The Lawn Wedding Photography - Thorpe Bay Rochford Essex

Fliss and Charlie | The Lawn Wedding – Thorpe Bay, Rochford Essex

A few months ago, on a beautiful Spring day Fliss and Charlie were married in Thorpe Bay, Essex and I was there to photograph it for them. Here’s the day in their own words.

“We met at university in Birmingham, lived near each other through our uni years and decided that we would move to London to be together once we had both finished.

Charlie proposed just before a weekend away with friends. We visited my Grandpa in Poole on the morning, Charlie suggested going for a walk, which was slightly out of character. We walked down the cliff to the beach.

I veered off onto the sand away from people on the promenade (a lucky move for Charlie) and that is where he got down on one knee. It was a complete surprise and very emotional at the time and at my grandpa’s on our return.

The ceremony was a traditional church ceremony, at St Augustines Church in Thorpe Bay. I lived close to the church growing up, and often heard the church bells ringing when at home. Apparently when I was around 10 years old I said that I wanted to get married there and so with not a lot of deliberation we had decided.

We chose the hymns that we remembered from school and enjoyed belting them out at the alter on the day, it took away the nerves and allowed us to have a moment to look at each other and agree at how surreal it all was.

We had our brothers involved in the service, Charlie’s brother was best man, my older brother did a reading and my younger brother was a witness. I loved that our families were part of it all.

Our good friend from university did a reading which was hugely emotional and left not a dry eye in the house.

We played Hey Now by London Grammar while we signed the register. The song is so ethereal and a favourite for us. We walked out to Happy by Pharrell, which made everyone smile!

The Lawn in Rochford was our reception venue, a Georgian house with big gardens. We liked it for its homely feel, old classic interior and thought it would match our relaxed whimsical garden party vibe we wanted.

I thought I would have huge trouble picking a wedding dress as I am quite an indecisive person. However it was the most simple shopping trip ever. I found ‘the’ dress in the first boutique my mum and I went to and it was the third dress I tried on. The deposit was put down there and then. It matched a picture I had almost perfectly. I felt like a bride in it, it was simple, classic and had a lovely shape. The twig crown custom made by copula collective with flowers around it went perfectly and was very personal to me.

I love flowers and knew that it would be a big part of planning for me. I wanted to have a woodland, natural look, with lots of moss, green foliage, herbs, succulents, white flowers and a touch of colour. Straight after getting engaged I started rusting tin cans for vases and had an image of twiggy blossom in tall vases to give height and moss along the middle of tables. The florist really brought my ideas to life and she did an amazing job of transforming the Orangary at our venue.

My advice to other couples is to enjoy every minute, at times wedding planning is a lot to juggle but whatever happens the day is magical and full of happiness. I couldn’t stop smiling from start to finish. One thing I would recommend is going on honeymoon straight after as I definitely needed a ‘come down’, I was so emotional in the days after the wedding”
Wedding photography by Babb Photo
Wedding Dress and Veil – Alan Hannah from Isabella Grace Boutique
Charlie’s suit – Charles Tyrwitt with ties from T M Lewin
Twig crown and Charlie’s ring custom madeby Copula Collective
Shoes – Vivienne Westwood and Melissa
Florist – Lily and May floral design
Venue – The Lawn
Cake – Jewels Cakery
Crepe cart – Party Doctors
Bridemaids outfits – Cos
DJ – Discowed