like many of my friends we have the luxury of choosing made to measure dresses. I tried on several designs and then decided on what looked good on me. I had no set style in mind.

What jewellery/accessories and shoes did you wear? Who designed them?
I wore blue cobalt Jimmy Choo Romy shoes. Diamond earrings were from my mum and my friends bought me a Swarovski bracelet to wear on the day.

What did the groom wear and who was it by?
French connection suit

What did the bridesmaids wear, and did they have any accessories? ANSWER:
They all wore custom grey dresses from Hong Kong

The Reception

We had a drinks reception at the glass house at Combermere abbey. The food was provided by olive tree catering (who were fab – everyone said it was delicious). Drinks were provided by gorilla events

I walked down the aisle to my cousin playing the piano – a Pachelbel canon/ed Sheeran – perfect mash up. The music during the reception was a playlist my sisters and I had made with a few of our favourite songs. We had a similar playlist playing during our wedding breakfast. We had a live band at night who were absolutely great.
We also had a photobooth –smileomatic. I can only say great things about their service. The props are of highest quality. The photos were of equal high standard.

What was your first dance song? Was it choreographed?
First dance song – Ed Sheeran and Christina Perri – Be My Forever. It was partly choreographed with a mix of jive and foxtrot and then we asked our friends to learn a few moves and to jump onto the dance floor.

I’d really love to shoot some Combermere Abbey wedding photography again soon, so pleased get in touch if you like what you see and have a wedding coming up at this stunning venue.