Chloe and Dan got married at Salt House in Staffordshire on the 18th of November, and as their Salt House wedding photographer, I can tell you they did it properly. Sixty four of them for the day, up to about a hundred and twenty for the evening, a Harry Potter nod on every table name, and enough energy on the dance floor by the end of the night that I am still finding confetti in my camera bag.

Chloe got ready upstairs at Salt House, in the beauty lounge with Joseph Michael Marchant on hair and Beauty by Laura Amelia on makeup. Dan was in the building too, tucked away in the Gotham room and the groom’s room downstairs with his groomsmen. Here is how the day went.

Getting ready

Chloe’s morning started early with hairspray, a full length mirror, and a room that filled up fast. Her dress from 7th Heaven Bridal went up first, hung in the window to catch the light while the rest of the room got busy around it.

Shoes, jewellery and her Buttercup & Daisies bouquet got the flatlay treatment on the bed, then it was straight into hair and makeup.

There was a quick dash outside to admire one of the sculptures dotted around the Salt House gardens, then back inside where two of the wedding party had found a couple of glow swords and turned the bedroom into a lightsaber arena halfway through getting ready. I did not see that coming and neither did the rest of the room.

Before the dress went on, Chloe and her bridesmaids lined up for one last look in matching robes. Then it was on, fastened, and one final laugh with everyone crowded round before Chloe was ready to go.

Down the corridor, Dan was having a considerably calmer morning. Tie tied, hugs done, a card trick doing the rounds among the groomsmen and a cheeky Good Husband Guide passed round for a laugh. His goddaughter Lottie had a matching suit made to stand with the groomsmen for the ceremony, which might be my favourite detail of the whole day.

A last group photo with his groomsmen in their Marc Darcy suits, a quiet minute to himself, then a check of the time. Half past one was coming whether he was ready or not.

The ceremony

Downstairs, the ceremony room was ready, LouPaper order of service scrolls laid out on every chair. Chloe had her nerves and her excitement in roughly equal measure while Dan waited at the front with Craig Owen playing them all in on violin.

Her bridesmaids led the way down the staircase in emerald green from The Bridal Lounge, the littlest one making her own way down right behind them. Then Chloe walked in on her dad’s arm, and the room turned to watch.

Her dad handed her over, Dan’s face doing exactly what you would hope it would do, and the two of them stood grinning through their vows in front of everyone who mattered to them.

Then the first kiss as husband and wife, followed by a much calmer moment signing the register together by the window.

Confetti

Straight back out through the doors into a proper confetti storm, guests either side and Chloe and Dan laughing their way through the middle of it.

Family and friends

Guests helped themselves to MESA’s canapes while the whole wedding party gathered on the lawn for the big group shot, followed by smaller group and family photos that always take a bit more wrangling than anyone expects. Chloe and Dan were remarkably patient about the whole thing.

Golden hour portraits

Once the family photos were done, Chloe and Dan slipped off into the Salt House gardens while the light started to turn. This is always my favourite part of the day, and November did not disappoint. Amber leaves everywhere, low sun, and a couple who had clearly stopped noticing the camera by that point.

Later, once it was properly dark, I lit up a corner of the garden myself for a completely different kind of portrait. Same couple, same day, entirely different mood.

Speeches

Back inside, the tables were dressed by Little Events in deep green with a proper Harry Potter twist. Chloe and Dan had named every table after a Hogwarts house, which had guests grinning before they had even sat down. Their cake from Petals & Cakes stood ready nearby, in the same green and white.

Champagne got poured, plates got cleared, and the speeches rolled in one after another. There was a fair bit of laughing, at least one round of feeding each other mid toast, and a room full of people clearly delighted to be there.

Once it got dark outside, things took a properly dramatic turn. Coloured smoke bombs went off at the front of the venue for a set of portraits I have never quite replicated at another wedding, and Chloe and Dan couldn’t resist a proper lightsaber duel for the cameras while we were out there.

Cake, first dance and the party

Cake got cut in the green and white the whole day had been dressed in, then Chloe and Dan made their way onto a dance floor lit up just for them.

Their first dance went from laughing and spinning to a much quieter, closer moment by the end of it.

A family portrait on the staircase, candles lit all the way up it, and then the party properly started.

Apollo Music got everyone up, a guest or two grabbed the microphone when they were not supposed to, and the youngest guests made the absolute most of that dance floor.

Chloe and Dan barely left the floor themselves, and at one point three generations of the same family were dancing together.

Dan was still going strong well into the evening, and honestly, so was everyone else. Their Satin Pictures videographer was never far behind me for any of it.

Right at the end of the night, I lit up the front of the venue in colour for one last portrait under the archway, then caught them again in silhouette in the same spot on the way back in. Married for less than twelve hours and already looking like they had been doing this for years.

Chloe and Dan, thank you for having me as your Salt House wedding photographer. Thank you for the fizz, the lightsabers, and for letting me chase you round a dark garden with a camera. Huge congratulations to you both.

With huge thanks to

• Venue: Salt House
• Catering: MESA
• Florist: Buttercup & Daisies
• Hair: Joseph Michael Marchant
• Makeup: Beauty by Laura Amelia
• Ceremony music: Craig Owen
• Evening entertainment: Apollo Music
• Videographer: Satin Pictures
• Cake: Petals & Cakes
• Stationery: LouPaper
• Venue styling: Little Events
• Wedding dress: 7th Heaven Bridal
• Bridesmaids dresses: The Bridal Lounge
• Suits: Marc Darcy

Looking for a Salt House wedding photographer?

I am a Staffordshire wedding photographer and Salt House never fails to deliver a brilliant day, Harry Potter table names and lightsaber duels included. If you are planning a wedding there, or anywhere else in Staffordshire and Cheshire, get in touch and let’s have a chat.

More from Salt House: my Salt House wedding photographer page has more real weddings from these gardens, plus what the venue is actually like to get married in.