1940’s Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

Morning All :)  Today I have a lovely set of photographs to share with you and a little story to tell about how they came about!  These fabulous 1940s wedding images were sent over to me by aspiring professional photographer, Danielle Benbow. I'll let Danielle tell the fabulous story about how they came about – but read on to hear more from the Bride herself! :) 

"I have always longed to do something that I am passionate about, something that makes me happy, but mostly something that enriches other people's lives too. I am fairly new to DSLR photography, but have in fact been taking photos nearly my entire life. I was a serial-snapper as a child, taking photos of car number plates, feet, buttercups and pebbles. I love photography and would one day like to give it more time, unlike the situation at the moment, where I run it along side studying a PGCE at university.

I happened across Samantha and Mike's wedding purely by chance, and what an amazing chance it was! Who would have thought I'd end up taking some photos for an amazing vintage-styled wedding whilst at a local beer festival!?!  The wedding party arrived at the Loughborough Great Central Railway whilst my fiance and our friends were enjoying a few beers. I was desperate to take some photos but was too chicken, worried I'd be intruding, or rejected if I asked. However, Ross, one of the friends we were with thought that the opportunity was too good to miss and bounded up to the bride to ask her permission…"

 Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Danielle Benbow

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"…she was delighted to have been asked as they didn't have an official photographer and the newly married couple enjoyed standing by the steam engine for a few photos, before the wedding party headed onto the train for their wedding breakfast. I just wish I could have photographed their entire day as it sounded absolutely awesome!"

Amazing hey? Talk about being in the right place at the right time! 🙂

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Danielle struck up a good rapport with Bride Samantha who has shared the following information with Love My Dress about her amazing 1940s wedding…

"When we decided to get engaged Mike proposed over a mug of tea & a biscuit at Quorn Railway Station. We spend much of our spare time cycling to & from the Railway Stations between Rothley & Quorn. Mikes dad another steam enthusiast kindly offered to pay to charter the train for our reception. We invited those guests wishing to join us on the train to kindly pay for their own meals instead of buying wedding presents & some of our friends suggested we dress up in 1940's clothing. I had already bought my dress from Barnardos Charity Shop in Loughborough – it is a new dress which I believe to have been donated by a another shop."

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

"In the spirit of the wartime era I bought each of the bridesmaids genuine ww11 sweetheart broaches for the Royal Navy, R.A.F & Army. I wore a Royal Artillery broach for something old something blue. The ushers & best man were given lucky sixpences dating from 1939-45. Our evening celebration was a V.E style party at a local village hall with plenty of union jack bunting, hand waving flags & a sing along. We had copies of VE newspapers, old posters & everyone was given a national identity card on the train instead of placecards. We danced to moonlight serenade(Glen Miller)."

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

"The singer Jill Daniels sang Hitz of the Blitz and I had made songsheets for everyone. I had also made a 1940's faces quiz & people donated money to participate. We raised £150.00 for Help The Heroes. Prizes were given to the best dressed guests including an evacuee called Jake, we didn't want the day to end and after renditions of There'll Always Be An England, Land Of Hope & Glory , our attempt at The Lambeth Walk the evening ended with an emotional bride surrounded by a large circle of friends & family blubbing her way through We'll meet again!"

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

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1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

We will be honeymooning in Pickering in a few weeks time at the Railway wartime weekend where we will get a chance to wear some authentic 1940's clothing -can't wait!"

1940's Style Wedding at the Loughborough Great Central Railway

Oh I just love it! Thank you SO much Danielle for submitting these wonderful photographs to Love My Dress – and huge congratulations to Samantha and Mike on your marriage – you both looked truly amazing in your 1940's garb! 

To learn more about Photographer Danielle Benbow visit the Danielle Benbow website (currently under construction), Blog, Flickr site or Facebook page.

Have a lovely Friday 🙂

Much love,

Annabel xXx

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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