Tears, tears, laughter and more tears
Today, I'm off to Durham to capture the wedding of Sarah and Sean. The ceremony at Sarah's local church and then onto Beamish Hall for their autumnal wedding.
Before heading to meet Sarah, I popped into the church to grab a few of the details ahead of anyone arriving. I do love seeing a venue all set up and ready to receive the party.
For me its also useful to see which way the light is playing on the day at the right time. The light always changes depending on the seasons and the time of day, different shadows, or beams of light.
Leaving the church and heading to Sarah's, I find all the bridesmaids and Sarah, sat with makeup done and having a glass of sparkles and chill ahead of "the dress". In came Sarah's mam, and said... "Your make up looks amazing, you best not cry" to which Sarah started to have a small tear.
Emotional moments are always caused when it comes to "the dress" going on, maybe more so for Dad's than anyone else (ok mam's too, but they've generally already seen it). Sarah was definitely no exception, she saw her dad, his smile and then completely welled up. A hug later and then the lipstick on and we were ready to face the music.
Once the dress was on, it was time to get a few formal photos before the church, this might have turned into a selfie set for one of the bridesmaids, but there is always someone who brings a larger amount of laughter to a wedding day. Next it was a mad dash to the church to capture a few of Sean to see if he was nervous or not.
When I arrived, the guests were just starting to arrive and I saw Sean greeting and directing them this way and that. I spotted the confetti to be used and for an autumnal wedding it was perfect, little confetti shaped in leaves, So it was an obvious choice to what to put the backdrop of the rings on today, some beautiful autumnal leaves.
After a few more hugs and hello's it was time for Sean to move to the front of the church and wait for Sarah to make her entrance.
When it came to Sarah's entrance, the bridesmaids most definitely legged it in, they whizzed, no no, sprinted past me and headed to the front, followed by Sarah holding back the tears. Someone had also picked the wrong arrival music and the "long version" was played much to everyone's amusement and they were standing there for a little longer than they had anticipated, but it just built the excitement more for the ceremony to start.
With a number of churches I've photographed I've noticed all have different rules and with some not allowing any photographs, to some allowing everything, to one like today, please be up on the balcony once the ceremony starts (roll out the big lens).
Once the ceremony had finished I went back downstairs and grabbed the newly weds for a couple of photos before they left the church. I'd had a brief to get a photo on the same bench, that Sarah's Mam and Dad had had a photo many years before. We headed round the back of the church, found the bench and sat. This was the moment that they looked at each other and you could see the setting in of "we are married" the happiness swelling from both of them. . The trees dancing in the wind and one, two, three photos taken. This is also where I caught the details of star wars cufflinks
They emerged from the back of the church to everyone lined up and ready to throw confetti, and throw confetti they did. It went everywhere. Right up their classic Jaguar and a quick whisk to Beamish Hall.
Low slung sunlight greeted me at Beamish creating beautiful big sunbeams. A few more candid shots later of them and the guests, then a couple of just the two of them wandering before letting them run inside to meet more guests and grab another glass of bubbles.
After the candid we got the formal photos as everyone had now arrived from the church. There was a few outrageous jokes made during these formal photos but I am not at liberty to repeat anything about how someone always puts their foot in it about jokes and talking about people
I ended my day by capturing the speeches in the winter gardens and a yes, a few more tears, the groom even had a running time bet on when she would cry during the speech.
