I have a web site which promotes my business and on it there are testimonials that happy couples have given me but I have created this blog so that I can give something back.
I am going to post my experiences of weddings past. Just my thoughts in these pages about good, and bad things that have happened to me whilst photographing a wedding.
I will talk about the couples and their families too but for the most part I want to concentrate on how I went about the day and how I got through it.
I would like to keep it light natured and I will be inviting couples to read what I have written.
So! first up will be a wedding I had been looking forward to do all year.
Couple: Ada Eze and Amechi adigwe
Date: 18th July 2009 Wedding
Location: Canterbury Cathedral
Reception: Leeds Castle
Photo Shoot: The White Cliffs of Dover
Ada and Amechi are two lovely people, both doctors who really decided to make their wedding day a special occasion.
I invited a Professional wedding photographer and good friend along for the day to help me out as I knew it was going to be a long one.
We started early, Petra and I, by treating ourselves to a nice big English breakfast a
t the Beano Cafe in Canterbury, Petra must not have eaten the night before because she had four slices of bread and an extra sausage, but that's another story.After breakfast we drove the short journey across the other side of the city to meet Ada at the hotel where she was getting ready.
There was the usual chaotic bedlam you would expect to find at any Bridal prep but many of her family were arriving to offer their congratulations and there were so many things going on that it was a job trying to capture it all.
Petra and I worked in alternating pairs, photographing the colorful event and if I say Ada wanted all aspects of her wedding covered, I am not kidding, she also had the day covered by a video crew (Copper tree Media) http://www.youtube.com/coppertreemedia#p/u/13/YVr_ssyA_eI
I found myself liking the experience of working with Dan Orrell's from Copper tree and it was my first time shooting a wedding alongside a videographer.
Ada is a very beautiful bride and she was stunning on the day so I really didn't find this a difficult job.
As the time was ticking on she became more concerned that she was falling behind schedule and then the limo had arrived down stairs and we were not ready.
I saw what was happening and she was getting a bit panicky so I decided to put my camera down and help with loading up the cars with all the flowers and gifts and generally vacating the hotel.
I had a look around at the bar downstairs and found some family members and asked them to help Ada get things loaded in the cars outside. They were more then willing and the departure went off ok.
Petra had already blagged a lift from Dan and went to the church ahead of us.
Just a four minute journey to the centre of Canterbury and we arrive at the cathedral.
After getting signed in by security I decided to drive into the grounds and right up close to the main entrance, dodging french tourists who are looking up at the huge cathedral spire.
Petra and Dan are waiting at the huge doors outside the Cathedral and we prepare ourselves for the arrival of the Bride. It was a gloriously sunny day and everyone was in a happy mood. The tourists sensed something was going to happen when they saw 3 people waiting in the sunshine with bigger cameras then they had......
She's here and the mood changes, Petra goes short and I go long to try and get all the angles, Dan steps back to get it all in the picture. The french tourists are grateful for the chance to photograph something, other then 300 year old architecture and they turn their attention to Ada as she gracefully strides towards us.
Everything seems to speed up at this point and its like being swept away in a fast moving river as we enter the church and navigate through all the tourists that are gazing at this spectacle. The inside of the cathedral is HUGE, easily the length of Gillingham football club, including the outside toilets.
Down to the crypt we go and the wedding begins
.Its dark! very dark, perhaps the darkest I have ever encountered in a wedding venue but what a fabulous place this is. Its moody and atmospheric and that's all I need to produce something special. Its also a chance for me to use my new little toy. My 85mm 1.2 Canon lens is more then capable of attaining the shutter speeds needed for this gloomy cavern.
After the wedding we go out to the cloisters and this is where I am looking forward to taking some great photos of Ada and Amechi.
The photography goes well despite the tourists getting in the way and jostling for the best shot with my fellow professionals.
Its at this point that I suddenly realized that I left my kit bag on a bench back in the crypt. I run back and the place is alive with tourists, they must have opened the place straight after the wedding ceremony.
My kit bag is missing! Panic stations. As I walk back to the cloisters I see a church employee who tells me that he put my bag in a cupboard for safe keeping. With a cheery smile he shows me where the bag is. I could have kissed him, but that's definitely another story.
Back at the cloisters and we have a great time photographing the newly married couple.
After the photos, we drive onto St Margarets at Cliffe, this is a lovely place to take photographs of this nature and I have done so twice before on other weddings.
Ada and Amechi were so up for this and it really shows in the photography, she was having the time of her life and I was thrilled to record it for her.
I did not realize it at the time but I lost my iphone on the cliff tops at this point. It must have fell off my belt as I was crouching down to do the low angles.
So after the cliff top shoot we travel to Leeds Castle, and I am thinking. we are certainly getting to see a bit of the Kent Countryside. Ada and Amechi are following behind in their chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, and Dan from Copertree Media is also racing along the M20.
We have spent a lot of time away from the couples guests by diverting to Dover for the photos but it was definitely worth the effort and Ada really wanted this.
So now as we arrive at Leeds Castle, all the guests are waiting and wondering where the newly weds are he he, well they did not disappoint , because just before the couple get to the reception venue, they transfer from their 60 grand roller into a horse and carriage that was waiting in the outer buildings.
I am thinking that this day has been run like a well oiled machine because everything was coming together like clockwork, despite the fact that I lost my phone.
The reception was great too, and more photo opportunity's to be had in fact it was 3 great venues and all totally unique, a wedding photographers dream.
After the wedding I drove back to the cliffs and tried to find my phone by walking along the cliffs at 1 in the morning with a video light in the dark.
God knows what it must have looked like to the coast guard.
I did not find it but it was handed in by some kind and honest day tripper so in the end, a great day
No surprise then that Ada and Amechi have nominated their wedding as a hopeful winner to "Your Kent wedding" magazine's wedding of the year.. Good luck to you both.
David
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