Winter Weddings

Winter weddings are becoming ever more popular. I’m already getting booked up for next December. I think the attraction is the thought of bright crisp days with clear blue skies and that festive feeling, especially towards Christmas. When couples approach me about a winter wedding they are worried that it will be too dark for photography. Whilst this is true to an extent – large group photos outside late in the afternoon could be problematic, but it is not the lack of light that’s the main problem.  No the biggest problem with winter weddings is the cold. Well it is winter! It’s quite difficult to make brides and brides’ maids look warm when their teeth are chattering and the skin is turning blue. So when planning a winter wedding my advice is plan for the ceremony to be fairly early on if at all possible, perhaps around mid-day. This allows for any formal group shots to be taken whilst it’s still quite light and in any sunshine. I would also have a consideration of what opportunities your reception venue has for photography, either in-doors or out. Some venues put a lot of emphasis on their gardens but if it’s too cold to be outdoors what is there in-doors? Lastly what will you be wearing? The groom will be OK in a suit but if the bridal gown is an off-the-shoulder design then you can get cold very quickly, so a nice knitted cardie from granny may help – only kidding.

For this winter wedding the bride lived only a short walk from the church. Of course yours truly was dodging the traffic to get the shots.

The young bride’s maids were suitably clothed for the crisp winter’s day. The older one had a fur wrap.

By mid-afternoon we decided it had got too cold to venture out-doors. In this bridal portrait I tried to capture the warmth of the interior lighting which added a nice glow to the wedding dress.

At this wedding we had to contend with a stiff breeze as well as the cold, although the sun was shining very brightly. We dashed outside to take a couple of shots but the weather prevented us from staying out too long.

However when the weather is behaving, the low angle of the sunshine can have a magical effect:

Wet Wedding Day

The weather in this country is variable to say the least and on a Saturday in mid November it’s not too surprising when the forecast is for gales and heavy rain. Luckily the rain held off until we were all inside the church. On the bright side the vicar allowed me shoot from the back of the church – no flash of course. (Only got one telling off from the verger because I took a shot of each of the readers and one of the prays – apparently I wasn’t allowed to do this. But unfortunately I’m not blessed with psychic powers…)

So after the ceremony with the rain still coming down we elected to stay in the church to do the main formal groups. This saved everyone from getting windswept and soaked.

At the reception venue, The Haycock Hotel in Wansford, the weather had improved slightly to squally showers and by now it was starting to get a bit dark. So rather than braving the great outdoors I took Lynsey and Tim to their room so that we could take some shots just of them.

At times like these I make sure that I bring my lighting kit with me so I don’t have to rely on having any natural light. A lot of wedding photographers wax lyrical about using natural light at all times, but what if there isn’t any? He are a few of the shots we did. I really like them. I switched on the table lamp to add a little warm glow and atmosphere to the room. There was virtually no natural light as the only window was on another level and it was getting quite gloomy outside anyway.

I asked Tim and Lynsey to cuddle up on the sofa in their room.

For this shot Tim and Lynsey stood on the mezzanine level above the room’s seating area.

For this one I left the light where it was so that it creating a backlight on the couple.

I also love black and white:

So why worry about the weather on your wedding day? You’ll still get great shots and more importantly great memories.

Nowhere to go

Welcome to the first entry of my new blog. I thought I’d start off by giving a brief insight into a common challenge faced by wedding photographers – where do you photograph the couple when there’s no obvious setting?

Once in a while I find that there is nowhere to go to take those romantic wedding portraits. The church grounds are full of grave stones- not a good look for the newly weds. And the reception venue does not lend itself to great views or backdrops. This was the case a couple of weeks ago. The reception was held in a marquee that was set up in a field bordering a farm-house. It proved a great place for the reception. But there was nowhere suitable to take the couple where we could be away from friends and family for a little while. I think this is important as many couples feel self-conscious enough without some of the groom’s mates grinning in the background trying to make him laugh. So what to do?

Well we packed off the guests from the church to the reception which was being held a few hundred yards down the road. I had noticed that the church grounds has a small area bordered by large shrubs with a bench facing back to the church – perfect. Nice and secluded with a bit of shade and not overlooked by the public. Here’s a few of the shots that we did there.

I wanted to show Michelle’s veil since it was a special feature of her beautiful dress. I’m often asked how I get the veil to float like this. By magic of course…

I also made use of the church doorway. I like to spend just a minute of two to get this shot – one of my favourites.

So not too bad when there’s nowhere to go.