I had the pleasure of documenting Ed and Ália’s intimate wedding on a gloriously sunny day in mid-June, at the exquisite stately home, Goodnestone Park.

Goodneston Park was built in 1704. Jane Austin was a regular guest at Goodnestone during her brother and his wife’s early married life there. It is significant that she began writing her first novel, Pride and Prejudice, immediately after staying at Goodnestone in 1796.  Both Ed and Ália are avid readers so this was the perfect place for them and their closest family to celebrate their marriage.

The gardens cover roughly fifteen acres and there is a beautifully kept 17th-century walled garden, an 18th-century landscape park, 20th-century woodland, a Millennium parterre, and a stunning new gravel garden.  This is an absolute gem of a garden and a dream for garden lovers, let alone photographers!  We were spoilt for choice for locations for Ed and Ália’s relaxed portrait shots and they had allocated a really nice amount of time to wander around the gardens.  I’d visited the house and gardens a week previously and couldn’t believe that I hadn’t visited it before, especially being a keen gardener.

Ália looked an absolute dream and so elegant!  Her bouquet from Lady Penelope in Canterbury  was certainly very striking and complimented her styling perfectly.

I felt very privileged to join these two and their close family, some of whom had travelled from Portugal, for their special day in the most incredible surroundings.  Thank you for making me feel so welcome!

Here are a few of my favourite images from the time I spent with them.

Here’s some wonderful feedback that they gave me…

“We are so pleased that we chose to have Catherine as our wedding photographer. She put us at ease, was professional, relaxed and did everything she could to capture every element of our day. The pictures were so natural and we never knew she was there until we looked through the images. Without a doubt we’d recommend her to anyone, everyone has commented on how friendly she was and they love the photos. Thank you Catherine for giving us those special memories to keep forever”