When I met Shannan & Curt at a wedding fair back in 2024, they told me all about their plans for a pink orange pub wedding in Warwick, with a relaxed atmosphere, bold colour choices, and a brilliant brass band.. They couldn't resist the beautiful streets (sometimes cobbled), adorned with buildings dating back hundreds of years.
After they told me about Warwick, I couldn't believe I had never been there before! As a girl who loves a historic town, I was so excited to see that Warwick not only had a castle founded by William the Conqueror, they also had a Knights Village, a working trebuchet, a folk festival, peacock gardens, the famous River Avon coursing right through the town, as well as scores of cosy little pubs that are older than America.
And it is inside one of these pubs that Shannan & Curt decided to gather their loved ones on their very special day.
Amy, We’re OBSESSED! The pictures are better than we could have imagined!
A Relaxed Pub Wedding with a Brass Band
This friendly pub is situated at the edge of the small yet busy town of Warwick, somewhere between the beautiful Priory Park and the epic Warwick Castle. Nearby, there is a square where regular markets are held, which is always a fun afternoon out for tourists.
The Globe was built in 1788, and when you wander up to the rooms upstairs, you get a feel for the history of the place by the creaky, uneven floors, which is only to be expected of a 250-year-old inn. The bedrooms, however, are beautifully decorated in a contemporary style that gives you all the conveniences of modern life without sacrificing their historic charm.
what is "morning prep"?
There's a lot of new industry jargon to contend with when you start planning your wedding, so I'm going to try to explain a little as we progress through this gorgeous wedding.
"Morning prep" (also called "Bride prep" or "Groom prep") is the portion of time in the morning before your ceremony when you are getting ready. When you book me for your wedding day, I typically cover about 2.5 hours of morning prep. I arrive, say a big hello to everyone, set up my equipment, maybe grab a coffee, and then I focus on your details and outfit before I begin photographing people. This means I can capture a beautiful "flat lay" of all of the bits and bobs that are important to you before you actually need them.
We had the absolute best day and you were so so fantastic! You became my fourth bridesmaid, you were there for anything we needed and you captured the vision exquisitely.
what is a "flat lay"?
Again, another bit of jargon you may not have come across before you began planning your wedding. A "flat lay" is a photograph of any details that are specific to your outfit. For a bride, this may be her shoes, bouquet, perfume, silver sixpence, an invitation, ribbons for the bouquet, handbag, rings, earrings, necklace, and any other cute items that are meaningful to you. For a groom, this may be his shoes, boutonniere, tie, bow tie, socks, cufflinks, hip flask, rings, watch, aftershave, as well as anything else that holds meaning.
Of course, the specifics of morning prep can vary for each couple, depending on who prefers to have their morning photographed. Shannan and Curt chose for me to join Shannan as she got ready. However, since Curt was also getting ready at the same venue, I was happy to add an extra 15 minutes to their morning session to visit him as well.
registry, church or venue ceremony?
There are a few ways in which you can get married, and it all depends on what's available to you when you choose your venue. For religious couples, you may choose a venue local to their church. For non-religious couples, you have the option of a registry office, a town hall or even at your venue, if it is approved by the council to host civil ceremonies.
If you choose to get married at your venue, you can invite either a registrar to conduct an official ceremony or a celebrant to conduct an unofficial ceremony. If you choose a celebrant (which is always my preferred option, for a more personalised service), you will have to officially tie the knot at a registry office before your "wedding day".
Shannan & Curt chose to get married by a registrar at the historic St John's House, which is a Jacobean mansion that can host intimate wedding ceremonies with up to 40 guests. This was perfect for Shannan & Curt, who invited only the closest of family and friends as their guests.
We’ve talked about it loads. you just got the vibe, and all of our guests loved you!
brass band mayhem
Just because you're opting to have an intimate number of guests, doesn't mean you have to have a quiet wedding! In fact, the money you save by not paying for 100 people to have dinner can instead be budgeted on fun stuff like the photographer of your dreams (hello!), the most gorgeous dress you've ever worn, an incredible honeymoon...
OR an epic brass band to walk you from your ceremony venue back to your reception venue.
And that's exactly what Shannan & Curt did.
King Brasstards began playing the moment all of the guests exited St John's House, which was a total surprise to them. After a quick stop at St Nicholas's Park for our confetti moment (always check if your ceremony venue allows confetti and arrange another spot if they don't!) we then all danced through the streets of Warwick to The Globe. Lots of locals and tourists cheered us on as we passed, cars beeped and guests sang.
There may have been one grumpy old geezer who tried to stop play, but who cares, there's always going to be misery guts trying to ruin things, you just gotta move on and not let it spoil your day.
We love the pictures so much already,
and can’t wait for the final ones!
Thank you SO SO much!!
Pink and Orange Wedding Details
In my 12 years of photographing weddings, I've seen every kind of wedding decor you could dream of. Everything from elegant florals to circus big tops, from Woodstock to Spice Girls. There is no right or wrong way to decorate your reception venue, the best way is to be true to yourselves. If you want to go all out, do it. If you want to keep it simple, do it. Your wedding, your choice.
The funny thing about getting engaged and planning a wedding, is that all of a sudden everyone begins asking you "WHAT'S YOUR PERSONAL STYLE? WHO ARE YOU AS A COUPLE? HOW WILL YOUR STORY FORM YOUR DAY?" - which are things you may never have even contemplated! Forget all that. Just think of something you really like and see if there's a way for you to shoehorn it into your day. If you love movies, maybe you can name all your tables after movie titles. If you love Star Wars, maybe you can have your wedding cake decorated with "I love you" "I know". If you painted your living room forest green and bought a burnt orange velvet sofa, maybe those colours could be your wedding theme. Whatever it is, it doesn't have to be complicated.
And that's exactly what Shannan & Curt did. They cut out all the faff and nonsense and decided they just wanted a punch of colour, no wedding cake and a good party. They opted to have their wedding breakfast tables decorated with a scattering of the bold orange and red roses that were in Shannan's bouquet, loads of pink and orange candles and a quirky new neon sign of their surname (which would double up as a home decoration eventually - reusing your wedding decor gets a big yes from me!)
wandering in warwick
There is no set time to head out for your portraits, this is something we will discuss in the months leading up to your wedding depending on portrait locations, available light and how much time you have available between the end of your ceremony and sitting down for speeches/food.
I love giving my couples plenty of time to spend with their guests after we've done the usual confetti and formal family portraits. I don't like to rush you away while everyone else is enjoying drinks and appetisers. Instead I'll come and grab you about 20 minutes before guests are due to be called to their seats, so they are relatively busy and won't notice your absense. That way you can REALLY make an entrance as you're announced back into the room, your first big announcement as a married couple.
Prior to their wedding day, Shannan, Curt & I arranged to head out into the streets of Warwick after they had spent about an hour with their guests, which included their walk back from the registry office and some drinking/cuddling time at the Globe. We headed over to a beautiful little area where the lanes were narrow and the streets were cobbled. Shannan particularly loved the church of St Mary's, which was built in the 11th century. As soon as I heard "historic graveyard", we were there in a flash.
Another tradition that Shannan & Curt decided to cast off was the wedding cake. They just didn't feel the need to have one. Their venue were serving beautiful desserts with dinner and in the evening they fired up their in-house stone baked pizza oven. So the chef created 2 special heart-shaped pizzas and decorated them with the words "JUST MARRIED" in cheese. This was perfect for my pizza-loving couple. So I grabbed them for some evening portraits with flash as they feasted on the pizza (of course while wearing sunglasses).
Before I left, I grabbed another handful of sunglasses, the couple and all of their wedding party for some fun group portraits on the street. It was a perfect way to end a really fun day.
Before I left, I grabbed another handful of sunglasses, the couple and all of their wedding party for some fun group portraits on the street. It was a perfect way to end a really fun day.
LOOKING FOR an epic WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER?
If you loved reading about Shannan & Curt’s pink orange pub wedding in Warwick and you’re now dreaming up your own relaxed, colourful celebration, I’d love to hear all about it. You can get in touch with me here to chat through your plans and check availability, or find out exactly how much wedding photography with me costs on my pricing page. For more real weddings and no-bullshit advice, head over to my main blog page, and you can also follow me on Instagram to keep up with my latest work and life behind the scenes.
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