StillVision Photography

The Wedding of John & Kathryn

Congratulations to John and Kathryn who were married in Kings College Chapel, Cambridge on Saturday 4^th September.  Their wedding is the beginning of the end of peak wedding season for me.  It is however the beginning of a very busy two weeks with four weddings in ten days!  Today was a nice start though and I enjoyed the day even though the weather was slightly dim (but better than expected)!  Because the wedding was a late starter at 5pm, we were chasing the light into the evening at neighbouring St Catherine’s College but it didn’t really cause a problem.  We enjoyed/had a good laugh at some very unique a cappella /modern dance performances by a group of friends!  This set the reception off nicely and dancing continued into the evening and we left bride, groom and an impressive number of guests dancing to up tempo jazz!  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of Ben & Rachael

Congratulations to Ben & Rachael who were married near Cheltenham in the Cotswolds on Saturday 21^st August 2010.  We had driven across the country over night after yesterday’s wedding in Essex and had found ourselves in Cheltenham.  Ben & Rachael’s wedding day was highly unusual for a number of reasons:  First of all I was up very early with the men of the wedding walking across wet sheep and cow fields in my shirt and tie!  Secondly the wedding venue was a marquee on a farm overlooking a stunning valley towards Cheltenham which was absolutely beautiful and a very original location for a wedding.  Thirdly was the unbelievable weather!  It rained like there was no tomorrow and without a doubt became the wettest wedding I’ve had to deal with!  It certainly made for a memorable occasion and I can be thankful that the wedding party wasn’t washed down the valley!  I was however surprised by an electric cow fence that I rather stupidly reversed into whilst shooting group photos that were attempted on several occasions between the rain storms!  You can imagine the scene; 25 people lined up watching a wedding photographer jump 2 feet in the air and land flat on his face…. At least I got the smiles!  I left a Caleigh band entertaining everyone inside the marquee and headed home in the rain.  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of David & Alison

Congratulations to David and Alison who were married on Friday 20^th August 2010.  Their wedding day was the start of a very busy weekend for me involving 400 miles of driving, late nights, a shock from an electric cow fence and the most rain I’ve ever seen (more about that in tomorrows wedding post)!  Today was all about David and Alison however and they were very lucky with the weather (I keep bring this up but tomorrows wedding post should clarify)!  It was actually pretty hot and sweaty but got quite overcast later in the day.  For the most part guests could be found enjoying the weather and the gardens at The Fens.  I’ve not been to The Fens before but it is a fantastically well run wedding venue and everything ran like clockwork.  Lots of cocktail sausages were being eaten, wasps were being swatted and by 8:30pm there was a busy disco in full swing.  We left the wedding party dancing the night away and drove across the country to Cheltenham for our second wedding of the weekend.  The storm clouds were building all the way…

The Wedding of John & Anna

Congratulations to John & Anna who were married at Trinity College in Cambridge city on Saturday 14th August 2010.  I like Trinity College for the grand architecture and today was actually the first time I had photographed a wedding within the college chapel itself which was a treat.  I had a lot of rain shower dodging to do all day which was a bit of a nuisance but the showers were timed quite well and didn’t really spoil any of the formalities!  The rain did force the family group photos under cover but there isn’t a bad spot in Trinity for photographs really so I wasn’t too upset!  It was a classic tale of sunshine and showers however which meant there was some good weather to enjoy at times and some quite interesting light to play with.  I spent 30 minutes walking around college with John & Anna just before their disco started and left them impressing their guests with their first dance (they met at ballroom dancing classes after all)!  My wedding photography highlights follow.

The Wedding of Stephen & Helen

Congratulations to Stephen and Helen who were married in Oxford on Saturday 7^th August 2010.  Oxford is a bit of a home away from home coming from Cambridge and I’ve never really spent much time there before so it made a nice change (all be it a similar looking one).  I actually drove up the night before to save my traffic stress levels on the day of the wedding and enjoyed visiting two brand new venues: St Margaret’s Church for the ceremony and the stunning Rhodes House in central Oxford for the wedding reception.  Their wedding day really does put an end to my weather successes this year and it was the closest to a total wash out wedding I’ve ever had – I think the British summer is well and truly finished for another year!  Cloud cover and stormy skies can produce great light however.  It was variable which was a bit annoying but when it was good I enjoyed shooting in some really rather perfect light conditions (in amongst the regular showers).  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of Pete & Julie

Congratulations to Pete and Julie who were married on Saturday 31^st July 2010.  Their wedding finally brings an end to my amazing run of perfect sunny days for the 2010 summer wedding season!  Still, it wasn’t a washout; it just rained early in the morning and remained quite overcast for the rest of the day!  Pete and Julie were married at St Margaret’s Church in Streatley, Luton which is not a venue I’ve been to before but it was a picturesque village church.  Pete and Julie decided to rattle through their formal group list at the church making use of the dry weather which didn’t look like it was necessarily there to stay!  This meant we arrived at the Bedford Swan hotel a little behind time.  We have photographed at the Swan on a number of occasions having shot the hotel’s press and PR images!  We’ve also shot a couple of weddings there so the venue was familiar to me.  I perhaps didn’t make the greatest impression upon leaving when getting double-double parked in the hotel car park and having to ask a handful of guests (brides father included) to play drunken musical car parks during the wedding disco!  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of Lewis & Georgie

Congratulations to Lewis & Georgie who were married on Saturday 24^th July 2010 in Granchester.  The weather was yet again stunning today!  I really feel that I should go with the tag line “guaranteed good weather for your Cambridge wedding” for next years advertising!  Georgie and Lewis were married in Granchester and parts of the wedding ceremony were quite amusing (I won’t go into detail but Geogie and Lewis will know what I mean).  Their wedding reception was then at Magdelene College, Cambridge which is a lovely college venue by the river.  Timing went a little awry early on after the bride’s car broke down on the way to the church but it is these little disasters that make a wedding memorable!  Panic over, their wedding day proceeded without a problem and there was a nice atmosphere in the gardens at Magdelene for the afternoon (which ended up being extended a little).  We left bride and groom dancing to a jazz band.  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of Tim & Lene

Congratulations to Tim & Lene who were married on Saturday 10^th July 2010 at Jesus College in Cambridge.  I’ve photographed a few weddings at Jesus College before and really enjoy the venue but today was by far the hottest!  It was also the hottest wedding of the year so far which is actually saying something as I have been really lucky with wedding weather this year.  There were quick drinks on the lawn at Jesus College before everyone headed off to Barrington Hall where as many guests could be found hiding inside as could be found outside sunning themselves in the glorious sunshine.  Lene is from Denmark so there was a large Danish contingent present and a number of Danish wedding traditions were observed.  Another quirk of the day was that Tim had made his own wedding cake (sounds impressive but he is a chef)!  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of Chris & Mary

Congratulations to Chris and Mary who were married at Emmanuel College in Cambridge city centre on Saturday 3^rd July 2010.  Emmanuel College is one of my favourite locations for wedding photography (once you can get round the porters that is and it’s a challenge trust me).  The weather held again for another Saturday wedding so today was another hot and sunny one.  The breeze picked up for the afternoon meaning that the guys in all their finery (and myself it has to be said) were pleased about the temperature in the end!  Chris and Mary are expert dancers so there was quite a ballroom performance for their first dance and a Ceilidh band to follow on.  My wedding photography highlights follow:

The Wedding of David & Melissa

Congratulations to David & Melissa who were married on Saturday 12th June 2010.  Their wedding ceremony was held at Trinity Hall College in Cambridge town centre which is a lovely venue and one I have photographed at a few times before!  This time I had the unusual pleasure of Cambridge city barrier access and parking at the college – I had great fun through the rising bollards!   I then moved on to Barrington Hall for their wedding reception which is a great wedding venue and especially so given the glorious, sunny, summer’s day I had yet again!  I am being so lucky with the weather this year that I really should start putting ‘good weather guaranteed’ on my wedding photography advertising!  Today was also England’s start to their World Cup campaign – I knew I wasn’t missing much!

My wedding photography highlights follow: