I recently shot a lovely wedding at Cottesmore Hotel, Golf and Spa in Pease Pottage, West Sussex. The venue is stunning with an outdoor ceremony area away from the golf course, it is surrounded by bushes and trees so it feels very private. We got lucky with the weather as it had been raining the week before but the sun came out for their special day. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony with white seating and flowers. They were only allowed 30 guests due to covid restrictions but it felt perfect, only their closest family and friends.
The bridal party had stayed at the venue's accommodation the night before so they had plenty of time the next day to get ready. The groom got ready at home and arrived with the guests ready to see the bride for the first time when she walked down the aisle. The excitement was building whilst the bridesmaids were helping Jade with her wedding dress and the groom was in the courtyard just outside their room.
Dress by https://www.mathildarose.co.uk
This wedding had lots of special parts incorporated into it, for example they had their wedding cake topper as themselves in their lifeboat uniform and some RNLI wedding favours as the RNLI is very close to their hearts, they both volunteer at the Brighton Lifeboat Station and it's where they first met 10 years ago. Dan, the groom, is part of the Tower RNLI crew in London, the Bride's father Roger is the volunteer operations manager for Brighton and Newhaven RNLI stations and lots of their friends are volunteers too. Brighton and Hove News wrote an article about them and their wedding day https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2021/06/05/brighton-lifeboat-volunteers-tie-the-knot/ . They also had the welcome sign, the seating plan and a few wedding favours designed like the Las Vegas sign as this is the grooms favourite place to go on holiday, he has been 13 times! Cottesmore Golf Club is special to them as the groom and his friends are members there and often play together, they seemed to be familiar with the staff which was nice. In the reception room there was a table dedicated to family members who have passed.
Cottesmore is a great West Sussex wedding venue as they have lots of hotel rooms for guests, an outdoor ceremony area, a spa, a reception room with a bar and natural light, a courtyard and access to the golf course lake for photos. We took two golf buggies over to the lake for photos of the bride and groom, luckily the groom knew the course well so we made sure not to be in the firing line of any golf balls haha.
They then headed to the reception room for their wedding breakfast, speeches, cake cutting, first dance and jäger bombs. One of the guests bought everyone a jäger bomb and it was hilarious to see the older guests try it for the first time, one of them being 89! The speeches were great, they had everyone laughing and the groom got a gift from his best man; an adult nappy haha. Their son Noah was very excited to try the wedding cake and got the first bite. When doing the cake cutting the bride and groom pushed cake in each others faces, I love couples who don't take themselves too seriously.
Their first dance was beautiful, they included their son and encouraged the guests to join in for the second half of the song. Due to covid they wasn't able to use the dance floor anymore than that so some guests decided to carry the party on at the table by dancing on their chairs.
