Sadie Newman and Ben Berger at Cornwell Manor
Photography by Taylor & Porter, LUÁGO Agency
They met in a booth at a Los Angeles bar called Blue Collar, wedged in on either side of a mutual friend at a birthday party until the friend got up and suddenly there was just the two of them. They talked for hours. Three years later, Ben went back to that same booth. Empty this time, except for candles and a playlist he’d put together. He proposed there. It made sense to go back to the beginning.
For the wedding, Sadie wanted England. She grew up in Devon, and when they found Cornwell Manor, tucked into the Cotswolds, unhurried, the kind of place that looks like it was always going to end up in a film, it wasn’t really a decision so much as a recognition. The brief was cosy and chic, green and cream, nothing that felt imported or imposed.
Louise Brotherton of Taylor & Porter and her team were there for all of it. Their photographs don’t dress the day up. They just show you what was actually happening: the light through the tent canvas, Millie Richardson’s arrangements doing their quiet work on the long tables, guests who had spent the previous night together over dinner and arrived at the ceremony already relaxed.
On August 19th, Sadie’s brother walked her down the aisle under a garden canopy. It rained. It thundered hard enough that it would have been reasonable to pause. Nobody did. She wore a bespoke Savannah Miller gown she’d designed with a close friend, a fitted corset with the kind of movement that photographs well without trying to. Jimmy Choo kitten heels. Tiffany earrings borrowed from Ben’s mum. Ben wore a custom High Society tuxedo. Classic, no flourishes. The kind of thing you look back at in twenty years and feel nothing but relieved about.
When they were announced husband and wife, the rain stopped. Whether that’s poetic or just meteorology probably depends on the day you’re having, but either way, the timing was good. Cocktail hour opened into actual sunshine. The walk to the reception crossed a bridge with the Cotswolds behind them and the Bohemia Canvas tent ahead, candlelight, long tables, flowers. Ross and Ross brought out dry-aged sirloin, wild sea bass, sticky toffee pudding. There were speeches. A first dance. Then everyone was on their feet and the room stayed that way.
Late in the evening: a disco ball, pizza, the particular energy of a party where the venue is also where everyone’s sleeping and no one has anywhere to be.
Planning: Smith + James Events. As featured in Over The Moon.
