10 Photos in 10 Years
The end of the year is always a nice time to reflect, and as 2022 saw my tenth (!) year photographing weddings I thought it would be nice to take a look through and pick out some of my favourites from over the years.
I’ve never really talked before about what got my into weddings in the first place. I always had a camera on me on travels and holidays and then I was sat at work bored on a Saturday in 2011. I went on stumbleupon.com and clicked my interests travel, photography, etc and clicked ‘stumble’ it throws completely random websites at you based on what you like and don’t like. Carl Zoch came up, an alternative wedding photographer from Oklahoma and I was hooked.
The people in his photos weren’t posing, they didn’t look bored or cheesy. They were jumping up and down, laying down in the middle of the road and riding around on bikes. I was hooked. It looked like so much fun. And so my journey into alternative, relaxed, wedding photography began!
It’s taken me to some weird and wonderful places over the past few years. I’ve photographed weddings at disused chapels, on safari parks, in St Tropez and Tuscany, on party boats, in the city, in the country – you name it. Each wedding day is as unique as the couple’s themselves, and I love to try and capture the essence of you as a couple within my photography.
As an introvert, wedding photography is the perfect excuse to hang out with people and have some fun. I’ve always aimed for a laidback, client-led experience. By that I mean, if you’re not really into posing, I can work with that and just give you some gentle prompts to interact with one another, and capture whatever happens. If you want to spend a little longer or have a bit more guidance with your portrait session, that’s fine too!
Throughout a wedding day I’m usually just in the background, quietly snapping away. For 90% of the day, I’m floating around the room capturing natural photos. My aim with my relaxed photography style is to always make you, and your guests, feel at ease in front of the camera, so this is hopefully what you’ll see looking back through this archive of the last 10 years.
2013
Abi + Tristan were one of the first handful of couples that booked me when I was starting out. They had great style and a beautiful venue in a quaint location, The George in Rye. Tristan was effortlessly cool and calm while Abi just spent the whole day elatedly giggling. I think the whole experience of taking photos on the quiet cobbled streets of Rye was a bit surreal for all of us.
2014
Nikki and Dan were completely unphased by the whole day – they each got ready with all of their friends and then they all met each other in Russel Square gardens, we did a first look, some group photos and everyone had a drink before walking down to the town hall to get married.
It really couldn’t have been more relaxed.
2015
It starts to get difficult picking one wedding let alone one image at this point. Trav and Flic had a really fun Brighton wedding and went to town on some really awesome details. They had Choccywoccydoodah Wes Anderson inspired wedding cakes (yes, plural) and each table had a suitcase with film themed fancy dress. Everyone sang at them during the speeches while dressed in a mix of Darjeeling ltd, Fantastic Mr Fox or Budapest hotel attire.
I had the pleasure of shooting a few of their friend’s weddings and it was nice to hang out with them again. This was first wedding where word of mouth spread and referrals felt natural.
2016
Holly + Mike paid for me to travel all the way up and into a really remote part of Wales, so this was probably my first destination wedding where I got to shoot and see a totally different landscape. They were childhood sweethearts, had all of their friends and family at the wedding and danced to Ibiza tunes while the sun set over the sea in the background. We shot some really nice portraits after their ceremony but the light started looking beautiful later on and they were really up for sitting amongst the ferns on the side of the cliff as the sun shone through.
2017
Up to this point, I’d been taken all over the UK and even St Tropez, but Kerry and Julian planned to have me out for their wedding in Tuscany up in a huge country house. A bit of a pinch myself moment as I jumped into a Fiat and drove across country through tiny villages before heading up towards the vineyards.
When I got there, everyone was sat getting ready for a Pizza supper. There was only about 20 of us! It was really intimate and they were all so welcoming to me. I had to fly back early the next day so I had to make the lonely walk across the grounds and into the main building (a 1500’s watchtower) and I have never been so creeped out having so much space to myself.
2018
Aw, Lovely Line and Adam. I’ve stayed in touch with these guys a fair bit and got to photograph their family as they grow. Their wedding was at Nancarrow Farm in Cornwall, but it might as well be somewhere in Europe near the Mediterranean with its architecture. The barn adds a super rustic and eerie element to the photos too. I remember 2018 being a year where EVERY weekend was sunny from Mid April to Mid October. I got to shoot a lot of weddings for friends or became friends with a lot of couples.
2019
Katri and Lap were super sweet. Another really intimate wedding, but at a venue full of animals – Port Lympne has a really fun safari overlooking hundreds of acres of Kentish Savannah. Obviously, I am drawn to intimate weddings and lovely people! And venues that aren’t cookie-cutter. One moment you’re in a ceremony room with huge animal murals, you turn a corner and you have an Atrium that could be in Morocco.
2020
These guys were so much fun to photograph, and so open! They had me in and out of their home as they got ready, took me for a walk along the canal, stopped for coffee while they just goofed around together. I think that’s where my open, receptive and relaxed personality works really well with different types of people. Obviously, we were in the middle of a pandemic but having this job and getting to meet people like Daria and Evan saved my sanity.
2021
Closing in on nearly 300 weddings I had barely shot any in my home town of Hastings & St Leonards where I’ve lived my entire life. When Holly and Luke booked me it felt like a certification that I was finally getting a reputation as a wedding photographer (which is maybe weird 9 years in but here we are) They are both incredibly creative so there was an added pressure to document or create on their wedding day. We had an hour in their local pub where they met to take portraits and some fun photos, they went to dinner with their parents and then all of their friends joined them at the pub later on!
2022
Nat and Marc! They didn’t think they wanted a photographer at their wedding (a lakeside wedding at Lake Windemere!) but we met at their friends wedding and they told me they liked my approach and had no idea weddings photographers could be so calm and unobtrusive, as their previous experience at other people’s weddings was with loud and bossy photographers. They were both so lovely and it’s pretty cool to know there are so many ways to find new clients, even just in your professionalism while shooting a wedding! I’m looking forward to shooting a couple more weddings in their family next year.
And for 2023? If you’re getting married this year, I still have some availability. Let’s chat about your plans, I’d love to hear from you.