I feel like photographing Tegan & Charlie’s autumnal New House Farm wedding last October was pretty serendipitous; they live just up the road from where I used to live in the midlands and I’d actually sat next to one of their lovely guests at dinner at another wedding a few years ago too!

Their day was full of gorgeous personal touches; sentimental details, homegrown flowers in perfect autumnal shades, canapés that reflected the holiday then got engaged on and nods to their lovely dogs.

Mother Nature really got the autumn memo too. New House Farm is situated in some of the most phenomenal Lake District scenery and the colours were just perfect; and of course, she saved the best weather for us too.

What a day for you, Tegan & Charlie – thank you for letting me (or should I say us – a family affair really as Rhys was on film and our daughter Effy was on dog sitting duties!) be a part in your completely magical day.

Are you planning a Lake District wedding or a New House Farm wedding of your own? I’d love to chat more!

How did you meet?

We both worked at the same hospital and first spoke to each other on nightshift in A&E with a conversation around McDonald’s chicken nuggets. After that Charlie added me on social media and a week later we went on our first date – a dog walk – then the rest is history!

Tell me your proposal story

I booked a surprise/belated 30th birthday trip for Charlie to Boston, USA and he highjacked it and turned it into a proposal trip. It was a complete surprise! I had even joked the day before about us getting engaged at the baseball on the big screen, but he chose a more quiet option and proposed in the gardens at Harvard University, and we got matching Harvard hoodies to celebrate!

Why did you choose an autumnal New House Farm wedding for your big day?

Charlie grew up going to the Lake District regularly and it was the first trip we ever took together and have been every year since. So it just made sense to us to get married in the Lakes. We looked at a few venues, that were all barns and had rustic feels. But when we viewed New House Farm we just knew it was the one. It had the ceremony room and a separate ‘party barn’, there was accommodation on site and close by, Hazel’s warmth was so welcoming and the views! Wow, the views, they were stunning. Also we saw some robins flying around when we were there and that wasn’t something we had seen at any other venues. For some people that won’t mean much, but I am a strong believer in ‘Robins appear when lost loved ones are near’ and that gave me comfort knowing that we were choosing the right venue.

What was it you loved about your outfits and accessories that made you choose them?

Tegan – Pearls and sparkles, if you can’t be the centre of attention on your wedding day, when can you?! Also, Charlie and my parents bought me matching jewellery to open on the day to match the pearls on my veil.

Charlie – The three piece suit was always the only option. But what made the suit was the watch Tegan gifted me on the morning of the big day! Additionally, we had matching Bride and Groom socks that had our dogs faces embroidered onto them, as another way to include our dogs in our special day!

Tell me about the vision you had for your wedding including your theme/colour scheme/styling/flowers

Rustic, floral and autumnal. Loving gardening, I knew from the offset I knew that I wanted to grow our wedding flowers. I also wanted to make our own confetti and loved that so many of our friends and family collected their petals for us in the year leading up to our wedding. It was especially special as my parents had collected rose petals from my Gran and Grandpa’s garden in Wales and though they are no longer with us, it brought a little bit of them to our special day.

What was your first dance and why did you choose it?

Oasis Songbird I (Charlie) chose the song because the lyrics resonated with me with how I felt about Tegan.

What were the most wonderful parts of the day for you?

Can we say the whole day? We were both initially a little sceptical about going off-site for photos as we wanted to be around our guests as much as possible and we were concerned about getting FOMO. But oh my god, are we glad we did – the pictures are INSANE!!

A slightly surreal moment was when just the two of us were sat at the table in the wedding breakfast, just looking out at everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, and being together for our special day.

Why did you choose Hannah Hall Photography as your photographer, and what was your experience of your photography on the day?

When we were looking for photographers, something was constantly drawing us back to Hannah. Her pictures are so vibrant, they capture the emotions perfectly and tell the story. They never looked forced or posed and that was something really important for us, we wanted candid pictures that captured the joy and boy did Hannah deliver on that!

Hannah’s infectious positive energy shone throughout and she was up for trying the silly suggestions we had like playing an Abba song and trying to pictures with everyone during that 4 minutes. She was so helpful in the lead up to the wedding and gave us advice on timings, not sweating the little stuff and was just so friendly.

It was a massive bonus that Hannah’s husband just happens to also be a photographer/videographer as we knew they would work together well. An even bigger bonus was that Hannah’s eldest daughter loved dogs and was willing to be our dog sitter for the day! Our pups loved Effy and had so much fun with her and she looked after them so well.

What would be your best bit of advice to other couples planning their wedding?

Book Hannah, seriously!! Make sure that you are comfortable with your suppliers, especially your photographer as you will be spending lots of time with them on your day!

Also, remember your day is about the two of you and it’s only your opinions that matter so don’t get distracted by other people’s suggestions! DIY’ing wedding bits is a lot more time consuming than you first think! And if you have dogs, make them part of your day! We will cherish the pictures of them/with them forever!

Tegan & Charlie’s autumnal New House Farm wedding happened with the help of the following suppliers

Hair Hair By Emma Kelly / MUA Megan Hartley MUA / Venue New House Farm

Dress Maggie Sotero from Serendipity Brides / Gents suits Next / Bridesmaids TH & TH

Flowers Home grown & Eden Wild / Transport Bspoke By Spike / Caterers Liz’ Country Kitchen

Furniture & Lighting DTL / Band The Nashville Heat / Biscuits Luxe Biscuits

Film Rhys Beddoe / Dog Care Effy