Gina and Thomas John Ellis – Now that’s what I call a wedding!
What are you doing AGA man? You can’t blog about a wedding, this is The AGA Man’s Point-to-Point Horse Racing Diary! Well, if it wasn’t for point-to-point horse racing we wouldn’t have been at the wedding, plus, with so many great photos, I thought it would be nice to use them to tell the story of a memorable day, along with a few (witty, I hope) captions.
Before we left the hotel, Debbie Smith-Haines had a quiet word about getting her best side in ALL photos (failure to comply could result in a letter from her solicitor!)
Tom Ellis lives down the road from us, but he was marrying a lass from Hertfordshire – Gina Andrews – so we headed south on Saturday morning to join the rest of the wedding party at Luton Hoo, before heading for Gina’s home village of Lilley (and our first gin of the day… or was it the second?).
Mrs S is off and running!
You won’t see too many pics from the church on this blog post as the official photographer – Neale Blackburn – is producing a wedding album for the happy couple – that’s one to look forward to! There are lots of social shots, and plenty from the dance floor, and I’ve tried to include as many people as possible. I hope you all enjoy it!
The church is filling up with nice hats and the groom is looking a little nervous!
Anyway, at this point I think there have been more than enough words so I’m going to let the photos and captions do the talking – good shout AGA man!
This was taken just before the beautiful bride arrived, although I did think the groom was trying to scarper!Our first glimpse of the bride.Blushing bridesmaids!More blushing bridesmaids!The happy couple leave the church, although the monsoon outside ensured that they weren’t gone for long!
The vicar asked the congregation not to take photos in the church but before I could stop myself I was stood on a pew snapping away – with hearty encouragement from the row behind!
Time for a selfie while we wait for the rain to stop!Darren is about to try and photo bomb this pic of Jackie and Mrs S (he wasn’t quick enough).Charlie stretches his legs.
A nice touch from the boys, although the Stewards were called as all whips were above shoulder height!
The tables looked amazing.A lot of time and effort had gone into making the marquee look so impressive.Laura Ellis gets stuck into the champers , shortly after this pic was taken she stitched the AGA man up a treat, cheers Laura!Mrs S has found our table but she decided not to switch the name tags around (this has been known to happen occasionally!)The bar was busy as everyone rushed to get stuck into Big Tone’s booze!Claire and Kevin were in great form, although Claire was paying more attention to the AGA man’s camera than Kevin.Mrs S with the beautiful mother of the bride, Joanna.Love these two, they’re great fun!The mother of the groom also looked stunning.Pips and her dad.Pips and Big Tone, much love for these two, although I had to concede defeat to Big T in our recent gin drinking challenge! Mind you, I think I outdid him today, although he was under orders to behave (allegedly).Rumours soon spread that auditions were to be held for the next Inbetweeners film!What a handsome bunch, they’ll all be snapped up before too long!Beautiful!
Charlie got her point across with the message on the back of her hoody!Big Tone also got his point across… it’s a farming joke!The official line-up – looking good boys!Jackie Hunt and Graham Tawell looked gorgeous!Stunning girls, and the reading by Sophie in the church was beautiful.The girls show a bit of leg for the official photographer.Julie Marles and Charlie WadlandSisters!Mary and Laura have a bit of fun.The bride with her bridesmaids.Mum and daughter, beautiful!
Love this sequence!Peter, still in ‘sensible mode’!Loving this selection of hats!I do have another version of this pic where Valerie’s hat isn’t covering her eyes (but used this one because it’s funny)Beautiful smile, Charlie.Who’s got the camera, AGA man?Big D and Big T!Two roses between two thorns!
Who’s in charge? My money is on Mrs Ellis!Yep, still in charge!Something distracting you, Mr Ellis?Lovely photo, but I missed the money shot!Hold that pose! A nice family shot for Charity (eventually).The father of the bride is building up for his big speech.Loves young dream.Apparently I sometimes give off a grumpy vibe, I just don’t see it myself!I’ve already turned down several big money offers for this pic…I love this one.Those two blokes are still yapping!
Gotcha!Mr Cox is flanked by Hannah Watson (left) and Joanna Mason.What’s the digger for?A Yorkshire rose and an AGA man!All is revealed as Neale Blackburn takes to the sky! (not the best quality pic).Aye, aye, aye, aye , aye!These two good mates try to recreate the ‘happy couple’ pose (with the addition of a beer and a fag!).
How did I end up wearing Lawney’s hat?
This hat thing is catching on!I’m watching you, Lizzie!Father of the bride, Simon Andrews, kicks of with a very funny speech.The groom was next up, with plenty of one liners… plus a couple of broom sticks!
The broom sticks are delivered before best man, Dan Skelton, gives his hilarious speech. Then, after a toast, it’s time for Thomas to throw those crutches to one side and whisk Gina to the dance floor for the first dance.
Dancing duty completed for the evening, Thomas headed for the bar!
The excellent Josh Curnow kicked off his first set and the best man followed the groom onto the dancefloor…And then everyone joined in!These two love birds were next to hit the dance floor.And then Lawney hit the dance floor… but more of that later!Put it away, Johnny!What has Johnny spotted?Is Thomas heading back to the dance floor?Wedding selfie for Pips and Laura!We were on the ‘Rash Move’ table with Andrew and Lauren Braithwaite – we had a great table by the way!Lawney provides some early entertainment on the dance floor!
Dave Sunderland brought his dancing shoes!I tried this one but I couldn’t get back up!
As expected, Josh Curnow was awesome!Dickie didn’t leave the dance floor all night, he’s some mover!
Go Lawney!Go Harry!The pink AGA cap is doing the rounds.Lawney’s turn to try the cap on!Is Lawney holding Harry down?
Pete, still in ‘sensible mode’.Suits you, Charlie!
Action from the dance floor!It’s Mr Barrett again…Two sisters…
Three sisters…It’s the Dickie Barrett show!
Charity and Charlie girl!
You may have noticed that it’s dark, and when it’s dark the photos can get a little bit more interesting, plus there’s lots of arm waving and pointing – see below. I’ve also censored a few pics and they have been left on the cutting room floor – but only after me and Mrs S had a right good giggle at them!
Laura and Olivia chose the other end of the dance floor – there was less arm waving and pointing!
Great waistcoats!The arm waving and pointing has started again!
Woman down!
The bride has ditched the wedding dress for something more ‘dance friendly’!
Tired of arm waving and pointing, Dickie has decided to shout!Two of Yorkshire’s finest!
Their turn next?Mrs S was building up for another assault on the dance floor!“Look” says Toby, “He’s taking our photo”… I can’t repeat what Jenny said!Just having a cheeky gin at the bar but Mr Biddick requires me and my camera to be back on the dance floor!
Where’s Harry?
Wave those arms!
The bride is in the thick of the action!
Will joins Josh on stage for his finale!
Mrs S is back in the fray!
The dance floor was heaving as Josh finished his set, with loads of singing, pointing and arm waving, oh, and dancing! It was brilliant, and so was Josh, but the night wasn’t over yet!
Memories of Bridget’s 21st with this photo, although Josh is missing!
The DJ plays a few 70’s classics and there’s no stopping Mrs S!Look at those moves!
Rachel and Charlie are still going strong! It’s Rocky Sharpe and the Replays now, “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out).I can see you!Who let the AGA man loose on the dance floor?Joe Hill joins in! Where’s your mum gone Joe?Here she is!And she’s back on the dance floor… and so is Johnny!
The mothers are still going strong, but they have decided to dance in their seats for the rest of the night!
Josh has packed up for the night, but the bride has commandeered the stage!Lawney has also packed up! The groom can be seen moving away in the background, he’s off to look for someone who will stay awake while he’s chatting to them!Lawney settles in for the night… although Big Al will be along to collect her soon!Thomas finds a table where everyone is still awake!
This fella has also just had 40 winks (or he’s about to!).This is water…Zac is also looking for water.These two are definitely not drinking water!And nor are these two!Peter, surprisingly, is still in sensible mode… but it wouldn’t last!
Mrs S is about to sign the bar bill for Big Tone!Gina and Johnny give Pete a goodnight kiss!
At this point the camera was turned off, although there was time for one more gin (thanks Big T). A quick check revealed that around 900 photos and videos were on the memory card and my fingers were firmly crossed that a good number of them would be usable. I needn’t have worried, I reckon it was a job well done, with lots of great memories captured for all time.
Team photo at Luton Hoo.
The camera was back out briefly the following morning for a quick photo call on the steps of Luton Hoo, and for a couple of pics of the newly-weds car (suitably decorated by Pete Mann and Sam Davies-Thomas).
Car suitably decorated for the journey back to Warwickshire!
And that was it, a memorable weekend was over, but what a weekend it was! A huge thank you to Thomas, Gina, Simon, Joanna, Tony and Pippa for including us, I know for a fact that I speak for everyone there when I say we all thoroughly enjoyed it. When’s the next one?
David Simpson - life through a lens 
Absolutely brilliant!!
Thanks Gina, glad you like it!
Fantastic photos really capture the atmosphere and love the captions!
Thank you very much!