Surrey Wedding Photography – Mandolay Hotel

In the first week of October I had he pleasure of photographing Claire and Ben’s wedding in Woking and Guildford. Claire got ready at the reception venue with the help of her bridesmaids before being driven to the church with her father in a classic oxford blue 1958 Bentley S1. Claire and Ben were married in St. Dunstan’s Catholic Church in Woking, Surrey by 14:30hrs, Congratulations again to Mr & Mrs Goddard.

On route back to the Mandolay Hotel in Guildford, Surrey we had the chance to stop off near Bower’s Mill for a few photos by the River Wey. It was also a chance for the newlyweds to have some time together before heading to the reception venue where all the guests were waiting. Claire and Ben were greeted by the wedding party, family and friends in the Mandolay Hotel for a champagne reception and canapes. The wedding reception, speeches, cutting of the cake, first dance and evening celebrations were all held in the Mandolay Hotel and probably in to the early hours of Sunday morning.

“Simon did a simply fantastic job for us on our big day. From the moment that we first met with him, he was eager to work with us to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible – even when facing some banal questions from a fretting husband and wife to be!

Simon took a great deal of care to visit and assess the venues prior to the day, even speaking with the priest to ensure that he knew the ’rules’ at our church. In addition to this, we wanted to find a scenic spot to stop off at between our ceremony and reception. Simon gave us a number of different suggestions and we settled on an excellent spot that we never would have found otherwise – and it made for some fabulous photographs.

On the day, a number of family members and friends remarked on how unobtrusive Simon was; Claire’s granddad was amazed at just how hard Simon was working – I don’t think he stopped for a moment for the whole day, and was very accommodating when we made some last minute tweaks on the day (notably to the number of group photos that we expected).

When we returned from honeymoon, the photos were waiting for us to view online, and Simon quickly made the changes that we requested. Once we were ready to order the album, he was again friendly and helpful, and the album arrived very quickly – Simon even gave us notice of when it would arrive so that we could decide where best to send it/ensure that we were in. The album itself looks superb and we are very pleased.

All in all, Simon made what could be a stressful addition to the wedding day a pleasure and we would highly recommend him. Thanks again Simon”

These are some of my favourite photos from the day and please feel free to leave any comments below:

Other photos can be seen on my Facebook Page and please feel free to follow me or make any comments!