An in-depth look at a recent wedding photo assignment that I undertook
The object of this post is to give you an insight into a
recent photography job I was engaged for in North Devon . From beginning to end this booking took the
biggest part of 5 days and a lot of local travelling.
Wednesday evening
The bride to be had invited me over to her house for a
coffee and a last minute chat about the “big day” and what was the basis of the
plan. Fortunately I had been given the
information that the florist was going to be there and that she would be working
with the bride and chief bridesmaid on the floral designs.,
I arrived at approximately 7.30pm and almost immediately
began taking photographs, the bride looking stunning in her pink dressing gown,
pyjamas, pink rubber gloves and with her sunglasses perched on top of her head.
The room was a blaze of colour with all the beautiful
flowers and the air was heavy with the aroma of the flowers and greenery.
I took several photographs with my phone to get a feel for
the atmosphere and colours then began with the camera – a mix of shots with
both the standard and telephoto lenses gave an interesting combination of
images.
Some two hours later I left the venue and headed home.
Thursday
Today was spent checking and editing the 120+ photos from
the Wednesday shoot. They were then
compiled into a file ready to be put into their own online album and sent to
the bride after the wedding itself.
Once this had been achieved it was sort the camera time………….
Lenses cleaned, external body cleaned, internal mirror cleaned. Both batteries fully charged, phone fully
charged (my back up camera in case of camera problems) and lens cleaned. Tripod sorted (just in case I needed it!)
Friday Morning and
Afternoon
The bride and chief bridesmaid were being picked up from the
hotel at approximately 11.45 to make their way to the wedding venue so I
arranged to get to the hotel at 11am and take some preparation photos.
As it transpired things were running a little close to the
wind time wise so we ended up simply taking photographs of the bride and
bridesmaids in the hall of the hotel, a couple in the lounge and 1 in the
garden.
It was in the garden that panic set in – my camera screen
went black, the shutter would not operate, the preview image function was not
working, and I did not know if there was a power failure. So I took the battery out, left it for a few
minutes and replaced it, the lens motor ran and then stopped.
Now I was really panicking………………
I removed the battery a second time and waited.
I replaced the battery and the camera burst back into
life! I still have no idea what caused
this situation but we were back in business.
Time had been marching on and as I drove out of the village
the wedding car passed me going to pick up the bridal party.
I now had about 25 miles to drive to the wedding venue, a
town to navigate around and only an hour to do it in.
Isn’t it strange how whenever you are trying to get
somewhere in a hurry all the traffic appears to be on a go slow and drivers
decide to stop in the middle of the roads for no apparent reasons, traffic
lights always appear to be against you and so on?
Anyway, I made it to the venue just prior to the coach that
was bringing the groom, best man and the first of the wedding guests.
I met and spoke with the Registrar who apparently remembered
me from the last couple of weddings I had done that she had officiated at. She took me to the room and ran through the
procedural issues although she said “I am sure you have done enough weddings to
know this anyway”
There was then just enough time to grab some photos of the
groom and the best man before the bridal party arrived and I had to divert my
attention to taking their photographs.
Time to head up into the ceremony room for a few quick shots
of the gathered throng, the groom and chief bridesmaid before the bride and her
step father arrived at the door.
I took photographs throughout the ceremony and finally I made
a quick dash downstairs to take the outside shots including those of the happy couple getting
into the car. I then began the dash back the 25 miles to the village and get ready to do the
bandstand shots before everyone arrived.
When the bride and groom arrived at the bandstand there had
been a change of plan and it was just a few photographs of them and then to the
reception to take the group photographs in the beer garden.
I had an hour to complete those photographs before my
parking time expired. Fortunately the
group shots went well and with a little bit of artistic direction provided by
the chief bridesmaid the shots were “in the can”.
Now it was back home and a quick download of the photographs
I had already taken, a quick selection of 20 images to go onto the iPad to show
the happy couple at the evening reception.
A quick wash and brush up followed and then it was time to head off
again back to the reception.
Friday Evening
I arrived at the reception venue at approximately 7.30pm and
spent the next 3 hours photographing guests, the buffet table, the presents and
another 100 plus photographs later we made our way home and collapsed in a
heap.
Saturday / Sunday
and Monday
All photographs reviewed and the wedding images placed into
an online album first. This was sent
over to the bride by Saturday evening.
The album of the evening reception followed mid afternoon on Sunday and
then the flowers album followed early Sunday evening.
On Monday I had to take one image to the photo printers to
have an enlargement made and framed and tomorrow (Saturday 28th May)
I will be collecting that framed print and delivering it to the newly weds
after they arrive home on Saturday 4th June.
To contact Moonshadow Media
call - 07050 644101
email - moonshadowmedia@mail.com
To contact Moonshadow Media
call - 07050 644101
email - moonshadowmedia@mail.com
