Golden Era Romance & After Hours: A Vintage Bohemian Wedding Editorial at Frampton Court Estate

[Editorial] 

Some days I get to photograph a real wedding. Others, I get to step into someone else's vision entirely: every fabric, every flower, every flicker of light already imagined by someone with a sharp editorial eye, and my job is simply to see it well. This was one of those days.

In April, I joined a workshop led by @thehouseofarchive at Frampton Court Estate in Gloucestershire, built around two distinct concepts: Golden Era Romance, a soft, draped, nostalgic vision of a wedding day steeped in vintage bohemia, and After Hours, its counterpoint: flash, a second look, and the loosened, electric energy of a party well underway. Two moods, one couple, one location, and a chance to explore exactly how far film can stretch between stillness and movement, all within a concept House of Archive had already dreamed up in full.

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Act One: Golden Era Romance

The brief was romance without excess — trailing fabric, soft focus, a garden that feels untouched by time. Frampton Court's grounds gave us exactly that: manicured but never sterile, the kind of setting where a draped veil or an unstructured gown feels like it belongs rather than performs.

This is the register I find myself drawn back to again and again in editorial work — a bride and groom who look like they've wandered out of another decade, photographed with the same patience I'd bring to a real ceremony. Nothing here was rushed. The drapery, styled with real intention, needed space to move and settle before I ever raised the camera. That's the advantage of an editorial day: no schedule pressing in, no guests to attend to — just light, fabric, and two people who know how to hold stillness in front of a lens.

Act Two: After Hours

If Act One was about softness, After Hours is about turning the lights up. A second look, a shift into flash photography, and an energy that reads more party than ceremony — this act exists to answer a question I get asked often: what happens to the film aesthetic once the sun goes down and the mood changes?

The answer, here, is that it doesn't disappoint. Flash on film has its own grain, its own contrast, its own particular way of freezing a moment mid-laugh rather than mid-pose. It's a register I don't always get to explore fully within the pace of a real wedding day — which is exactly why an editorial like this earns its place: it's a space to test, push, and refine an aesthetic before bringing it back into real work with real couples.

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Why editorial workshops matter to me

An editorial isn't a wedding — and I think it's worth saying that plainly. There's no couple making real vows here, no family gathered for the day. What it is, instead, is a deliberate exercise in craft: stepping into a concept built by someone else's editorial eye, and finding my own way to photograph it in full — without the constraints (wonderful as they are) of a real day unfolding in real time. It's where I get to stretch what film can do — how it holds a soft, romantic register in one act and a sharper, flash-driven one in the next — before carrying those lessons back into documentary wedding work.

The team

Concept & styling: @thehouseofarchive Planning & styling: @by.emerald.events Florist: @corkyandprince Drapery: @annietinsley Hair & Make-Up: @aurabridalbycharli Dress (Act One): @amy_mair_couture Bridal dress (Act Two): @kisui_berlin Bridal top (Act Two): @atelier.twardowska Stationery: @andrea.garz.wedding Couple: @abby.louisethomas & @notjarviscocker, represented by @mustardmodels Location: @framptoncourtestate

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Planning an editorial shoot or a real wedding with a vintage, romantic, or documentary sensibility? I'd love to hear about it — get in touch or explore my approach to wedding photography.