Same sex wedding at The Ashes

I was super thrilled when Sophie and Anika booked me for their same sex wedding at The Ashes, near Leek in Staffordshire.

Not only is The Ashes one of my favourite venues to work at, but when I had a Skype meeting with the Anika and Sophie they were describing all the little unique touches to their wedding with such enthusiasm I had no doubt it was going to be a super day.

With Anika being from America and Sophie from the UK they each had some of their own ideas and traditions to bring to the table; from Gnomes to Lego to Hogwarts to Jumping the broom..this wedding had it all!

One of the American traditions is called the first look. This is where the couple meet in private before the ceremony to see each other for the first time, and boy was this an emotional first look! It was so apparent at this point just how much in love Anika and Sophie are that it was easy to become engrossed in the emotion yourself.

Another tradition Anika brought to the party was Jumping the broom, this is popular with people of African/African-American descent and pays homage to their ancestors. You can read more about this on wiki here.

Another wonderful twist was that the wedding was actually officiated by one of the couples friends rather than a registrar. In America anyone can officiate a wedding after taking a short online course and its very popular to ask a dear friend conduct the service.

Obviously in the UK we’re a stickler for rules and formality so the couple had their “official” service in a registry office beforehand to make things legal. It really was fantastic having a friend conduct the service, so much more relaxed and personal.

As always the team at The Ashes were able to accommodate every request to these breaks in tradition and once again host a perfect wedding for another happy couple.

If you’re planning a wedding at The Ashes and would like relaxed and natural wedding photography please do get in touch to talk about your day.