Jaz & Chris – A Summer Syrencot Wedding

I’ve been sitting on this beautiful summer wedding at Syrencot for far, far too long. It features a gorgeous ceremony in Syrencot’s Glasshouse, sunset cricket, a beautiful doggo (with things to say), and a sublime square-neck dress that somehow pairs understatement with a genuine wow factor. That saying about simplicity being the ultimate sophistication undoubtedly applies here. At the centre of it all, we have Jazmine & Chris – two of the loveliest people you will ever meet. These guys did not stop grinning, and I find it impossible to look at their photographs without grinning too.

Timeless Editing

Busy seasons have knock-on effects, one of which is that websites end up becoming static, and blogs fail to get updated. The upshot is, when a quiet spell comes along (hello February) I have an embarrassment of backlog riches to share with you. It also serves as a genuine test-case for my belief that wedding photographs shouldn’t date and should feel timeless. When you look back on your wedding photographs in 10, 20, 30 years time I want you to see the emotion and the moments and not the editing mores of the moment. I’m not going to tell you what year these guys got married – feel free to leave your guess in the comments – but from a photographic point of view, the editing and style should feel unburdened by the passage of time. Revisiting this wedding, I feel satisfied that my approach to editing is doing a decent job of meeting that criteria.

Jaz & Chris both got ready in Syrencot’s lovely main house, the bridal party in the Billiards Room and Chris and his gents in one of the downstairs suites. Syrencot weddings have some of my favourite getting ready spaces anywhere. Spacious, with lots of light, they are a joy to shoot in. After a very chilled morning, Jaz headed upstairs to the beautiful Master Suite to get into her wonderful Suzanne Neville dress. I’ve said this before, but a dress’ success is in large part down to how well it suits the wearer. I cannot imagine a dress suiting anyone better. What a frickin’ triumph!

A Summer Wedding in the Syrencot Glasshouse

This was my first time shooting a summer wedding in the glasshouse at Syrencot – something I’d been looking forward to for a long time. The Glasshouse is wonderfully bright. The panes shape and partially scatter the light, so it has all of the glow without any of the starkness that sometimes accompany outdoor ceremonies in full sun. Another reality that can mar summer weddings is everyone sweltering. Air conditioning in The Glasshouse keeps everyone thankfully cool!

Harley The Rough Collie (RWUFF!)

A few months prior to the wedding, I met up with Jaz & Chris for an engagement session. They brought their lovely dog with them – the immensely handsome Harley – and we had an extremely fun couple of hours messing about in the gardens and getting to know one another. Needless to say, Harley was an important guest on the wedding day. I want to abolish the phrase “never work with children or animals”, a wedding is always better with a dog! Harley behaved impeccably throughout, right up until the first kiss at which point she loudly howled her approval. Amazing timing doggo!

Fairground Games

After the ceremony, Jaz & Chris greeted their guests in Syrencot’s charming walled garden. I love this space with its crinkle crankle walls and beautiful roses. It is hugely versatile and lends itself really well to documentary coverage. I’ve seen lots of garden games at weddings, but the fairground slant that Jaz & Chris brought to things was great fun and a nice change from regulation giant jenga. We also spotted The Red Arrows performing at The Royal International Air Tattoo. Nothing like an air display to celebrate your marriage eh?! The wedding breakfast took place in Syrencot’s Farmshed, which looked impeccable as always, with flowers from Hibiscus & Hodge and styling by Love with Letters.

Sunny Portraits & Dancefloor Energy

As a July wedding, we saved portraits for the evening and were rewarded with some truly magnificent light. Syrencot works especially well for summer weddings because the sun sets into a space largely free from hills and trees. This means that it spills across the venue beautifully, bathing everything in glorious golden light.

The evening was awesome with Jaz & Chris’ guests delivering massive dancefloor energy™️ throughout. There were literally people dancing on tables by the end of the night! Shout out to Foxland for bringing the party! My Full Day Narrative coverage includes photography until midnight so I truly love it when the party is pumping. It makes me forget that I’m tired!!

Jaz & Chris also took advantage of my Adjoining Days Coverage and invited me along to capture their post-wedding lunch. Next day get-togethers are seriously underrated in my view, weddings are too momentous to be confined to one day! I’ll blog the after party separately at some point, but for now enjoy this beautifully summery Syrencot wedding. My thanks to Jaz & Chris for having me. I loved this one and hope to be back for another summer Syrencot wedding soon! Enjoy the pictures and if you’re looking for supplier links, you’ll find them at the foot of the page.