Jen & Luke | June Wedding

Jen and Luke’s wedding was a big one — a full field of people who were clearly there to have a good time. The ceremony was on hay bales in the woodland clearing, with singing that carried through the trees and set the tone for everything that followed.

After the ceremony, the brass band appeared in the woods. Not announced, not staged — just suddenly there between the trees, playing while guests drifted around with drinks, nobody quite sure where the music was coming from until they found it. That kind of moment is exactly why I love venues with space to breathe. You can’t plan it, you can only be ready for it.

Jen and Luke had a quiet moment at the wooden ceremony structure after the crowd had moved on — just the two of them, sitting together while the party started without them. Then they walked off into the woods. I followed at a distance and let it happen.

The evening moved into the barn — low light, loud music, a dancefloor that filled immediately and didn’t empty.

Adrian & Ally | August

Adrian and Ally’s August wedding had a different energy to Jen and Luke’s — louder, more colour, more chaos in the best possible way. The ceremony had singing and big balloons, the kind of ceremony that has the crowd joining in before they’ve realised they’re doing it.

The reception marquee was full of colourful streamers — not subtle, not understated, completely committed to the party. Long tables, bright decorations, the kind of room that tells you exactly what kind of afternoon is coming.

Outside the barn, the band set up on chairs in the field while guests spread out on picnic blankets and ate in the August sunshine. Kids sat on wooden pallets with sandwiches, completely unbothered by the wedding happening around them. That image — the band playing, the field full of people eating, the barn waiting for the evening — is the Paper Mill at its best. Relaxed, generous, entirely its own thing.