An incredible Indian wedding at Holkham Hall - Ankit & Hayley

My first wedding of 2019 and what an absolute cracker at the mighty Holkham Hall (one of my favourite, and most regular wedding venues) to get the year's wedding season started with!I started the day's coverage at 'The Ancient House', part of The Victoria at Holkham, a beautiful building and certainly plenty of space for Hayley and Co. to get ready for this incredible day they had planned.  The night before I had been lucky enough to photograph Ankit & Hayley's Mehndi party at Socius - a stunning new restaurant in Burnham Market.  The gallery of shots from the mehndi party are here, it was lovely to see the amazing designs in henna being created, the food was incredible and it was really great to have a chance to meet the families in this build up to the big day.I knew the wedding was going to be a colourful event but I wasn't prepared for just how spectacular it was going to be to photograph, it's definitely the most colourful wedding I have ever photographed, it truly was a visual feast!  From a veritable rainbow of sarees and sparkling jewellery to the incredible floral creations by Jo and the team at Constance Rose florists.Make up was by Melissa Abel and hair by Victoria Ralph, as you can see both very experienced and talented ladies in their field. I then headed over the road to The Victoria to photograph Ankit getting ready, what an incredible wedding outfit! It was then over to the Lady Elizabeth wing to capture shots of the guests arriving and Hayley's bridal party running through one last rehearsal.  The floral work by Constance Rose was mindblowingly beautiful... I just had to include the sequence of the little lad below, it makes me smile every time I see it.  I was grabbing a shot of him running around when he stopped and had a big old sneeze!  Ahhhh-choo!...aaaand back to the main event - Ankit had arrived and after being welcomed by his guests everyone danced down the path to the ceremony room, an absolute moment of joy, it genuinely puts a lump in my throat looking back at these photos, in my mind THIS is what weddings should be about - a celebration of love and happiness and everyone getting in on the moment, this was unforgettable. I won't even attempt to explain what each of the little parts of the wedding ceremony represented but needless to say they each have a very special meaning and it was fascinating watching each step of the way.A huge thank you to Ankit's cousin Rajen, who was videoing the event for them - AsianWeddingVideo.co.uk - Rajen was a joy to work with but also was kind enough to explain to me each of the stages of the ceremony and what would be coming up so that I could make sure I had the lens pointed in the right direction.  Also a massive thanks to my good friend and fellow wedding photographer, Simon Buck, who came along to second shoot for me.  There was simply so much going on that Ankit had requested I bring along a second shooter to capture the action when two things were happening in different places at the same time.  Simon did a fantastic job, even if it did mean I had double the number of images to process after the wedding.  I've definitely never had over 6600 RAW files to go through after a wedding day before! With Ankit, his twin brother Aneesh, and Hayley's parents Peter & Sharon seated at the mandap, it was time for Hayley to be brought into the room and Ankit had to be hidden behind a sheet of material for the big reveal!  After the most amazing wedding ceremony Ankit & Hayley walked back down the aisle as husband and wife before we headed back to the mandap for a few quick family group shots while the guests made their way to the marble hall for champagne & canapes... After the group shots I put the drone up for a few quick shots of the hall in this beautiful late afternoon spring light.  Thank you to George at Norfolk Locations and Miranda and the team at Holkham for granting me permission to fly the drone at Holkham again, as you can see it really is the most stunning Norfolk wedding venue. After the canapes the guests headed off for a short break before the wedding breakfast and evening celebrations so I took some time with Ankit & Hayley to get some couples shots around the grounds, we were blessed with beautiful golden light... Ankit & Hayley headed off to get changed into their 'western wedding clothes' and returned a short while later for a few quick shots with the wedding party in the stunning marble hall. ...and then back to the Lady Elizabeth wing for the wedding breakfast provided by Admirable Crichton and as you can see here the room had been transformed with the incredible lighting creations by the talented Sam Race, how amazing does that look?!The wedding invitations, order of service, table plan and place markers had all been created by Hayley's father, the extremely talented artist and children's book illustrator, Peter Kavanagh. Stunning wedding cake provided by Love Wedding Cakes.After some great speeches we all headed outside for a firework display by Titanium Fireworks...the same company that provide the fireworks for the London New Years eve celebrations and the Cromer Pier fireworks displays amongst others. So onto the first dance, but it wasn't over yet...Yes, they had their very own Elvis, one of Hayley's uncles, every wedding coverage should finish with an Elvis impersonator! So there it is, one of the most incredible weddings I've ever had the privilege to photograph.A huge thank you to Ankit & Hayley for having me as their wedding photographer and to all of their family and friends for making me feel so welcome.  Despite it being one of the longest weddings I've photographed in recent years I came away totally buzzing, knowing that we had an amazing set of images for them to remember their day.  I can't wait for the next Indian wedding I get to shoot now, please contact me if you have an Indian Wedding in Norfolk planned, I'd love to be involved.The full gallery of Ankit & Hayley's amazing Norfolk Indian wedding photos can be seen here.Wedding Suppliers listNorfolk wedding Venue: Holkham HallInvites, table plans, Order of Service designs: Peter KavanaghFlorist: Constance RoseMake up artist: Melissa AbelHair: Victoria RalphCake: Love Wedding CakesVenue decoration & lighting: Sam RaceCatering: Admirable CrichtonMeal entertainment: The Wandering HandsDJ: Jeremy DurrantFireworks: Titanium FireworksIce cream: RonaldosVideo: Asian Wedding VideoSecond Shooter: Simon Buck• Norfolk Indian wedding • Indian wedding photographers in Norfolk • Indian wedding at Holkham Hall • Holkham Hall wedding photographer • Norfolk wedding photographer •