Bristol Military wedding photography – Dave & Caroline

So just what is important when you are planning your Bristol Military wedding?

“Above all we decided that details weren’t important. All anybody remembers about a wedding is whether they had a good time. The most important thing to us was bringing together the family and a really good bunch of close friends for a really awesome party.” 

Sounds good to me.

Before we get to the good stuff I’m supposed to say things like Square Club wedding photography and mention that we are Bristol wedding photographers. So now that’s out of the way let’s hear what Dave and Caroline have to say about their Military wedding at The Square Club in Bristol (see what I did there?)

Military wedding in Bristol

Dave and Caroline have been together three years. They met online like many people do now. When Dave decided to propose he took her for a walk on the South Coast but Caroline was recovering from surgery so it didn’t really happen. On returning home he proposed in their favourite place – the kitchen at home “we love cooking together so its actually rather fitting.”

Dave went to Uni in Bristol and met many of his friends a lot of whom still live in the area. Bristol was the first place Caroline settled when she came over from Canada so it was a perfect venue.

Caroline wore two dresses, one for the day and one in the evening while Dave being a Naval officer wore his uniform. Military guests were requested to attend in uniform and change into black tie for the evening.

Wedding at The Square Club, Bristol

Being a Military wedding the guests wanted to do something special for the bride and groom and so a few headed up to their suite after the speeches to leave them some surprises. It was a lovely touch and I was there to record it. I’ve left it mostly private for the couple to enjoy but there is an image in there that gives an idea of the thoughtfulness of their friends (Maybe NSFW who knows?)

As is usual recently I’ll leave it to Dave and Caroline to tell their story and shout out the suppliers after the images. So here goes –

“Kevin and his wife Carol were absolutely brilliant. You will see the way they capture the emotion of the day in their work. Both Kevin and Carol were really lovely and ensured that some of the essential images we wanted were captured as part of the collection. We highly recommend them and would definitely choose them again.” 

Well OK then, here’s to the next time.

Dave and Caroline’s story

How did you meet and how long have you been together?

Both of us were rural dwellers in the Salisbury Plain area of Wiltshire and so we met online and have been together since January 2015 (3 years).

Tell us a little about the proposal.

Caroline was recovering from some surgery and so I had planned a gentle walk on the South Coast. A few complications in the day meant due to some discomfort we had to return home and so the proposal happened really naturally in the kitchen of my rural flat in Wiltshire. It was actually really nice in the end as the kitchen is our favourite room and we love cooking together so its actually rather fitting.

Location of ceremony and reception

Bristol is a wonderful city, it was where Dave went to University and was the first city Caroline explored when she moved over from Canada to UK shores. We discovered the Square Club and adjoining Berkley Hotel which we completed our ceremony and reception in and we both acknowledge this was the best decision! The venue was superb and all self contained (particularly as it had hotel rooms in close proximity!)

What made you decide to get married there?

The location (Bristol) was meaningful to us, and the inside of the Square Club is eclectic, visually interesting and all quite self contained so we could have the reception in the same location. The staff applied a huge amount of personal effort to make us feel like lots of things were being taken care of for us. The food menu was incredible and we just really liked the intimate and modern feel (as well as the basement cocktail bar!)

Describe your vision for the day

Above all we decided that details weren’t important and that all anybody remembers about a wedding is whether they had a good time. The most important thing to us was bringing together the family and a really good bunch of close friends for a really awesome party.

How/Why did you choose your photographer?

We had attended a wedding event in Bath and visited Kevin Belson’s stall. My wife and I noticed the unique and casual style of photography and oddly, spotted a military friend of ours in one of the sample albums. I contacted my friend and he couldn’t recommend Kevin enough so that sold us on using him for our event.

Tell us about your dress/accessories/shoes

Caroline actually wore two dresses during the occasion. The first was White Rose and the second one was Ellis Bridals. The accessories were all Victoria Ferguson which is a Wiltshire based company. The shoes were Benjamin Adams.

The suit, the ushers and bridesmaids

An important aspect for the Groom, as a Naval Officer was that it was a military wedding. All military guests were requested to attend in Uniform and so the choice of suit for the Groom was really easy as I already owned it since my first day in the Royal Navy! Each of us had just one good friend to accompany us during the day.

Did you have a theme?

The theme of the Wedding was Military/Friends/Family

Decorations/flowers

We didn’t alter the appearance of the Square Club as we liked its contemporary look so much that it was interesting enough without too many decorations. We did use Liz Wong, a Bristol based wedding event decorator to design our tables and add some features to the reception rooms. She comes highly recommended and the tables, including lanterns, table runners and candle holders were absolutely perfect.

Cake and catering

For our cake we used a Bristol based Patisserie Chef called Isabelle Boizis who runs her own business from her house. She was fantastic to work with and did a brilliant tasting afternoon for us to select our cake flavours. The venue itself, the Square Club, did our catering and as well as being a hugely high quality menu, the food itself on arrival was absolutely incredible. As well as the intimate wedding breakfast, we had a gourmet barbecue for our evening guests and bacon sandwiches for those pushing to the small hours. We ended up with too much food but it was exceptional throughout.

Wedding Entertainment

We opted for the DJ that works closely with the Square Club. The cocktail bar below the club was perfect for entertaining our 80-ish guests and the DJ allowed us to specify exactly what we wanted and hit our music style to the letter. During the ceremony and for an hour afterwards, we employed Joel Grainger, a contemporary violinist (look him up on iTunes) to play well known music. We had encountered him playing publicly in Bath. We highly recommend listening to his album on iTunes if this sounds appealing.

 

What were your highlights of the day? Were there any surprises?

The whole day was absolutely perfect, and the obvious highlight was the ceremony itself conducted by David from Bristol Registry Office who we cannot recommend enough for making us feel relaxed and delivering a really beautiful civil ceremony aligned with our vision for the day. The surprise factor was the snow which nearly prevented everybody from getting to the wedding. We had to dig our way out of our rural village to get to the wedding, and it we were immensely humbled by the efforts our friends and family made to reach our special day despite the snowdrifts covering the country.

What advice would you give to other couples planning their day?

Don’t sweat the small stuff, where you can, pay people to worry about the details as nobody remembers what your place names look like or what type of flowers you have, rather they remember who was there, the funny things that happened, and if they had a great time. Choose a venue that will support your planning and ease your load, and above all just enjoy it as its supposed to be a lovely occasion!

 

Wedding Suppliers

The Square Club and Berkley Hotel – https://www.thesquareclub.com 

Joel Grainger Violinist – https://www.joelgrainger.co.uk 

Liz Wong Wedding Event Decorating – http://elizabethweddings.co.uk 

Isabelle Boizis Patisserie Chef (Cake) – https://www.zazamarcelle.co.uk

Bristol wedding photographers – Kevin & Carol – https://kevinbelson.com

Review

Kevin and his wife Carol were absolutely brilliant. As a nervous couple in front of the camera, they provided us a pre-wedding shoot to allow us to get into the way they shoot. This is less ‘posed’ than traditional photography and aims to capture the real moments throughout the day. We found this really useful to gain some confidence for the wedding day. On the day itself, they followed both the Bride and Groom from the start of the day to the close of the reception. We were really happy with the images they took, and hopefully you will see the brilliant way they capture the emotion of the day in their work. Both Kevin and Carol were really lovely and ensured that some of the essential images we wanted were captured as part of the collection. We highly recommend them and would definitely choose them again.

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