Laid back and fun wedding day at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens

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In our last blog I wrote about some of the ingredients of a great wedding, and in today’s post we’m going to continue with that theme. This time it’s ingredients of relationships. Being in the wedding industry means you’re also partly in the business of relationships. It’s a subject I have a personal interest and curiosity with. Wedding photography allows me to indulge that inquisitiveness, as I get to witness couples’ interactions together under a bit of a spotlight. It’s fascinating the different ways in which everyone connects: the way differences and similarities come together between two people.

I suppose it’s inevitable to feel a particular connection to couples who has a similar relationship to your own. I wrote about how Tammie, Aden, and I hit it off really quickly during their pre-wedding shoot in a previous post. If you’ve not already seen it, head here to check it out. There’s also some rather gorgeous photos from their pre-shoot on there, even if I say so myself.

At the risk of giving both Tammie and Aden proverbial ‘big heads’, they are a lovely couple. They emit an infectious charm through the relaxed, authentic, and downright fun vibes they send out. When they are in front of my camera I can easily envisage two teenagers holding hands, wanting to have a bit of fun, spend time together, just them against the world. I like to think that Toby and I have the same cheeky charm that Tammie and Aden share. I think it’s a large reason I think of them fondly. When you browse through some of the photos you can see the chemistry bubble between them, just through a look at one another. All my favourite couples from last year shared that quality, it always makes for photos that ‘give you the feels’.

We kicked off their wedding day at The Plough and Harrow Hotel in Birmingham. I arrived to find Tammie in some very fetching pyjamas, and also sporting an awesome bright pink Instax camera to capture some photos of her own. Sadly we didn’t have time for a ‘camera face off’. It’s something I’ll have to organise with her soon! The bridal preparations unfolded with giggles and some emergency ironing skills; no bridesmaids should have creased dresses, not until after a few drinks at least.

Once everyone was ready it was a very short drive to the always beautiful Birmingham Botanical Gardens, one of my favourite venues. Whilst guests were arriving, Aden had an air of calm about him, but I bet nervous excitement was bubbling away underneath. Tammie arrived with the biggest smile on her face, looking truly stunning, and sporting her signature naughty twinkle in her eye, that I absolutely adore.

The sun beamed down through the windows of the Terrace Suite, as Tammie walked up the aisle to meet Aden, accompanied by live music on a acoustic guitar. A intimate and warm ceremony ensued, followed by some drinks on the garden terrace, and a wander through the gardens for some portrait shots while the guests made their way to The Plough and Harrow for further celebrations.

Wedding photography takes a lot of concentration, constantly searching the environment, watching the interactions of guests, anticipating a moment to make sure you’re in the right spot at the right time. Occasionally that level of concentration means you don’t always get to fully absorb the specifics of things like vows and speeches. I’m not ashamed to admit that even throughout concentrating on my job, I did get a bit choked up during both their authentic ceremony, and also at points throughout some very earnest and heartfelt speeches.

Their wedding day was rounded off with something I’d been looking forward to; Tammie and Aden playing an awesome set alongside their band. Tammie belting out amazing vocals and Aden skilfully playing a guitar (looking incredibly cool).

After watching their highlights slideshow scroll down through the photos for a few words from Aden, about their wedding day and how they met. This is “P Diggy” (you’ll see!), signing off.


“I used to work at a special educational needs school when Tammie got a job there. We developed our relationship over the next few months and as we became closer. We just seemed to come together as a couple, and didn't ever really have an official "date" that we were a couple. Even though Tammie told my friends we got together in December and I told them February (LOL!). After a year Tammie moved in and the relationship grew stronger to the point that after two and a half to three years together I wanted to ask her to marry me. I saved and had to bide my time until our birthdays in May 2016 when I said we were going to Bath for the weekend as a birthday surprise. We visited Prior Park landscape garden, a National Trust property in Bath, where overlooking lakes, the Paladian Bridge and Georgian property at the top of a hill, I got on one knee and asked Tammie to marry me! Probably the best day of my life, until 28th October 2017 when we married!”


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“Tammie loves the outdoors, and autumn is her favourite time of the year; so as she studied at the University of Birmingham she already knew the Botanical Gardens well, as did I living in Tamworth all of my life. So it was an easy choice to get married there.”


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“Our favourite parts of the day? All of it! We both loved the ceremony, it was fantastic to see Tammie looking so stunning, but it completely took me back and I think I was more nervous than I realised. Having everyone there that meany so much to us both is what made the day super special. The hotel looked great, Tammie had added so many personal touches that it just made the whole day feel like it was perfect and summed us up pretty well!”


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“Our advice to other couples planning their wedding day is to quite simply, enjoy it! You will be told "it will go so quickly" but nothing can prepare you for how quickly the day actually goes! So just try to take a minute every so often, take it all in that everyone is there for you and to celebrate with you this momentous occasion.”


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“Mountains by Biffy Clyro (acoustic version) was our first dance. We love music and both love this band and song. We heard a cover acoustic version which was really sweet, so we asked Tammie’s brother Jon and his band to learn it, and play this for our first dance on our wedding day. It was just another personal, lovely touch!”


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“P Diggy as I secretly nicknamed him was great, a lovely guy who clearly just wants to help make your memories special! Super photos, and very useful pre-shoot which gave us a great chance to get to know Phil before the big day! I would recommend him for sure! We liked his style of photography which is what first attracted us to Phil’s work, but in time we got to know him, and it was clear he was passionate about his work which was fantastic to see and be part of!”




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