Oxfordshire tipi wedding | Dovecote Events wedding photography
Today, when the outside temperature is -3°C, it’s difficult to believe what a hot day it was for Ben and Mick’s glorious Oxfordshire tipi wedding at Dovecote Events.
But hot it was, 28°C hot to be precise.
We started the day in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, for a church ceremony at Our Lady and St Edmund Catholic Church. The priest was most accommodating and I was allowed fairly free movement throughout the ceremony.
Just as an aside, that’s not always the case, especially with churches.
As with the majority of my photography, Ben and Mick’s wedding was captured in a candid and unobtrusive way. (visit my Oxford wedding photographer page for more examples of my work)
After the ceremony, Ben and Mick wanted a few portraits at the church before leaving to celebrate the rest of their day in an Oxfordshire tipi wedding at Dovecote Events.
Dovecote Events is a 45-minute drive from Our Lady and St Edmund Catholic Church; fortunately, Ben and Mick had booked me for a full day so the travel time wasn’t a problem.
- When you’re planning your wedding and thinking about the parts of the wedding you want photographed, it’s worth bearing in mind that most wedding photographers provide you with a set number of hours cover of your event.
- In other words, if you book an eight-hour wedding package, the photographer will be in attendance for eight hours of your event. That time includes travelling between wedding locations, such as parent’s house for bridal prep, church for ceremony and another venue for wedding breakfast.
Confetti and cocktails at Dovecote Barn | Oxfordshire tipi wedding
I arrived at Dovecote Events moments before Ben and Mick to capture their arrival.
During the summer, you can’t actually see the wedding tipi from the car parking area but it’s just a short walk for guests. I’m just mentioning it now as there haven’t been any Oxfordshire tipi wedding photos yet.
When you’re arriving at Dovecote as newlyweds, you drive down a ramp that runs behind Dovecote Barn and brings you just outside the courtyard garden.
This is where the venue likes you to have your confetti, probably because it then leads directly into the garden so if you’re having a drinks reception it allows the venue to keep the event moving.
Oxfordshire tipi wedding portrait opportunities
I first met Ben and Mick when they were still planning their Oxfordshire tipi wedding back in March. We all drove to Dovecote Events on a beautiful sunny day and did a quick scout around the grounds and chatted about what they were after.
On the day of Ben and Mick’s wedding, we spent about 20 minutes taking portraits – we had planned to spend longer but with the heat of the day, it seemed a good idea to cut it short.
A wedding breakfast under canvas in the Oxfordshire countryside
The Dovecote Events’ tipi is made up of three large interlinked tipis. For Ben and Mick’s wedding the top table was set up roughly in the centre of the three tipis, with a dance area behind them and guests seated to the front and sides.
It did get a bit toasty under canvas but everyone seemed to be having a great time, in spite of the heat.
After the wedding breakfast and some hilarious speeches, Ben and Mick cut the wedding cake that her dad had made for them. You don’t see a lot of green wedding cakes and although I’m sure there was a story behind it, unfortunately, I missed it.
Sunset portraits | Oxfordshire tipi wedding
There was a beautiful sunset at Ben and Mick’s wedding and I’d love to have spent more than a few minutes capturing portraits but everyone was waiting for the first dance so there wasn’t time to visit more than one location.
The field next to the tipi provided a perfect backdrop for a few portraits and the silhouette you see below.
Back to the tipi for the first dance and a few pics of guests enjoying themselves on the dancefloor before I was packing up to go home.
Booking an Oxfordshire tipi wedding with Dovecote Events
If you’d like more information on having a tipi wedding, why not visit the Dovecote Events website at https://www.dovecoteevents.uk/weddings#dovecote-barn
Dovecote Events
Bo Peep Farm
Aynho Road
ADDERBURY Oxfordshire OX17 3NP
[email protected]
01295 816 566
If you’re looking for an Oxfordshire tipi wedding photographer and you’d like to know more about my wedding packages, you’ll find lots of information on my Pricing page
For more examples of my work, visit my Oxford wedding photographer page.
How I prepare for the portraits I take at your wedding
If you’re not a photographer, you might be forgiven for thinking we all just turn up with our imagination and magic happens.
But that’s not reality for portraits, particularly any that need additional lighting. Well not unless your photographer always takes the same couple shots with the same gear irrespective of who or where they’re shooting.
In truth, I know several photographers that do exactly that.
I’m not one of them.
Before every wedding, this is what I do:
- I think about the couple I’m photographing – their personalities and the way they engage with each other.
- I think about the kind of photography they say they really like.
- I think about the shoot locations I’ve identified at the venue.
- I think about the time available and the time of day I’ll be taking couple shots and what kind of natural light there may be.
- I then come up with portrait ideas that I think will suit my couple. I also align those ideas with the different locations I’ve identified.
- Finally, I work out how I’m going to light each of those portraits and which lenses will be best for the overall composition.
Of course, on the day of the wedding, some ideas work better than others and posing tends to be fairly organic – and it’s all the better for it.
But, if I didn’t do this preparation, I wouldn’t be able to work a s quickly as I can and I wouldn’t have the best lenses and lighting equipment (with me) to do the job.
If you’d like more information about my photography, please feel free to get in touch.