I have not laughed so hard as I did at this wedding, and the Green House Hotel in Bournemouth was a perfect location for such an awesome day.

Jemma & Chris live in Australia, but they came back to the UK to have their special day. With such a wonderful group of family and friends the day was set to become one of the best weddings of the year so far. In fact, this year has been one of the best with back-to-back great weddings across the country.

The day started with a room packed full of bridesmaids (6 in total) plus bride and brides mother. I’m used to photographing bridal preparations, but right from the outset – I knew this day was going to be fun. The hair and makeup was perfect, and I am still amazed at how quickly all 8 of the ladies were finished. The threat of rain lasted only a short time, a little shower here and there before brightening for the main event. We had ideas to go down to the beach for some shots later in the day, and I did not want to miss out on this.

I’m pretty sure that Chris was not prepared for Jemma’s arrival in to the room. For a moment, it looked like he was gong to hold it together – but he cracked – and I got the shot too. With most civil ceremonies, the legal bit is over pretty quickly and we could not wait to get outside – and a few people could not wait for the drinks either. There was only a few of the traditional formal shots to do, and despite the rain putting in an appearance for 10 minutes, we spent most of the time in the gardens of the Green House Hotel.

There was plenty of time for mingling, relaxing and chatting with guests before the food was served at the wedding breakfast. What Jemma did not know was that as a surprise, Lola turned up. The highlight of the day was, without doubt, heading down to the beach for some truly awesome photos. The weather was just perfect, blue skies, just a few white clouds and some wind to get the dress flowing. We got some truly amazing photos on the pier, the beach, with Lola and with the whole wedding party.

The day was finished off with one of the best evening parties (sorry – rave) that I have been to for a wedding. Talk about jumping! With a live performance by one of the best rap artists from Germany, I have not seen a wedding party rock like this for a long, long time.

Special thanks to Jemma & Chris for a wonderful day.