Charlotte and Pete were an absolute pleasure to work with at every stage along the way. We had a great time shooting their pre-wedding pics and an even better time on the day of their wedding!
In the week leading up to it, I'd been keeping my eye on the long-term weather forecast so I knew what to expect for the day and the closer it got, the worse the weather was looking...until the day itself, when I turned up with a boot full of white umbrellas and didn't even nearly need them! It was a magnificent day, clear blue skies and the perfect temperature for April.
So my first assignment on the day was to meet Pete and his best man and ushers at...the local golf course! Talk about relaxed! I'd have had the worst round of golf in my life if I'd tried to have played the morning of my wedding, but Pete was a picture of calm and composure, which was more than you could say for John, his best man! Poor John had the serious pre-best man duties jitters! His speech was worrying him sick quite literally!
The lads had a great couple of hours in the morning and it gave me a chance to practice my golf photography! A most enjoyable start to the day for everyone!
From there I headed over to Rowton Castle where Charlotte, her Mum and bridesmaids were due to be arriving at lunchtime.
I met them there, they got settled into their room and we got some really relaxed getting ready shots of them all.
Once the getting ready was under way it was a simple case of me nipping up the stairs every time they rang (!) and back outside to shoot the guests (and most importantly Pete!) arriving in the glorious sunshine. A great benefit from the photography point of view when everything happens all at the same venue, is it gives you so much more time to spend shooting rather than dashing between brides house, church, venue, etc. But don't get me wrong, that is one of the reasons I love wedding photography - nothing is ever the same from one week to the next! There's always something to keep you on your toes, keep you thinking and I absolutely thrive on it!
We got some great stuff of Pete and his ushers outside Rowton Castle and some really great stuff of Charlotte and her family in the room once everyone was ready to go!
Debbie and her team at Rowton Castle were absolutely brilliant, they kept everything ticking over nicely without there ever being a big stress and we arrived at the ceremony bang on time.
The ceremony was absolutely perfect. I'm sure the room was designed by a photographer! Huge windows let in beautiful natural light and it was a joy to shoot with such readily available light.
One of the exciting points about looking for the perfect light is that you have to do just that - look for it. Which in a wedding situation really makes you work hard for the perfect shot. But in this ceremony room, I really did have it handed to me on a plate! It couldn't have been better!
After the ceremony, thanks to the great weather, it was straight outside into the sunshine for Pimms!
We shot some really lovely group shots at the bottom of the garden at the back of the castle.
With a venue like Rowton Castle with such beautiful grounds at our disposal, it was always easy to find a new place to shoot.
I don't ever like to take my bride and groom away from their friends and family for too long - there's nothing worse than guests and bridal party getting fed up with the photographer! But I always like to spend a few minutes alone with them at some point before the wedding breakfast.
Selfishly, it gives me the opportunity to get some great shots of just the two of them, but more importantly, it gives the bride and groom that first 10 minutes together to actually say 'hello' to each other! Even straight after the ceremony they get swamped with friends and family congratulating them, which of course is lovely, but I find it a privilige to be able to find a quiet spot for them during the course of the afternoon, shoot some beautiful images of them together and give them their first opportunity to be alone in the middle of the excitement filled day.
The speeches were great! Charlotte's Dad had prepared a powerpoint presentation which he narrated with a poem he had written especially for the day. The powerpoint was a slideshow of brilliant shots of Charlotte as she was growing up and finished with one of the shots I took at their pre-wed shoot which I was delighted to supply to them to use.
After the wedding breakfast we took the opportunity to grab the last couple of Charlotte and Pete as Lord (quite literally!) and Lady of the Manor outside the front of the very impressive Rowton Castle.
I was finishing the day with the first dance - which was absolutely spectacular! Charlotte and Pete had learned a choreographed routine which blew everyone away! It was great fun!
I wish Charlotte and Pete all the happiness in the world, it was genuinely an honour to shoot their day, everybody there had a fantastic time, all their friends and family were so lovely and were great fun to be around!
Good luck for the future guys!
Posts
