I’ve been itching to cover a wedding at Elmore Court for years and while I shoot a lot of weddings in the west country Elmore court had escaped me…until this May.
I started the day with Sophie in Quedgeley before heading off to see Adam and the guests at the Rose & Crown – with the view to follow the boys down to Nympsfield Church. Once at the church I was really impressed, it’s a typically classic english church, with a nice long walk down to the entrance and a semi isolated setting. A pretty place to be!
Once Sophie arrived with her dad, the ceremony started and after they had some down time with their guests. Then we went to leave for Elmore Court, but first, we had a bit of tradition to cover. The Lynch Gate was tied and we had to bribe the children on the other sided to be freed.
This was a new one on me, so I did some digging and the origin and ‘purpose’ of the custom, relates, from the groom’s point of view in that he has to pay ‘bride-price’ to the bride’s family, for taking their daughter away (as they were bound to hand her over with a dowry), this is a ‘final payment’ demanded by the children of the village, for losing a ‘sister’.
So there you go, smarter every day.
The church was nice but I was totally spoilt once at Elmore. Sophie and Adam couldn’t of timed their wedding date better. Everything was in full bloom, there were bluebells and the grass was freshly grown and long with masses of cow parsley to hide amongst.
Once they’d had some time with their guests we went off to these spaces for photos and I got spooked a couple of times as there were pheasants sitting in the field. I was taking the lead and every now and again one would sqwauk and flie out. Much to everyones amusement. Ha.
