Fusion Wedding at Stanbrook Abbey

Jaccy & Uttaran’s day with two ceremonies

Bride and groom in Indian wedding outfits under arches in cloister corridor

“The photos are simply incredible. Thank you so much for all your hard work. It’s been a pleasure working with you both.”

Jaccy & Uttaran

Jaccy and Uttaran’s wedding day could only be described as an ‘epic adventure’!  With an early start, two wedding ceremonies and two meals plus extensive time in-between and an evening party we knew we were in for a very long day indeed!  Mixing Hindu and western wedding traditions and with 120 guests, their day is the one the most memorable we’ve had in all the years we’ve been photographing weddings.

Getting ready

Our day began early – a 7am start at the gorgeous Stanbrook Abbey – a venue we’ve worked at a few times over the years but never for quite this long!  Their day was held entirely at the venue which meant once we arrived, there was no extra travelling to do.  This was a very warm August day, with temperatures never dropping below the high 20’s all day long.

Jaccy, her bridesmaids and family all prepared for the day in the beautiful Bride’s Manor, while Uttaran and the rest of the groom’s party were in one of hotel’s many rooms.

Hindu wedding ceremony in the Garden Pavilion

The firsr of Jaccy and Uttaran’s two wedding ceremonies was held under a Mandap in Stanbrook Abbey’s large marquee, named the Garden Pavilion.  This was a traditional Hindu ceremony and many of the guests dressed in Indian wedding attire.

Couple photos & midday meal

With the Hindu ceremony wrapped up it was time to relax a little with a short drinks reception for the guests.  As the couple would be changing before the second wedding ceremony, we used this time to take Jaccy and Uttaran off for a short photo shoot while they were still in their Indian wedding attire.

At this point in the day we’d already done half a day’s work, so the buffet lunch of Indian food put on for everyone was most welcome!

Civil wedding ceremony in Callow Great Hall

Jaccy and Uttaran’s legal wedding ceremony was held in the afternoon.  Once everyone had enjoyed the meal and changed into western wedding attire, it was time to enter probably the most striking part of Stanbrook Abbey – the Callow Great Hall.  This gorgeous space was formerly the chapel when the venue was a working abbey and it looks absolutely spectacular, with its tiled floor, arches and carved woodwork.

Drinks reception & couple photo shoot

By the time the civil wedding ceremony was complete we were more than half-way through the afternoon.  The sun was still shining and temperature hovering around 30 degrees!  Everything relaxed again at this point as it was time for a longer drinks reception.  Guests sat in the shade and enjoyed drinks while we got to work with a second round of family and friend group photos.

We also used part of this time to take Jaccy and Uttaran off for a second photo shoot, this time a little further into the Stanbrook Abbey gardens.

Evening meal & speeches

As the day moved from the afternoon into early evening it was once again time for food, this time a sit-down dinner for everyone (including us) followed by the speeches.  However after the meal was complete, we popped out to check the conditions and noticed the sun starting to set behind the treeline, so quickly, we got the couple out again for a few minutes to takes advantage of the light!

Party time in St Anne’s Hall

The evening party kicked off around 8pm in St Anne’s Hall with Jaccy and Uttaran’s first dance.  Evening entertainment was provided by the band New Vintage Plus who were brilliant.  As an added bonus Jaccy’s brother joined the band on lead vocals and her dad did the same on his trombone!  A brilliant way to wrap up what had been an unforgettable day.

Huge thank-yous to Jaccy and Uttaran and all their guests!

Review from the couple

Once we’d delivered the huge set of images and the albums that they’d ordered, Jaccy and Uttaran wrote a fantastic testimonial for us on our Google Business page

Bride and groom in Indian wedding outfits sit on swing under old tree at Stanbrook Abbey
Jaccy & Uttaran
Stanbrook Abbey
"They are brilliant at taking photos of moments that could so easily have been missed"

“Robin & Sarah did our wedding photos at Stanbrook Abbey and did such a fabulous job! It was a very long day with them arriving at 7am for hair/makeup preparations and leaving after 10pm! They covered 2 ceremonies for us (we had a Hindu ceremony in the morning and a civil ceremony in the afternoon) and they blended in so well with our guests, yet got the most stunning photos at the same time.

We had a pre-wedding shoot with them which we would FULLY recommend, to help you as a couple get used to being in front of the cameras, this is for the benefit of the couple photos , when you go off for photos just the two of you. The pre-wedding shoot was a little weird at the start, as you might expect – most people aren’t used to ‘just acting natural’ with cameras pointed at you!) but they both made us feel at ease very quickly; they told us to just chat between ourselves and the first thing we discussed was what was for dinner – hardly a long conversation discussion but gave us all a laugh, and apparently that’s quite common!! By the end of it we were just having a bit of a laugh between ourselves and felt very comfortable – the photos were stunning and we printed them to use as (very) large welcome signs at the front of our wedding venue on the wedding day itself. We received so many compliments on them!

The photos Robin & Sarah took of the wedding ceremonies were all super natural looking, and we barely noticed either of them during the services! The same can be said of the photos of our guests – many of the guests didn’t spot themselves being photographed at all!! They are brilliant at taking photos of moments that could so easily have been missed and, in doing so, preserve lots of mini ‘stories’ that make you smile when you look back at the pictures. It brings context to small parts of the overall day, which we really loved when we saw our final photos. During our wedding breakfast, Robin very discretely appeared at the head table behind us and told us there was an incredible sunset outside – he’d told us he’d keep an eye out, which he did, and they both got some lovely shots of us both out there before it disappeared. None of the guests even seemed to notice us sneak out between the food courses, and the photos came out beautifully – double win!!

We’ve just received our album from Robin & Sarah today. Despite the delay from our side, Robin was super approachable and very willing to make minor amendments (i.e. photo swaps/slight page layouts) for us on the work he’d already done so it was truly perfect. We had a lot of photos with it being a long day and wanted to make sure our all time favourites were in there. The final album looks so fantastic and we’re so grateful to both Rob and Sarah for their hard work both on the day itself and throughout the editing stages.

We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Robin & Sarah Gillespie for engaged couples looking for photographers for their own special day.”

Suppliers for this wedding

Venue & Catering:
Stanbrook Abbey, Worcestershire

Hair: Valerie at Big Hair Day

Makeup: Kay Eves

Florals: Vanessa at Floral Jazz

Venue dresser for Hindu ceremony: The Raaj

Wedding cake: Sue Angell

Evening DJ: New Vintage Plus

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