Sophie + Carl at Newton Hall | August 2025
“...it was beyond our wildest dreams of how the ceremony would be. You made it so personal, warm and funny - so many people asked if we’d known you for years because you captured us so brilliantly. It set the tone for the whole day perfectly.”
I will remember the bit before the ceremony (when I turn up early and lurk around, trying to make friends) as one of the most chilled pre-wedding experiences of my career so far.
I had a flapjack in one hand, cup of tea in the other, and it was just me, Sophie, her mum and her one bestie-bridesmaid chatting about life. About Sophie’s potential career change. About holidays. If it wasn’t for the fact the serenely chilled Sophie was getting her make up done at the time, I’d have maybe forgotten we were even at a wedding. It felt like a lovely coffee morning.
Photos by lovely bloke Sean Elliott Photography
And, let me tell you, it wasn’t “chilled” that Sophie and Carl professed to be. It made me laugh that in the lead up to their big day, they had said “We want a relaxed wedding, we’re just not very relaxed people”.
I encourage my couples to pause when they meet at the top of the aisle. People can spend so long planning their wedding day and it can be over so quickly. Especially the half-hour ceremony when nerves and adrenaline are at their highest and guests are watching your every move.
So I lead my couples through a deep breath at the front before we begin, and encourage a quiet moment to take each other in. Really take each other in, and bank that moment. And then, sometimes, turning and taking in all their guests too. If you’re going to be stared at you might as well acknowledge they’re there! And I think it helps to realise it’s not an anonymous mass of people, it’s your sweet old aunt and your friends who’ve seen you drunk and naked, and your childhood best friend who knew you when you were still writing in pencil. People who love you.
So, hopefully, that big breath at the front, and looking out at all the beaming faces of their nearest and dearest, helped ground Sophie and Carl. Although, judging by our chatty coffee morning, Sophie had surprised herself and was already as cool as a proverbial cucumber.
It’s so gratifying when the professional photos come back and there are photos of my couples just having a gorgeous time. I love these pics of Sophie and Carl laughing and tearing up together, I always remember those moments but seeing those raw emotions captured on camera is so special. Sean Elliott is a photographer I’ve worked with before, and really liked, and it was lovely to work with The Anna Planner for the first time too.
Sophie and Carl’s love story was such a fun one to write, and relay to the room. They met at Cambridge University and that’s where I went tooooo, so I was able to visualise the sticky-floored clubs where they danced and the alleyways where they kissed. I was able to add some real crowd-pleaser bits for their college friends, friends who’d witnessed the couple get to know each other: peppering uni stories into the ceremony, and a familiar, friendship-group-toast when I poured the bride and groom a half shandy (“There are tall ships, and there are small ships, and many ships at sea, but the best ship, is this relationship, so here’s to your matrimony!”).
Places were, in fact, a theme in this ceremony. As well as falling in love in Cambridge, subsequently sharing a life in London, and regularly visiting the same spot Gran Canaria (the scene of their engagement), I also talked about the significance of the north east. Carl’s home turf. A place that holds many happy memories of visits over the years. And the place they were both drawn to, with Northumberland’s stunning scenery, as a wedding location.
Newton Hall, and the ceremony room in particular, is especially magical. In fact the setting is so beautiful that I joked to guests in the ceremony that Carl temporarily became a bit of a groomzilla after viewing the venue - nowhere else could compare. What do you mean these other venues doesn’t have a waterfall at the top of the aisle??
Yes, you read that right. Newton Hall has a waterfall at the top of the aisle with glass doors that open, fully, onto it. It’s stunning.
There’s something Carl and Sophie do on road trips that I want to adopt on our family drives (if I wasn’t being forced to listen to KPop Demon Hunters every livelong day): whenever they have a long car trip ahead they pick a random number from thin air, and that becomes the Now That's What I Call Music album they listen to on Spotify. Iconic, right?
As we concluded the ceremony I said that, on future drives, there’ll be songs that will remind them of Cambridge nightlife, London lazy days, long drives to Northumbrian beaches, or lounging by the pool in Gran Canaria. But perhaps one or two songs - after their wedding day - will summon brand new memories. Dancing as husband and wife on the dancefloor with everyone they love spinning around them.
“You are truly magic, thank you again for being part of our day.”