Rachel & Brunos’ Wedding- August 26th 2017

Rachel and Brunos’ wedding was one that every wedding photographer will encounter at least once, something very different from the traditional 2 years + of planning and arranging everything you find most couples going through. From meeting the bride and her mother, the wedding would only be a few months away!

Hearing this news was very shocking to me as you hear of these couples that spend years and years planning their perfect day, but instead, this couple knew exactly what they wanted: to get married, so simple and yet so true, this was a day to celebrate their love for each other, with their loved ones around them. I got the chance to meet with the beautiful bride, Rachel, and her oh-so bubbly mother, who was so onboard with all our ideas and so very sweet! I got introduced to Rachel and Bruno through a mutual friend, which was absolutely perfect. Rachel told me about how her and her mom were hand-making ALL the decorations; all the intricate table decorations that would really help tie the day together, I loved how this gave the day such a personal touch of love- the geeky art student in me was in heaven discussing their amazing ideas!

I was keen to capture these details that they spent so much time and effort on, hoping that the couple would be able to remember what went into making their day as special as it was. I was able to arrive to the venue early, because of this, I was able to capture people arriving to the church, this was just the beginning to a fun and positive feeling day! Frocks and suits galore and many smiling faces. 

Once everyone was here, Rachel arrived with her stunning entourage of bridesmaids and mother, who all radiated happiness and excite! From there, we went to meet the vicar, running the ceremony and made our way in, with Bruno already waiting there! After the occasional hymn, regaling of old stories and the cutest baby on the planet who couldn’t take their eyes off of me. The moment we all came for: they said “I do!” Overall it as such a beautiful ceremony, seeing them walk out the church, lovely flowers and family and friends lining the aisle as they left. 

Next, my favourite part: couple shots! One bonus arriving to any photoshoot, be it: wedding, event, fine art, portrait, landscape, ANYTHING, arriving early allows you time to pre-plan, figure out lighting (I learnt a great lesson from fellow wedding photographer and friend Nicola Gough of holding your hand out and seeing where the shadows fall and the light hits, basing your location choices on that to see how that lighting would work best on your subject.) I was able to plan where I wanted them to be, without wasting anyones time and could get the shots quickly and successfully without taking away from their day. Group/couple shots took half an hour, if that! I always request a list of the groups the couple wants photos with so I am able to bring them together and can take control to get the shots, making sure no one else has to worry (it is my job after all to get the photos!) We did some beautiful couple shots (a couple of which you can see at the introduction of this post, and at the end.) I always try and keep consistency in the group shots aswell, as I have learnt that drastically changing the background between different group shots can make the set seem messy and in effect, not work together. So I sheltered them from the sun, shooting back lit to allow a bright, light atmosphere to the photos (and no squinty eyes!) 

From there, we all headed off to the reception, a lovely bar and dance floor with just about every light possible, as well as bubbles for both the kids and the photographer! Here, everyone was able to dance and celebrate being together! Shooting indoors in dark spaces is something I have done for a very long time (longer than my style now in a sense) photographing my dads band in dark pubs when I was 15, to photographing my fine art pieces inside at sunset. I had to change my settings to pretty much the exact opposite to shooting outside before we went in: having possibly the highest ISO my camera could go, a shallow depth of field and a shutter speed of around 250 (something I try not to go under, especially with photographing people. But I definitely got some different photos for my portfolio, and get to capture a lovely celebration. 

Overall, Rachel and Brunos’ day was nothing short of stunning! I had so much fun having free reign of photographing what I wanted, whilst keeping their preferences into account. I am so happy to be able to share the photos I got from the day with you all and hope that I am able to do many many more weddings soon and continue capturing a fairytale twist to special occasions. 

For booking enquires regarding your special occasion, please contact me at tomoscarmiles@gmail.com

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