Somerley House Wedding Photography with Monica & Nishil

Somerley House, nestled in the tranquil Hampshire countryside, exudes timeless beauty. Its stunning Georgian architecture, paired with lush gardens and serene woodlands, provides an enchanting setting for a wedding ceremony. For Monica and Nishil, the house offered both majestic indoor spaces and magnificent outdoor gardens. It’s a genuine treat for a wedding photographer with creative picture opportunities at every turn, it also happens to have featured in a number of TV series and features heavily in both The Crown and Bridgerton.

I’ve photographed a number of different cultural weddings and one of my favorites is Hindu. Combine two different cultures though and you get something really special, and any celebration with Eastern European elements has loads of fun stuff going on too. In this instance Monica and Nishil gave me a culture fusion wedding that will live in my memory forever! Firstly Id like to say that whilst I truly loved my time with these two it was Monica’s father who perhaps stole the limelight, a larger than life character who only grew to be even more fun when he adorned himself in the most fantastic jacket!

Things kicked off on the Friday evening when family and friends started to gather for their two day wedding extravaganza. A mobile wood fired pizza oven pulled up and that was just a hint of some glorious food that was to follow that Included the more traditional wedding breakfast style meal on the Saturday evening and street style food on the Sunday festival style celebrations.

A Hindu ceremony was set out in the marquee outside with a mandap detailed with elephant carvings and glorious decorative drapes. Nishil arrived with smoke flares, and everyone dancing to the sound of a traditional Indian dhol drummer. While Hinduism is one of the oldest religious traditions dating back perhaps 5000 years it’s weddings are largely fun and highly joyous. In this instance the couple were encouraged play games to see who might have the upper hand in their relationship, and while Nishil took it well he lost every round a resulting photograph from this part of the day is one of most favourite ever and now sits proudly in my home page slideshow.

After their Hindu ceremony Monica and Nishil retired to get ready and change outfits for their Saturday night celebrations. Monica stepped lightly outside in her Jimmy Choos sparkly wedding shoes looking like a dazzling gangster’s moll. The bar kept thirsts quenched with cocktails and the DJ kept people dancing.

Sunday was a homage to how the couple met at Glastonbury festival. Festival style weddings are quite a popular concept with couples now and Monica and Nishil brought in street style vendors and a relaxed vibe with fun elements like flags to accompany some of the Polish wedding traditions that were celebrated for Monica and her family. Hurling hundreds of polish zloty coins into the couple along with the confetti, only to land in gravel was perhaps not a great Idea but hey!

There are plenty of choices for wedding entertainment but I have to make a special mention for Danny Jurmann of Red Hat Magic. I’ve seen dozens of Magicians at weddings over the years, and I’m happy to say I don’t recall seeing a bad one, but once in a while there are people that come along that just elevate the wedding business. Danny is without doubt the best I’ve seen. None of the cliché lines, and magic tricks that will genuinely leave you in a state of awe. How in the heck do you conjure up a ball of ice from a flash of fire??