Birdsgrove House Wedding Photography

A Vintage Wedding at Birdsgrove House in Derbyshire

I’d known Sarah for a while when she approached me to photograph her and Dave’s wedding at Birdsgrove House in Derbyshire. She runs a small cake business in her spare time, and we’d worked together on a few shoots. She talked about her passion for all things vintage, and Dave’s passion for music, and how they were going to create the perfect wedding combining these two things. And it was an incredible event to be a part of! Just have a look at this!

Bridal Prep at Hope Cottage

After first meeting her when she used to work with my dad, by the time their wedding date rolled around, I’d already been round to their house a few times to photograph some of Sarah’s incredible cakes! And speaking of cakes, she even made her own wedding cake and they both put in so much effort to make their wedding day quintessentially ‘them’.

The day started out with sunshine and blue skies as I arrived at the venue to capture the morning’s preparations. Sarah and her little crew had been staying at Hope Cottage which sits behind the main house of Birdsgrove, and is a wonderfully fitted-out little property and a perfect place to spend the morning of your wedding day. Stood at the open patio doors looking out onto the Derbyshire countryside in all it’s glory, I was half tempted to boot them all out and keep it for myself!

Whilst the girl’s were relaxing with an impressive breakfast banquet and some champagne, I went over to the main house to meet Dave and his merry men who were busy sorting out all of the catering for the afternoon’s wedding buffet, which was all being handled by the couple and their helpers friends. Once that was done, the boys quickly got changed into their wedding clothes and had a quick game of cricket out on the lawn. Not sure that was the best idea, but ah well. Boys will be boys.

Guests Arrive in Vintage Dress

The ceremony was held at St. Bartholemew’s in the small village of Elvaston in Derbyshire. It’s a beautiful old church, in great surroundings (it sits just on the edge of Elvaston Castle) and has a really interesting interior. You can see some of the paintings above the altar in the photos below. As the guests started to arrive it was so great to see so many people taking part in the vintage dress theme that Sarah and Dave had chosen. Everyone looked fantastic in the early afternoon sun, against the backdrop of this old church. You could almost imagine you’d been zapped back in time.

It was back to Birdsgrove following the ceremony, where the guests got to explore the amazing yurts that had been erected in the grounds. (Lizzie and Jim from Wedding Yurts did such a great job with these and were on hand all day to help out, too.) Sarah and Dave had made sure there were plenty of things to do, with an elaborate picture frame hung from a tree with a trunk of props, a treasure hunt around the grounds, a selection of lawn games and plenty of amazing food and drink!

The Frontman Groom

As we got to the evening, the band started setting up for the evening’s entertainment. Tonight’s wedding band was a little different though, as it had been put together by the groom himself, who had recruited some of his friends and had been practicing for the weeks before the wedding. Dave took to the stage and looked every bit the confident frontman, though there was only one person in the room he was trying to impress, and from the look on Sarah’s face as she watched her new husband sing, he’d succeeded.

If you’re getting married at Birdsgrove House or one of Derbyshire’s other great wedding venues and you’d like to talk about your wedding photography, click this link to my contact page and drop me a message telling me a little bit about you and your wedding plans.