Rebecca and Neil’s autumnal wedding at Cooling Castle Barn, was rustic, elegant and fun! With the sun shining, this October wedding was just gorgeous. Check out their beautiful day below.
First names: Neil & Rebecca
Ages: 28
Wedding date: 21st October 2018
Venue: St Helen’s Church, Cliffe & Cooling Castle Barn
How did you guys meet, tell me all? Rugby was the catalyst that bought us together. About 10 years ago we me through mutual friends and dated briefly. To cut a long story short, we found each other again on a boozy night out and the rest, as they say, is history.
How did you get engaged, is there a cool story? [Rebecca] Very cool story. Neil, I leave this one for you!! [Neil] We had planned to go to Edinburgh for a weekend and I decided this would be the perfect chance to propose, but with 2 months to prepare, I started with an idea and it kind of escalated. Rebecca is a huge Harry Potter fan and since J.K Rowling wrote most of the books in Edinburgh a HP themed proposal seemed fitting so I read the books to give me some inspiration and started my research. I told her we’d be staying in a travel lodge as hotels were expensive but I’d actually booked a suite in a hotel and we had champagne and chocolates on arrival.
The next day at breakfast, when Rebecca sat down there was a letter from Hogwarts, some HP glasses and a polaroid camera waiting for her. The letter explained that she would need to follow a guide book I had made for her to find the Golden Snitch, and visit various locations where it had last been seen to help capture it. The book gave directions to 13 locations with facts and anecdotes about how they relate to Rowling and HP. Rebecca had to complete a task at each location, like finding Tom Riddle’s grave and completing a crossword, winning various magic related prizes. The book had spaces to stick in photos that we took at every point so that everything was documented and we could look back on it.
At the final location she was able to reveal a message written in invisible ink throughout the book “I open at the close” and read a passage that I had written for her, opening her very own golden snitch that I had turned into a ring box. After all that I was really glad she said yes!
What made you choose your wedding venue, did you look at many? We did a lot of research and whittled our list down to 5 we were going to visit. I wanted a church wedding so it narrowed down our search considerably. Cooling ended up being the last place we visited and we knew this was the one.
What was the inspiration/theme of your wedding? We didn’t really want to have a theme, as we thought it would detract from the day. We chose to go with autumnal colours to fit the time of year.
What is your first song and why? Ed Sheeran, Perfect. Our song is Bastille, Pompeii, but we’ve yet to find anyone release a slow version and didn’t want to be bopping around like lunatics!
What would be your number one tip to other couples planning their wedding? Take your time, give each decision its own breathing space. Trying to organize a wedding all in one go is far too daunting! Talk to each other, and don’t sweat the small stuff.
Check out Rebecca and Neil’s Autumnal wedding at Cooling Castle Barn below.
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The photography: All images captured with two Fujifilm X-Pro 2’s.
Lenses: Fujinon XF 16mm f1.4 R WR, Fujinon XF 23mm f1.4 R, Fujinon XF 56mm f1.2
Other awesome suppliers who helped during Rebecca and Neil’s Autumnal wedding at Cooling Castle Barn
Hair & Makeup stylist: Lauren Mathis
Website: http://www.laurenmakeup.co.uk/
Brides dress: Hayley Elizabeth Bridal
Website: https://www.hayleyelizabeth.co.uk/
Bridesmaids dresses: Jacques Vert
Website: https://www.jacques-vert.co.uk/
Florist: Floral Explosion
Website: https://www.floral-explosion.co.uk/
Cake: Oh So Delicious Cakes
Website: https://www.floral-explosion.co.uk/
Caterer: Cooling Castle Barn
Website: https://www.coolingcastlebarn.com/
Band/DJ: Cooling Castle Barn
Website: https://www.coolingcastlebarn.com/
Stationary: Matthew Broadhurst
Website: http://www.Matthewbroadhurst.wordpress.com
Insta: matthewjam
Videographer: Dan Li (The Captured Picture Company)
Website: https://www.thecapturedpicturecompany.com/
Any other supplier of note:
Leon String Quartet – http://leonquartet.co.uk/
Ostler Carriage Company – http://theostler.org.uk/
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? Would you like someone who photographs it in an alternative, fun and natural way? Fancy seeing your wedding pictures on my Instagram and on other cool wedding blogs? Get in touch and let me know all about your day! I need to know the date, ceremony and reception details and most importantly all the ideas you have!
Let’s chat about your day!
I am a Kent wedding photographer who has been featured within Your Kent Wedding Magazine, Rock n Roll Bride and Your Sussex Wedding Magazine, with images also published in the The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Independent, The News Of The World and many other large newspapers and magazines.
Autumnal wedding at Cooling Castle Barn | Kent Wedding Photographer | https://rosshurley.com | Ross Hurley Photography
