I was delighted to be asked by The Wedding Vine for permission to feature my images from the amazing wedding of Anna and Terry that I shot last year in Beaconsfield St Mary’s Church and then onto the fantastic The Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire which is a wonderful place for wedding photography. Terry is actually a very successful sportsman with 1 Commonwealth Gold and 2 Silvers amongst many other fantastic achievements in the International Table Tennis scene when he was playing professionally but he certainly surpassed himself with his proposal which is probably the best one I have ever heard and just sooo stylish. The following is an extract from the interview which can be read in full on The Wedding Vine website.

“On a beautiful September day Terry spent the morning persuading Anna, (who was feeling under the weather with a cold,) to put a nice dress on and go to lunch at some friends’ house to make the most of the lovely weather. Reluctantly Anna had a shower and got dressed and managed to perk herself up enough to enjoy lunch.
Terry and Anna’s friends own a helicopter, which is kept on their land at home in Berkshire, and Anna had been very envious when Terry was taken up in the helicopter without her earlier that summer. So when their friend offered Anna a ride in the helicopter herself, she was very keen to take the opportunity. A slightly nervous flyer, Anna would not go up without Terry, which he had banked on, and as they took off on the beautiful September afternoon, Anna had no idea what the rest of the day had in store.


Anna and Terry were flown right into the City of London, flying directly over the River Thames and all the wonderful, famous landmarks along the way. Only when Anna noticed a familiar building in her hometown, did she realise that they were in Hertfordshire. The next familiar sight she saw was a stunning lush green golf course. The pilot announced that they needed to make a stop there to drop something off, which Anna thought nothing of, until she looked out of the helicopter window only to see a huge banner which spelled out the words, ‘Anna… Will you marry me?’


Anna was overwhelmed that after 4 years, she was being proposed to by Terry, and in such a perfect way! She looked immediately back at Terry who was sitting to her right with a beautiful offering, a two-carat emerald cut diamond ring, held out in front of him. He asked Anna if she would marry him, this time through the microphone on his headset, and she immediately said ‘Yes’ whilst holding out her left hand for Terry to place the perfectly fitting ring on her finger!


Anna had recognised the golf course because it belonged to one of her favourite places, The Grove Hotel, a splendid five star hotel in the middle of the Hertfordshire countryside.”

The Grove is an amazing venue for wedding photography as it has a fascination with Giraffes which pop up everywhere from 3m high photographs to topiary versions in the walled garden. It also has an “urban beach” in the amazing walled gardens complete with a sandy beach and weather New England style beach huts and even an old rowing boat which means the photography I can do there has a real fashion edge to it.

The story has a really happy end as Anna and Terry’s baby daughter Gracie Mae was born just after Xmas and by the sounds of it mother and baby and dad are doing very well indeed!!