Ann & Karl’s Destination Wedding in Bristol, England – The Ceremony

I shared the history of my friendship with Ann & Karl in my first post about their destination wedding in Bristol, so you can just imagine what a moving moment for me it was to see the love that they have for each other and the emotions during their wedding ceremony.

I’m a sap and I cry at almost every wedding, but this one? This was different. Ann & I have been friends for 10 years now, and it was just incredible to witness first-hand how much Karl loves her, and how much she loves him!

Their wedding ceremony was held at the Byzantium in Bristol, England. Ann’s beautiful wedding dress was purchased at a shop in Bristol as well, and was perfect with her stunning, sparkly Jimmy Choo’s. She knit her wedding shawl herself. (For the knitters, her Ravelry details are here.) Her hair was done at MeMe’s Salon in Bristol, and she did her makeup herself.

The British wedding ceremony is different than it is in the United States. Parts of it are the same, but the order is changed up. Fortunately, I’m pretty big on photographing everything that happens, no matter when it happens! I just find different cultural traditions so fascinating!

Oh, and the hats!?! Why do we not wear amazing fascinators and hats to our weddings in the US? I think someone needs to start this tradition up again!

After Ann & Karl exchanged rings, Ann read the second reading which was a poem about marriage to Karl.

Now we get into the part that was a first for me – since they had a civil ceremony, they had to sign the registry during the ceremony. I was informed before the ceremony by the registrar that I could photograph them signing the registry from far away, as long as you couldn’t see the paper that they were actually signing. After they signed, he would allow them to pose as if they were signing for me, and then he would invite other guest up to photograph them as well. Obviously, signing this is a BIG deal!

The above photograph was what I took when the registrar invited me to come forward during the ceremony to get the posed photograph. Then this happened…

One last story about the day … Ann & Karl wanted something slow & somewhat “traditional” for the recessional of their ceremony. But Ann is a HUGE Formula 1 racing fan. Seriously, HUGE. So she also wanted to include the theme song from the BBC’s televised coverage of Formula 1. After all, the wedding day is just the start of the race of life! So after Ann & Karl selected the music, my husband Mike spliced together the opening and first chorus of “We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters with the BBC Formula 1 song, with a smooth transition and everything. It was AWESOME. This was the moment that the song changed over to the Formula 1 theme, and Ann was just giddy. Loved it!