For Eddie and Emily, having the whole family at their wedding meant including two particularly important guests: their dogs.
An Arundel wedding ceremony with two special guests
Their ceremony in Arundel brought everyone together, with both dogs there to share in the occasion. I loved that they were included in this part of the day. A wedding tells the story of a couple’s life together, and the animals who are part of that life deserve their place in the memories too.
Including their dogs made the ceremony feel especially personal. It was a small decision with a great deal of meaning, bringing another part of Eddie and Emily’s everyday life into their wedding. I love photographing choices like this because they tell you something about a couple without needing any explanation. Their idea of having everyone there included the animals they loved too.
Arundel was the starting point for that family story. The ceremony gave the day its significance, and the celebration would later take us beside the River Arun. Keeping both parts in the photographs mattered: the place where they married and the place where they could enjoy being married with the people closest to them.
Family beside Eddie and Emily at their Arundel ceremonyTheir Arundel ceremony, surrounded by family and their dogs
Their dogs joining the wedding celebrations
A reception at The Black Rabbit beside the River Arun
After the ceremony, the celebrations moved to The Black Rabbit beside the River Arun. It was a magical change of setting, taking the day from the ceremony in town to a relaxed riverside gathering.
There was something especially lovely about that combination. The wedding had all the significance of the marriage ceremony, followed by the familiar warmth of a pub celebration with family.
The Black Rabbit brought the river into the next chapter. After the ceremony in Arundel, a pub reception beside the water gave their Sussex wedding a more relaxed setting. I liked the way those two parts complemented each other. There was a clear sense of occasion, followed by somewhere that suited a family gathering and the pleasure of spending time together.
As a Sussex wedding photographer, I am drawn to days where the couple’s choices give the photographs their direction. Eddie and Emily had given theirs a lovely thread: family, their dogs and a riverside celebration. The location photographs help tell you where it happened, while the people in the pictures explain why those memories matter.
Eddie and Emily with their dogs outside in ArundelLeaving the ceremony together in Arundel
Confetti and smiles at The Black Rabbit
A Sussex wedding shaped around family
Eddie and Emily’s day is a lovely reminder that a wedding does not need to follow a complicated formula to feel special. The people they loved were there, their dogs were included, and the celebration continued in a beautiful place by the river. Those personal choices are what gave their story its character.
What made this wedding special to photograph was how personal the whole idea felt. Eddie and Emily made room for the things they cared about, and those choices gave the day its character. Their story did not need a succession of different venues or an elaborate portrait excursion to have variety. The move from the Arundel ceremony to the River Arun already gave it two distinct chapters.
For couples thinking about a smaller Sussex wedding or a pub reception, there is lovely inspiration in that. Start with the people and the places that make the day yours, then allow the photographs to follow. In Eddie and Emily’s case, that meant a gallery with a marriage ceremony at its heart and a family celebration by the river to carry the story on.
Cutting the cake together at the reception
Sharing the celebration with their guestsA family moment in the Sussex countryside
A few words from Eddie & Emily
“She made us feel so relaxed, captured everything so naturally and even managed to get beautiful photos with our two dogs, which meant so much to us.”
If this feels like the kind of day you would love, tell me about your plans. We can talk about the photographs that matter to you and how they will fit around your celebration.
