Venetia and Matt's very special surprise wedding at Endsleigh House Hotel!

Driving out to the beautiful venue of Endsleigh House Hotel, near Tavistock in Devon, I was en route to be a wedding photographer with a twist...yep, today I was setting off to be an undercover wedding photographer!! Oh yes, this was no ordinary wedding day. When my dear friends Matt and Venetia first told me of their plans to host their wedding as a surprise, I was very excited be involved in a bit of a subterfuge - even if it did transpire that not dropping myself in it with our very close-knit mutual friend group was really rather trick-some. It turns out, I’m no natural James Bond. However, thankfully I did succeed in keeping the plot secret until the big day without tripping up! The idea behind their wedding being a surprise was that it would take the pressure off those attending so there was no worries about wondering what presents to buy, spending out on expensive outfits and instead everyone would be free to enjoy themselves freely should they be able to turn up on the day. Plus it would be jolly good fun to see the look on everyone’s faces when they found out! And so the background story was set - with the cover being that the gathering was for Matt’s birthday, which was the following day.

As the secret wedding day drew closer, and plans were being put in place, those of us in the know who were involved in orchestrating the event were getting most excited/ slightly nervous! I don’t think I’ve ever felt so nervous about photographing a wedding, just in case I gave the game away - which almost happened when I got caught by one of my friends, hiding one of my cameras in a cupboard in the hotel - unable to think of a sensible response to her question on what I was hiding in the drawer, I simply casually suggested it was my phone...cue internal mental panic “why the hell would you be hiding your phone in a random cupboard in a hotel, you idiot!” But thankfully Emily had the good grace not to question my weirdness and wandered off whilst I dashed upstairs red-faced.

The plan was for myself, and Johnny - who was in charge of making the announcement, to round everyone up on the lawn under the pretence that I was getting a group shot of everyone for Matt’s birthday . Once in place, Johnny then proclaimed to the gathered crowd that they’d all been lured to Hotel Endsleigh under false pretences and that in actual fact, it was Venetia and Matt’s wedding day! Oh what wonderful reactions! Suzie and Abi particularly, both stood there with mouths agape. It was such fun to photograph, plus I felt rather a sense of relief that I no longer had to pretend I had no idea about what was going on! And so, on a perfect Indian-summer-esque September day, Matt and Venetia did indeed get married, and what a very special day it was too.

Highlights of the day included: epic surprise achieved - the fact we all managed to pull it off successfully was a definite highlight; that gorgeous weather (which I’m pretty certain was a sign that our much missed friend Tristan who we lost last year, was present somehow; seeing so many of my most lovely friends all together to celebrate something so beautiful; Hello afternoon tea at Hotel Endsleigh - I am a massive fan; one of my besties, Suzie, providing one of my favourite reactions of the day with her uber-shocked face; Monty the dog getting so over-excited about the day that he had to be sent home; Lowen the flower-girl reneging on her duties and deciding to be my assistant for the day instead - that one’s a photographer in the making; the gorgeous sounds to start the ceremony thanks to Seth and his fiddle; being part of such a magical day for two fantastic friends who I couldn’t be happier for - V and Matt, wishing the two of you many, many years of Watergate bay visits, dog walks and sunshine together, much love xx