For those of you that follow us on Facebook, you will already have seen the wedding video that we shared on our Vimeo channel…And for those of you that don’t follow us on Facebook, why not?! 😉 Please do go and check out the video to see what an amazing day this was. This was a beautiful wedding which also really presented us with some of the very struggles that seasoned wedding photographers face regularly… the weather! Every wedding couple (ourselves included!) dreams, wishes, hopes and prays for a bright sunny day. After all, what could be better on your special day than a bright blue sky with warm, sunny rays of light? What a lot of photographers might not tell you before your big day is that actually, an overcast day is a blessing for us! Sunlight casts incredibly harsh shadows whereas an overcast day provides an AMAZING quality of light and can result in stunning photos. It is the photographer’s job to make sure you have fantastic memories of your day, but the weather can certainly fight against us in ways you might not expect. Ilona and Mark’s wedding was exactly such a day, one where we started with an unexpecting, grey and overcast day. It was, however, not particularly bright overcast, more gloomy and ominous than anyone would really wish for. Here’s Jo to help demonstrate how the morning was playing out;
Flip flops!
Thanks Jo – Yes that’s right, Jo was wearing flip flops in the rain (“I’ll wear them in the snow!”) Good for you, Jo. Not quite so good for the beautiful bride (or even Jo’s toes, I suspect). Ilona was due to arrive about 15 minutes after this photo was taken. Yet somehow as if on cue, Ilona arrived and the rain stopped. The clouds didn’t quite part like the Red Sea for Moses, but it was at least not raining. Even though there are plenty of great photo opportunities to work with in the rain, it’s still not the weather you want for any wedding couple. What did happen though was that, as the darkness subsided, it became really bright but beautifully soft light. Making the most of it, we started to focus on stuff sitting on the window sills around Ilona’s room as she was preparing.
Creamy smooth!
Creamy smooth shoes too!
Make up artists have a knack for setting up around the best possible light in the room, as I have mentioned before. Kim at Beauty Call was no exception and as she sat the bride in front of the beautiful light I couldn’t resist.
Beautiful bride
In fact while Ilona was getting ready, the rest of the bridesmaids made the most of the natural light too!
The ceremony was held in the aptly named and perfectly designed Ceremony Barn. Two walls of floor to ceiling windows, on a bright day. What does that give you?
The perfect first kiss!
Simple. When there’s good light, there’s not much for a photographer to complain about. It also gave both the more formal group shots and the relaxed couple’s personal portraits an easy to manage lighting setup known in many books as ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!’ We could focus on capturing the moments.
Don’t marry him… take me!
Ilona and Mark
But the day was far from over and the party was just about to begin, both literally and technically, as the sunshine burst through the clouds halfway through the speeches. It was as if the sun was applauding the hilarious ‘trade in your old mobile phone’ speech (a best man speech that goes down in the annals of ‘best best man speeches’ history). And it allowed for one of my favourite candid captures of the day as the rays shone straight through the doorway and directly onto the beautiful Ilona, singling her out against a dark background.
3 cheers for the sunshine!
(Here’s a sneaky panorama shot from the bride and groom’s view so you can see just how bright it got when the sun made its timely appearance!)
Better still, the evening ended on a high as we were able to take the couple outside late on and set up a couple of flashes to light up the wall that to sums up Wasing Park quite perfectly.
Ilona and Mark at Wasing Park
Dasha and I had a great time shooting this one, but it just goes to show that, when booking your wedding photographer, make sure you get one with the experience to deal with the unexpected! There’s plenty more from this wedding in the video so go take a look. If you like what you see, why not get in touch?
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