Nostalgia

There are numerous wedding venues dotted all over Norfolk; from the stripped back and indie-styled sites, right through to the historical manor houses oozing with grandeur. In one way or another most bases are covered in order to provide every bride and groom with all the raw memory-making materials.
   It would be reasonably fair to assume however, that prior to the wedding, most venues do not hold a particular significance to the bride, groom or many others present. As a wedding photographer, I travel around Norfolk and Suffolk a fair amount and see a good variety of locations… this August however, I was providing the photography for a couple at Bressingham High Barn and had to travel all of 200 meters from my house to get there! Not only is the venue local but it also belonged, until relatively recently, to my grandad. 
   My initial feelings for being involved with a wedding here were very positive. After all, I know the site inside and out and for convenience it couldn’t better, I was aware there would be something of a reflective nature to this wedding though. Toward the end of my Grandad’s ownership, some areas of the site were undoubtedly less cared for than they perhaps could have been… he was 98 years old though so I think he can be forgiven! As a young boy this wasn’t a bad thing at all however, there were a number of barns, sheds and unused buildings I would often end up exploring - fancifully hoping to be swept into a Famous Five type adventure. But alas, I never found the gold bars or ginger beer. 
   It was an odd experience therefore to walk around these buildings that were once damp and dusty and are now the polar opposite. I must admit the barn looks fantastic and the venue also shares a postcode with Bressingham Steam Museum and Gardens, allowing for a good mixture of eccentricity and beauty respectively. 
   On the day it was very much a matter of putting my feelings of nostalgia to the back of my mind. After all, weddings are about the future as much as they are the past and cliché though it may sound, it is the bride and grooms day more than any other! Luckily, with a camera in hand I am easily distracted; getting sucked into seeing the world through a viewfinder, I didn’t have to work hard to avoid reflective thoughts. Toward the end of the day though, seeing so many eye-smiles, belly-laughs and emotion, It did dawn on me that my own happy memories of the place will now be shared in a different but similar fashion by couple after couple each time they revisit the site. It’s just the way time works I suppose, but its a reassuring thought. Nostalgia is golden; an old hand we’re holding… the hands can be different but they all grip just as firmly.