Not all couples plan for the all-day, bells and whistles wedding with a photographer in attendance for ten hours or more. For various reasons, some just want to get married in the presence of their closest family members, have a few photos taken immediately afterwards and then go off for a private celebration.
Yes, I can help. Why not?
I offer an hourly rate service, where my wedding coverage is tailored to the couple's needs, and it costs £70 per hour. Bear in mind that the minimum booking is for two hours, and you'll need to sign a contract, same as everyone else.
If you use the hourly rate service, you get the same delivery of your photos and the same customer experience as couples who book for a full day. You just get smaller portions in terms of my time on the day and the number of photographs. (But you'd probably worked that out for yourself, hadn't you?)
It's a service that's available on any day of the week, and at any time of the year, and I operate on a "first come, first served" basis.
If this is the sort of coverage you want, get in touch. I'd love to hear from you.
A week before their Big Day, and Tori and I met up with Cassy and Paul for their pre-wedding shoot. This is part of our standard full-day package, and it includes an online gallery of edited images and a complimentary mounted print.
We normally do these shoots around a month before the wedding, but have learned to be flexible.....Paul's job restricts his availability, and the weather hadn't been co-operative, so we were, on this occasion, keeping fingers crossed that the shoot could go ahead. The gods smiled.....
The venue was new ground for all of us. I'd met Cassy for two planning meetings (again, a standard part of our wedding photography offer) and, when we were discussing locations for the pre-wedding shoot, she'd mentioned that she had something of a penchant for low bridges. Assuming that she wasn't referring to railways and roads, and knowing something of the geography of Hampshire, I googled the River Anton - a chalk stream/river that's a tributary of the River Test and which flows through Andover, close to the couple's home. Within a few minutes, I'd been offered Rooksbury Mill Nature Reserve; as well as the river - complete with required footbridges - the reserve holds a pair of sizeable lakes, lots of autumnal colours and a variety of wildlife. It sounded ideal. So what's the pre-wedding shoot about? It means different things to different photographers, but for us it's primarily about the couple getting used to us with cameras in our hands. On this occasion, only Cassy and I had met before, so it was also a way of the four of us getting to know each other. Don't under-estimate the importance of this; without this shoot, the first time we'd have met Paul would have been in his hotel room a couple of hours before the wedding. Not the most relaxed setting....
This close to the wedding, the occasion offered Cassy and Paul an opportunity to relax and take some time out from the stresses and worries of planning and organising their big day. As you'll see when we post our account of the wedding day, a lot of thought and hard work had gone into achieving their vision - they both deserved an hour or so away from it all.
And, of course, we might be able to provide them with some nice relaxed, informal engagement portraits.....
Tori and I both enjoyed stepping into unfamiliar territory. We're already talking about going back to do a nature-photo walk next spring. And we've got somewhere else to offer wedding clients for their pre-wedding shoots...
Today was the warmest, sunniest and (thankfully, driest!) day of the year so far - a beautiful backdrop for Luke and Samantha, whose marriage was blessed at St Mary's church, in Portchester Castle at the northern end of Portsmouth Harbour.
The original castle was built during the Roman occupation, and was later developed by William the Conqueror. The church was added during his reign, so is, give or take, 900 years old.
I don't personally have any religious affiliation, but to my mind, St Mary's is a beautiful example of a simple place of worship, and a lovely setting for a couple to marry or to re-affirm their vows.
An added bonus was that the priest gave me carte blanche to move around as I wanted, and asked the congregation not to use their own cameras during the ceremony. Exclusive rights! I can handle that.
Technically, the strong, directional light presented challenges - the interior was either brightly lit or in deep shadow, and very little in between - but nothing insurmountable. And there's a certain satisfaction to be had from solving problems like that.
Best wishes to Luke and Samantha - and their three delightful daughters. It was a pleasure to be with you on such a special day, and to provide you with a pictorial record of it.
You may remember my post about Ann and Paul's wedding, back in July. If you don't remember, you can catch up here, but for those who do, you may recall that I closed that post by pondering on how I was going to present the photos in a manner befitting the day.
Well, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I found a solution. The couple saw the results last night, and were entranced. With their permission, let me share it with you here...
The pre-wedding shoot is included in our one-price wedding
package. As with today's shoot, with Hannah and Paul, this takes place around six weeks before The Day, and is a relaxed way for the couple to get to know Tori and me, and for us to get to know them and their photographic likes and dislikes.
As a rule, the shoot takes place either indoors or at a location of the couple's choice (within a reasonable distance of Basingstoke); today we were shooting in my outdoor studio (Down Grange, Basingstoke) which has a variety of locations within walking distance of each other, three car parks, and a Toby Carvery (with a bar!).
Otto regards Down Grange as his personal estate, so it was natural that he should come with us; it was equally natural - from Hannah and Paul's point of view - that he should appear in a few of the photos...can't guarantee that he'll be available for every shoot, but if a couple should want to include their own dog - well...don't see why not.
I was pleased with the series of photos we did in this mini-grove of trees. It was something I'd visualised when walking Otto over there, and, once armed with a vision, there followed a series of technical decisions concerning lens choice, optimum aperture, and lighting to turn that vision into reality.
Hannah & Paul - best wishes for the run-up to your wedding. We're looking forward to playing our part on the big day.
Let's start by offering our congratulations to Ann and Paul Butler - married today in St Bede's Church, Basingstoke.
Tori and I were grateful for the free rein we were given by Father Dominic in photographing the service (the only rule being "Don't be a nuisance") which allowed us to shoot every part of the ceremony, as well as capture candid shots of the congregation. Added to that, St Bede's is a modern church, and whoever designed it gave a lot of thought to making it light and airy - no need to even think of using artificial light.
Ann and Paul were very clear about the style of photography they wanted us to use to capture their big day. Fly-on-the-wall, unposed, recording the moments. No groups. This was very much in tune with their vision of their wedding - a church ceremony, and then a joyful party, with as many surprises as they could think of to spring on their guests. So....be ready for anything. And then photograph it. We can do that.
Now - the post-production begins...editing down our photos into a coherent, comprehensive story. And finding a way to present those images in a style that befits the day.
Ann and Paul - thank you for allowing us to be part of your amazing day. May you have many happy years of marriage ahead of you.
Not all couples plan for the all-day, bells and whistles wedding with a photographer in attendance for ten hours or more. For various reasons, some just want to get married in the presence of their closest family members, have a few photos taken immediately afterwards and then go off for a private celebration.
I offer an hourly rate service, where my wedding coverage is tailored to the couple's needs, and it costs £70 per hour. Bear in mind that the minimum booking is for two hours, and you'll need to sign a contract, same as everyone else.
