De Courceys Manor wedding photographer & wedding videography

- Rachael and Tom’s double wedding blog. 2 weddings, 2 locations.

Relaxed & fun De Courceys Manor wedding photographers and videographers.

Ask any, South Wales wedding photographer and they’ll tell you that getting to capture wedding photography at De Courceys Manor is a dream booking.  Rachael and Tom chose a fantastic venue for their summer wedding in Cardiff.

Like many weddings over last couple of years, it was a wedding of two parts due to COVID restrictions, Rachael and Tom chose to keep their original wedding date in June 2021 and enjoyed a smaller wedding at luxury hotel and spa Lanelay Hall in Talbot Green.  The dedicated team at Lanelay Hall gave them a wonderfully personal wedding day.    

The larger wedding celebration at De Courceys Manor was held a year later in July 2022.  And not only did the sun shine for both weddings, but we were thrilled to be asked to capture wedding photography and videography at both!

Multi-award-winning De Courceys Manor is a luxury wedding venue in the Vale of Glamorgan just outside Cardiff.  Dating back to the 1890’s it has a rich history and stunningly elegant period interiors along with exquisite gardens and grounds.  It’s even got a fancy stag in the front, not real, of course.

On the day, we got there early and caught up with Rachael and her bridal party who were getting ready in De Courceys’ impressive prep and pamper suite.  This newly refurbished suite sleeps up to 8 people, has dedicated hair and make-up stations with Hollywood lights, a stylish living area with Bluetooth speakers and a private garden with seating and a hot tub.  

With all this on offer we’re amazed the bridal parties actually make it to the weddings!  

So, there was plenty of room for Rachael, her bridal party, a hairstylist and a make-up artist from the team at NGJ Make-up & Hair, and us, the most unobtrusive South Wales wedding videographer and photographer combo you can hire! The atmosphere was great, with bridesmaids, flower girls, mums and nans all enjoying some excited chatter and a bit of fizz before the wedding.  

We also caught up with Tom, who was in the safe hands of his groom’s party.  They all looked very smart in petrol blue three-piece suits with brown brogues.  

By this time the bridal party were ready.  Rachael looked amazing in a stunning dress with a low v neckline with intricate lace detail across the top and the most gorgeous A-line skirt and veil that melted into the skirt and fanned out giving Rachael a fairy tale bride look and a gorgeous silhouette in all of our images and film.  Rachael’s bridesmaids look elegant in pale blue and her sweet flower girl wore white.  

We loved the bouquets, just simple and elegant white flowers with green foliage.  They were created by Jess at Roots Florist

The wedding ceremony was held in De Courcey’s impressive Floral Function Room.  This elegant space has light and tasteful interiors, a chandeliered ceiling and opulent draped windows, that are ceiling to floor, so flood the space with tons of natural light.  Music to the ears for any South Wales wedding videographers and photographers.  Rachael was walked down the aisle, and the lovely and personal humanist ceremony was conducted by celebrant Sian Cameron.

After the ceremony, there was a great confetti moment outside, that really showcased the striking architecture of De Courceys.  As guests enjoyed a drinks reception, it was time for the couple#s photoshoot, But in this case, it was a family photoshoot as Rachael and Tom were joined by their gorgeous cockapoo Indy.  Who looked thrilled to be there and soaked up all the attention.  Her presence there was made possible by dog chaperones Woof 'n' Tales.  So we took off with Indie on the lead, and got some great portrait images of Rachael and Tom, they were so fun and laidback to work with which I think showed in the images we got.

The wedding reception was held back in the Floral function room that had been dressed beautifully for the occasion by event dressers The Luxe Touch with chairs and chair covers provided by Simply Bows and Chair Covers.  Speeches took place before the meal which is always a good idea, and were delivered by Tom’s dad Simon, Rachael’s dad David, then Tom, then best men Gareth and Aneurin.   Two best men’s speeches ensuring that Tom got twice the humiliation from his friends! 

Creative wedding photography at De Courceys Manor.

Now we love little touches at weddings, as they tell us something of our couple’s personalities, so we were delighted to spot two Star Wars characters on top of the wedding cake.  Rachael was represented by droid BB-8 and Tom was R2D2.  If you want to be represented as Star Wars characters on your wedding cake you can buy the toppers from FHG weddings.  The gorgeous three-tiered cake decorated in beautiful white flowers was the creation of Bryn Awel Creative Cakes

After the wedding breakfast, we took some great images of the wedding part outside as they soaked up the early evening sunshine.  The images of Tom and his grooms party larking about on the metal pergola were really fun to take.  

Evening celebrations started with the cutting of that gorgeous cake and a romantic first dance.  And with a fun photobooth provided by Ultrabooth (who doesn’t love a photobooth!)   and DJ Daffyd 'Daffy' Jones taking care of the music, Rachael, Tom and their guests had everything they needed for an epic wedding celebration. 

As the sunset, we quickly whisked Rachael and Tom outside to get some images of them after dark.  The ones of them dancing under the festoon lights were just perfect. 

By this time the party was in full swing, and we bravely took our life into our own hands by getting on the dancefloor to capture some great dancefloor images. And it was well worth it, as the image of Rachael and Tom dancing and singing to each other was our favourite of the day.   

A wonderfully fun wedding for this lovely pair.  Congratulations to Rachael and Tom for getting married and creating two beautiful wedding days at Lanelay hall and De Courceys Manor. 

Storytelling wedding videography at De Courceys Manor.