A chance encounter.....
I've been attending wedding fayres for a little while now. It is an opportunity to meet excited couples at various stages of planning - from "we've just started looking" to "our wedding is in three months, are you free?". Some lead to a follow up, and then perhaps a booking; others lead to nothing. But I always try to tell the couple what we do and how we can make their day special.
I met Elaine & Gareth at a wedding fayre in January. I liked them from the start, and soon after we had a consultation together to discuss their plans. This was different - a registry office ceremony followed by a hand fasting ceremony at Stonehenge. I remember clearly my excitement as I said, "I'm in!"
Of course what happened was not what was discussed back in January as the current uncertainty and restrictions swept in, but Elaine stayed focused - we're getting married in August if we possibly can.......
Their Couple's Shoot
We met again in June as restrictions were lifted and spent a fun few hours in Shipley Woods capturing some images that showed the essence of this great couple. "We are still on", Elaine stated, with her customary determination.
That Image
But all the time, there was that image in my mind. An image that Elaine had sent me immediately after our first meeting. I remember being told, "if you only get one image, this is what I want!"
It was an image off the internet, taken by an unknown photographer, of a couple at Stonehenge at sunrise. It was a beautiful and well crafted image that handled the simultaneous challenges of location, lighting and scale. No pressure..........
Coronavirus and their Wedding Day
Covid-19 and the restrictions in place at the registry office tried their hardest to spoil the wedding, but it didn't and we managed to get some great shots at the ceremony and at the very small, socially-distanced, event afterwards.
The weather tried too
And finally, the night before the wedding Toni & I are driving down to Salisbury - in torrential rain....... "We are never getting that image for them", I said as we retired to the hotel. In the morning we were greeted with this:
I've no idea how it happened but Elaine got her dream day. In the end it wasn't sunrise, but the early morning light and the beautiful sky cast an ethereal glow on both of them. Between Toni (who was second shooting) and me we made the most of the opportunity, and captured an shot that was my version of that image that had been burning in my brain for months........
Did I deliver?
But none of this matters if the client isn't happy. Elaine left this feedback on my page. I'll leave you to decide................
Well. What can one say?
I met Stuart at a wedding fair that was full of fancy photographers with drones, massive price tags, and hugely impersonal services.
From the moment we met I was totally and completely 100% sure that he was the man for our wedding photography. (Though I did have to give some pretence that my husband have SOME choice).
Not only is Stuart friendly, kind, flexible, creative and excellent with communication (this being SO important to brides) what we really loved was his ability to just go with the flow. We are, generally, a big load of oddballs, and we needed a photographer that not only would not shy away from that, but also understood our deep need to be idiotic, act stupidly, and generally make prize prats of ourselves. Stuart is everything and more we could have ever wanted.
Not only did he do a wonderful couples photo shoot with us, he then photographed our (very odd, Covid19 masked, socially distanced) legal wedding AND then travelled down to Stonehenge a few days later, with his lovely partner Toni, to cover our pagan handfasting (At 7:00 non the less)
As with all photos (as I REALLY despise having my photo taken) I was keeping my fingers crossed that, as long as there were one or two that I liked, I'd be happy. There were not one or two. There were not ten or twenty. There were hundreds. I'm not even exaggerating. HUNDREDS of photos that are so absolutely stunningly beautiful that, should I print all the ones I love, you may never find me again under the mountain of prints.
I couldn't, and still can't, stop smiling when I look through these marvellous pictures. And laughing too. And cooing 'awwwwwwwww!' at the cute photos of our kids.
Stuart captured the very essence of the two separate days down to a tee in exactly the way we had wanted. Fun and frivolity. Epic and atmospheric. Non posed. Non formal. Friendly. Fierce. Fabulous.
Wedding photos are, of course, the eternal (and often only) reminder, of such a special day. And Stuart has done us proud. We have, in these images, memories that will last for the rest of our lives.
What more can I say.
Seriously.
If you're considering having photos of any kind taken, book with Stuart. Now. Go.
Thank you, so much. From the bottom of our hearts.
Elaine & Gareth xx
