I had the pleasure of being a wedding photographer at The Old Hall Ely. This is how the story of their wedding day became a real page turner.

What is your story?

Damian: We met when Ryan was at at uni at ARU Cambridge through a mutual friend.
We then moved in together with another mate in his second year. Before the year was out just after Christmas 27th December 2013, he made a move and never looked back. As it turns out Ryan lived with a girl I worked with.

How did you and select The Old Hall, Ely as your wedding venue?

We visited 3 or 4 different venues. We knew we wanted something that was a mix between modern and traditional elegant features. The Old Hall stood out from the moment we saw it.

I in fact wanted to book after only seeing the old hall

Your wedding colours were visually stunning and complimented the styling so well can you tell me about the concepts?

With the style, we knew we didn’t want it all to be light, bright and feminine. So we tried to bring a rustic vibe to it. With the copper and wood we felt had some masculinity to it.

The colours was all Ryan and the design was all Ryan, he has always had and eye for it.
We took over the three years of planning. Ryan carefully put it together with the help of the suppliers, a lot of Pinterest. Even changing of suits and dresses to match the colour of the theme. Olive helped with the table settings in terms of showing us ideas for us to play with.

We had seen or suits a while back. We sort knew what we wanted. Originally we were going to put the girls on white initially but it just did not match. We found the copper dresses which was perfect. The boys suits came last and brought all the gang together.

Looking back

What are your memories of the day?

Both of us said all morning really was really relaxed, however as it closer we got nervous and anxious about speeches. The ceremony and the speeches I think was the best parts!

Ryan’s belly grumbling as he was hungry at the alter had the whole room laughing

The party had some memories too like the Groomsman spending £400 on Sambuca 🙄🫣
Popcorn trailed over the whole venue poor cleaner was there from 3am we cant thank them enough for their patience. Most of all we will always be filled with the memories of our wedding. Bringing everyone together and having all our family together in one place for the first time! The girls speeches were amazing!

We had a lovely tribute to my sister and Ryan’s Nan. It was really important to us that they were included.

My highlights from the wedding

One of the creative things Ryan and Damian had at their wedding was a seating plan with a difference. They hung photographs of their guests. One could say they were probably not the ones the guests would have chosen if they had known. These hilarious snapshots and silly selfies got an amazing reaction and made everyone feel included.

As the photographer at their wedding, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the way their guests interacted with it. Even better, I watched them collect their photos at the end for a little wedding keepsake.

We ended the evening with a moonlit photo in the walled gardens. It was absolutely the perfect way to close off this chapter of their story.

If you liked this venue, you’ll probably like Alex and Jasons wedding at Holmewood Hall in Cambridgeshire . If you’re looking for a wedding photographer for the Old Hall in Ely, I’d love to hear your story