Real Wedding: Love is Wild - Alpacas & Caterpillars on an Essex Vineyard

In case the title didn’t give it away, this one was a LOT of fun! Alpaca feeding, Colin (and Connie!) the Caterpillar, Curry Night meets wedding breakfast and Love Actually is all around, especially in the readings of this wedding. Welcome to the wild world of Hayley & Alex’s wedding!

Hayley and Alex reached out to us for a little support in the final stages of their planning journey. They recognised they had a lot of moving parts and really needed someone there on the day to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible.

Their wedding was at one of our favourite venues in Essex, Great Lodge. A vineyard, a big beautiful barn and gorgeous countryside views - what’s not to love! And what makes it even better, is the beautiful blank canvas feel you get from Great Lodge, which means no two weddings there are the same. So we were delighted to be returning there to help H&A create a wonderful wedding day.

We absolutely LOVE this shot of Hayley’s girls seeing her in her dress for the first time! A memory we’re certain she’ll love reliving over and over - shout out to AXL Photography for capturing the moment!

The boys meanwhile, had other ideas about how to prep before the ceremony began…

The ceremony was a real stand-out moment for us. Mainly down to the amazing readings they had included in the ceremony. Hayley’s sister wrote and performed an amazing reading that used some iconic movie moments for inspiration…

The rain held off for us to head outside after the ceremony for drinks, a little close-up magic and a breezy confetti throw, which has lead to some of our favourite confetti shots ever!

These two certainly stole the show…who doesn’t love a Colin the caterpillar cake!

It really was such a joyful day, there were so many personal touches! Alex made an awesome sign for their bar; as lovers of beer a full range of choices was a must! During the speeches, some relatives of the couple were given a special shout out as they were celebrating a very special anniversary! The whole day was honestly such a wonderful celebration, the joy was infectious!

Of course, we couldn’t go on without mentioning the Alpaca interlude during the day! Another amazing feature of Great Lodge - their alpacas are ready for fun with the kids at the wedding, or just some totally amazing and complete unique wedding portraits!

It really was an amazing wedding, complete with an awesome party! We loved getting to know Hayley, Alex and their families, being a small part of their day and seeing all their wonderful ideas come together.