Salomons Estate Wedding Photography
It was an absolute pleasure capturing Ben & Michelle’s wedding photography at Salomons Estate in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. As a photographer, you’re spoilt for choice from the grandiose manor house itself, the intimate bridge on the lake framed by foilage and forestry, the south-facing terrace and the expanse of the 36-acre grounds themselves. And it’s as impressive inside in the Theatre where guests were seated for their wedding breakfast. I was particularly enthralled with the ceiling curtain of millions of twinkling fairy lights!
It was my first time capturing a traditional Chinese tea ceremony (in the Conservatory) so I was beyond excited! We also factored in an extra portrait session – allowing for the transformation of my couple from the traditional red Chinese wedding wardrobe to white wedding dress with the most incredible flowing veil! Ending with an extravagant 7-minute firework display, there was huge amounts going on throughout the day, I was literally snapping non-stop for 12-hours!
Getting Ready
Michelle got ready with her family in Salomon Estate’s beautiful bridal suite. I love the super large mirror for capturing the bride’s reflection.
Couple’s Portrait Session
We spent 15-20 minutes making the most of the grounds at Salomon’s Estate. My style is very relaxed and I offered gentle art direction to Ben & Michelle to ensure the most flattering portraits. Most importantly, making them feel comfortable in front of the camera. We had planned exactly what would be captured in advance of the wedding day and all the contingencies around weather too.
Chinese Wedding Portraits
Group Pictures
Group pictures took place on the steps so we could feature the manor house in the background which was important to Ben & Michelle. It was a fresh Autumn day so it also helped guests not get their shoes wet too 🤣.
Confetti
The south facing terrace was the perfect location for our confetti tunnel – the sun was going down fast but our expert confetti distributor did a fantastic job.
Wedding Breakfast
I seriously loved capturing the Theatre where we celebrated the wedding breakfast. It is an incredible room, steeped in history, bursting with ambience with it’s wooden floors and pillars and crazy high ceilings. Yet Ben & Michelle made the room look so personalised with their flowers, white drapes, wedding favours and decorations. I loved walking up to the gallery to get a birdseye view of the room. It felt soooo special!
As well as celebrating the season with the Autumnal colours within the flower arrangements, the fluffy pumpkins and silk multi coloured leaves on the tables were also adorable.
I also loved the little cuddly toys their friends left them as a little surprise!
Fireworks Celebrations
It was an unforgettable experience capturing the 7-minute firework display. Guests stand on the south facing terrace – I ensured my bride and groom had plenty of space to the side of them so I could get close-ups from the waist-up and wider shots without any distractions.
I actually love the different stages of fireworks. As photographers, we have to act super quick at the start of the display as this is the ideal sky where it is near-pitch black. The fireworks are clear cut and contrasting as there isn’t any smoke / additional light. Once the smoke and additional light feature, I love to keep snapping as that’s where you get the beautiful light revealing the bride’s dress and the mood of the scene changes.
No doubt about it – epic fireworks to end an epic day of photography with an incredibly lovely couple 🥰.
Michelle (bride) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
“Victoria is an absolutely AMAZING photographer and I can’t thank her enough for her professionalism and enthusiasm on my wedding day. She is extremely detailed and organized. When she knew that both my husband and I were stationed overseas and have not seen the wedding venue yet, Victoria went the extra mile to scout the venue herself! During our meetings over Zoom, she showed us her wonderful ideas and great photo spots she found. Victoria is full of energy and she was extremely helpful to both my husband and I on our wedding day. Her patience is unparalleled and of course, all of the above comes with her great photography skills! Highly recommend Victoria as your wedding photographer!”
Ben (groom) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
“We were so lucky to find Victoria as our photographer. The photos were amazing and captured all the special moments of our day. We will definitely look back on them fondly and treasure them. Victoria was very professional and went above and beyond what we expected from a photographer. e.g. she visited the venue before the big day to scout out the best photo spots and was super detailed and organised during our pre-wedding zoom meetings to ensure the day went smoothly. From start to finish, the service from Victoria was fantastic and we can’t recommend her enough. Thank you again Victoria!”
If you’re getting married at Salomons Estate and looking for a documentary wedding photographer I would love to hear about your special day. You can get in touch here.
Suppliers featured:
Venue – Salmons Estate https://www.salomons-estate.com/weddings/
Hair & Make-up – JustCKP https://justckp.com/
Flowers – Kelly & Hicks https://www.kellyandhicks.co.uk/