Southwood Hall Wedding, Norfolk, Callum & Gayle

Southwood Hall at its very best hosted the lovely wedding of Callum and Gayle.

 My day started off nice and early with Gayle in the Cartshed Lodge, preparations were well under way with her mum and bridesmaids. Tales of a few glasses of champagne echoed from the previous evening echoed through the make up and hair styling.

 Callum’s preparations were with his family over the courtyard at Southwood House with his groomsmen and family, eating breakfast and catching up over a few glasses of beer. After a few shots of Callum getting ready it was time to photograph the exchange of gifts from bride to groom with Ashton being the taxi service from his daddy to his mummy.

 After a quick sun dance and analysis of the clouds, Southwood Hall hosted their outside ceremony for the couple with Gayle’s bridesmaids coming down first and then Ashton it was emotional for Callum and most of the party there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd, an emotional civil ceremony with readings from friends with the finale of the registrars pronouncing Callum and Gayle, Husband and wife.

 As the new Richards family made their way back down the aisle, guests spilled onto the lawns to enjoy glasses of Mint Mojito, Pimms and Raspberry Lemonade and canapés served for the adults.

 Southwood Hall unveiled their new inflatable assault course and of course being big kids at heart Callum, Toastmaster James and myself had to be the first “To Test” to make sure it was suitable for the youngsters to enjoy.

 Coronation Barn had been decorated with gorgeous table candelabras dressed with pink roses, calla lilies and hydrangeas. The cake was a fantastic five-tiered bake with diamante flowers that matched Gayle’s bridal bouquet. The Speech Sweepstake board was filling up nicely with guest’s stakes guessing how long the speeches would last. After hearing many speeches throughout the season my money was on 10 minutes 45.

 Selected guests from each table were taken to the side and dressed in Chefs Apron and Hat and then taken to the kitchen, returning back to their table with the perfect roast beef carving for each guest on their table.  I love this as it has a real sharing family meaning and certainly breaks the ice.

 After enjoying the awesome wedding breakfast, the stopwatch was poised as Gayle’s Dad took the mic, starting the speeches of tales of Gayle from her childhood.  Next up was Callum adding a twist sang thank yous to his nearest and dearest before serenading his beautiful wife, I had to fight back the tears myself! As Best Man Ben shared in his speech the couple were truly in love and like myself actually met each other online, proving that love on the Internet does work.

 The party got started with a very special surprise from Gayle to her Groom, Bill Downs took to the stage to perform their first dance live. Gale and Callum had choreographed a waltz around the Southwood Hall dance floor then guests joined them to kick off the evening in a true party style and continued into the early hours of the morning.

Congratulations again to an awesome couple, and thank you once again for letting me be a part of your day.