I had filmed Elliott’s brother’s wedding a few years ago so I knew that if this one was anything like as lively it would be a real pleasure. I wasn’t disappointed.
The Olde Bell at Hurley first opened its doors in 1135 AD as a guest house for visitors to the nearby Benedictine Priory. So as one of the oldest inns in the world it has plenty of history which you can read about on their website. Anyway it’s local to me and its mixture of old and new buildings, lovely gardens and location near the river always make it one of my favourite venues for filming.
Cat and Elliott had arranged lots of goodies and surprises, not least for best man Darryl. The ring box he was carefully guarding all morning was switched to an empty one at the last minute! I knew what was going on so had my camera on the hapless Darryl when it came to exchanging the rings. You can see his reaction in the highlights video. Darryl did manage revenge later when he hid Elliott’s written speech!
The lovely spring weather was just perfect and the guests were having a great time at the fairground stalls – more good video opportunities. Graham Holtom the photographer was a family friend, lured back from retirement in Spain for the occasion. We had plenty to catch up on since we last worked together.
I had seen singing waiters before, usually three of them pretend to be waiters then burst into operatic song at some point to everyone’s surprise. Cat and Elliott had just one but he worked his socks off, managing to get everyone out of their seats singing along to all the old favourites. It was an amazing atmosphere, helped along by plenty of wine of course.
As evening guests arrived the fairground was still popular with Cat and Elliott still laughing and smiling. Meanwhile I was setting up a video diary room which attracted nearly every guest. As usual I’m happy to report that Cat and Elliott thought their video was ‘absolutely fantastic and really enjoyed watching it’.