Ok, we admit we did have fun with all the ‘W’s’ in the alliterative title. Now, let’s talk about our first Wellington Wood wedding. We’d heard a little about but never visited Wellington Wood and it sounded like it’d be right up our street. It turns out it’s pretty much on our doorstep since we’re also fans and residents of the Breckland area in Norfolk.
If you don’t know about Breckland, it’s the driest bit of the UK and has the biggest lowland forest too. Two tidy components of a solid wedding plan we think. Nestled in amongst all that good stuff is Wellington Wood wedding venue created by outdoorsy green minded creatives Vicky and Paul. We’d been asked to photograph the wedding of Anna and Will, the stars of our blog. We were a bit excited if we’re honest.
Our view on great wedding days is that they need to last more than a day. What we mean is that your friends and family will have taken time off to come and celebrate with you. If they turn up shortly before the ceremony and get a taxi home after the dancing, that’s nice but not the best day out. What’s really nice is to arrive with a view to spending a weekend with lovely people and enjoying a wedding. Wellington Wood get this and they allow couples and their guests to arrive from Thursday/Friday with a view to getting established and arranging the venue. It’s great for those who have to travel and generally good news to be able to relax and get to know everyone before the main event.
So by the time we turned up on Saturday morning, Anna and Will and their favourite people had been socialising, organising and generally having a lovely time already. Great start to the day.
We really love an outdoor ceremony, they’re inherently more relaxed feeling and you notice that in the guests mood and smiles. Wellington Wood had prepared a beautiful clearing in amongst some huge Beech trees, dressed in bright new leaves for the occasion. As folks filtered in through a winding woodland path the old leaves crunched under new shoes and everyone looked really pleased to be there.
We should say a bit about Anna and Will really. Put simply, they’re good people. Good as in kind and friendly and funny. They’re smart but modest and nice to be around. Unsurprisingly their family and friends were similarly lovely and between them all there was a lot of emotion during the ceremony, the best smiles and happy tears stuff. All these folk in this place made sense somehow, it felt right.
After the ceremony, naturally, it was time for confetti and then drinks in a wide flower meadow. The teepee for reception was set up here and the vibe felt much like a festival. In warm sunshine everyone quickly relaxed and the afternoon was a real treat.
After the formal family photos we stole Anna and Will away for 20 minutes to make them some portraits. Wellington Wood has so much space and a heap of pretty scenery to enjoy, so that was fun.
It was soon time for the wedding breakfast and speeches. Because the weather was so beautiful Lisa and I grabbed a blanket and had our picnic on the grass behind the teepee. We could listen out for interesting stuff whilst taking our meal break. By the time everyone had eaten it was twilight and we were really enjoying the twinkly lights on the teepee. We asked the couple if they fancied a few minutes in the fresh air for a photo or two. Luckily, they did.
Naturally it was then time for first first dance at this magic Wellington Wood wedding! Anna and WIll didn’t disappoint and before the track finished all their family and friends piled in to join them 🙂
Credits
Venue – Wellington Wood
Hair / Florist / Dress / Suit / Cake Catering / Props and furniture hire
So that’s a definite thumbs up from us for Wellington Wood. We were really impressed how a relatively new venue seems to have hit a sweet spot for outdoors weddings so quickly and effectively. We hope to visit again regularly. If you’re planning a Wellington Wood wedding and want some tips do give us a shout we’d love to hear all about you and your plans.
