We were so excited when Ieva and James decided to book a couple/engagement shoot but even more excited when they decided to book it in September. Ieva has the most GORGEOUS auburn hair and we knew against the autumnal leaves it was going to look phenomenal.

We caught up with Ieva and James to tell you all about their wedding plans and how they found the shoot.

Where did you meet?

We met in a house share!  James moved to Norfolk from Edinburgh after uni, he’d lived in the house for almost a year, and shortly after starting working, I moved into Norwich. I went to view the house, and the first thing I saw were enormous trainers by the door (size 14…). James wasn’t home but he was told a ginger girl who buys loads of vegetables viewed the house (I asked about fridge space.. obvs..).

A few months after I moved in we entered lockdown and naturally started spending a lot of time together in the house. We knew it was risky and had no idea how it would end, but we went with the flow and eventually, things were official. We’ve been living together longer than we have been together, it really was like having a best friend with you all the time. 

Tell us about the proposal!

Our proposal felt so intimate. I had no idea it was going to happen which is funny because I woke up having had a dream James proposed.. I shared my dream with him and told him I hated the ring he picked which looking back probably filled him with dread 😀

James was going away for Christmas, I had to work over the festive period, so we decided to have an early Christmas day just the two of us. We went out to our favourite brunch spot (shout out Cafe 33 in Norwich), and went for a walk in the woods on the winter solstice. We got to our favourite woodland walk, and we were the only car there. We started our walk and I immediately teased “ooh are you going to propose?” but we laughed it off and continued, me thinking nothing more of it. We walked for a long time, just doing our usual and chatting, I then started wondering why James kept leading me down dead ends and corners we knew led to nowhere.

I turned around, and he got on one knee and popped the question. Unlike the dream I had the night before, the ring immediately felt like I’d had it forever and straight away was my favourite thing. Arguably, we did nothing we wouldn’t normally do on any other day off we had together, nothing about it outwardly was “special” except it ended up being our favourite day we’ve had together yet. 

This couple shoot malarkey, how did that work out for you?

We didn’t plan on having an engagement shoot, we never saw the point of them (sorry guys!!!)

But oohhhhhhhhh lawdy are we glad we did one! Booking it was the easiest thing ever, so simple. We were able to get used to what it was like having our photos done and receiving instruction which was so much less intimidating than we thought it would be. We now have gorgeous pictures of us together, and we got to spend time with the people who would be capturing our most special moments and that in itself felt really important. No brainer in the end! James and I aren’t naturally photo people.. But the evening was so much fun.

So, where is the big day happening?

We are having our day at Manor Mews near Fakenham, a lovely cosy barn wedding. There’s loads of accommodation onsite which we were able to hire for the whole weekend, which was the biggest thing for us as we have family coming to visit from all over the world. It means we get a relaxed wedding weekend rather than just a day. 

What are you looking forward to most on the day?

James is mostly looking forward to having everyone together for the day. Our families and friends are really spread out and neither of us have many opportunities to get everyone together, our friends and families are amazing people, we can wait to have them all under one roof. Ieva – I’m looking forward to the morning the most.. Getting ready, sharing stories with my bridal party who are my closest people and who have known me through so many different periods of my life. My bridal party have watched me grow and become who I am, I cant wait to have my moment with them.

Best planning advice you’ve had so far?

Create a separate email where you can do all of our correspondence and planning totally separate from everything else that happening in your life. It makes finding things quickly so easy, and you can create different folders to split your emails into categories, just makes wedding admin so much easier! 

And the worst planning advice?

The worst bit of advice is just anything to do with someone telling you that you need to do things for the sake of the guests … your wedding is about you and your partner celebrating yourselves and your love. Your guests have been lucky enough to be invited and that is special in itself, everything else you do should be done for yourself and your partner. Weddings are expensive, dont end up regretting making it about others.

Which photo is your favourite?

Our favourite photo… How are we meant to pick! (something we never thought we’d say) There are so so many we love. Can we pick two? Is that allowed? There’s a photo that we had quite early on, we have our beanies on, and you guys made us laugh. It feels so natural and makes us feel so warm.. we are laughing and we are so happy and goofy. It just gives off really nostalgic vibes and I think it’ll be one that we share with family for generations to come..

The other that we loooove so much is the  one of James and I doing the classic dip and kiss..  it just feels so cinematic looking at it, the trees around us, the contrasting colours.. it feels and looks so romantic and just makes my heart feel all fuzzy.. With the risk of sounding self-conceited when I saw that photo I think I spent about 20 minutes staring at it. I just couldnt believe that was us.

Thank you so much to Ieva and James for doing our lil interview! 🙂 If you’re interested in an engagement/couple shoot head to our couple shoot page here.

L&N x