The obvious parts

It goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway, all parts of a wedding are important. The things that happen at a wedding make up memories. Pictures of those memories matter.

So what do I mean by the obvious parts? Well I’m talking from a picture perspective, the bits like the first kiss, confetti chucking, cutting the cake, first dance, putting the wedding dress on etc - those obvious bits.

Now I believe while they’re super important to photograph on a wedding day if they happen, they aren’t exactly hard to photograph - they happen in a certain order, at a certain time and all you have to do from a photographer perspective is be there and take a picture, it’s really not difficult in the grand scheme of things.

and while yes, you’re paying me (hopefully) to take pictures of those parts of your day, that’s not really where I earn my money, it’s all the things in-between, that’s where my unique style of wedding photography comes into play. That and my approach, which is rather relaxed 😁

Traditional approach vs my approach

What’s also really important is how those kind of pictures are captured, for traditional wedding photography it’s all rather staged, you’re very aware there’s someone there taking your picture- stand here, ‘stop doing that’ or ‘can you do that again’ - it can all be a bit bothersome and intrusive.

My approach is rather different, all pictures you see here are taken as events are unfolding, there’s no stopping proceedings, no retakes, no awkwardness, no staging, no posing, no suggesting a couple ‘goes for a walk’, no missing any of your day - none of that stuff that makes normal people’s toes curl up (oh no, I’m going to have to have my picture taken, I hate having my picture taken, that kind of stuff...none of it)

The really important bits, the secret to a wedding story and you enjoying your wedding day

For me the main parts mentioned above take care of themselves, from a photographer perspective they really are the basics, you’ve got to be a complete lemon to stuff those pictures up!

As hugely important as these pictures are for a couple, the real story is in the moments that happen between these times, the real things that show a wedding for what it is - without all the little in-betweeny bits the whole set of wedding photographs is just a few Ok pictures of things you’d expect any photographer to get.

Pictures of you (yes you, the couple), your families, friends and everyone else - the interactions between you, the feelings you’re experiencing, the character that makes you all who you are, yes they are the important things - the essence of your wedding day.

These are the pictures that are uniquely personal to you, they probably mean naff all to anyone else who looks at them, but to you they’re important, the real life element of your day - who you are, what your day was all about, what it felt like to be there.

So yeah I’ll get the normal stuff if it happens, but I earn my money from all the non-normal wedding day stuff that’s happening, that’s the real value I bring to your day.

Relaxed people make the best documentary wedding story

You’ll notice (I hope) that everyone in my pictures always looks completely natural, fully relaxed and simply looks like they’re just getting on with the day.

There’s no awkwardness, stiffness, false smiles, or any appearance of being uncomfortable. My pictures give a real sense of being there, that’s because I am there myself, full there as another member of the wedding party.

A groom once said to me that my pictures are weirdly voyeuristic, it’s like the person looking at them is actually stood there, invisible, just watching things going on.

For me that’s bang on the money - that’s what I want people to see when they look at their wedding pictures, what it was like to really be there, as close to experiencing the wedding without actually doing it all again.