Kirsty & Liam's Wedding Story
Working with Kirsty and Liam was so much fun. I first met them a stone’s throw away from their venue at a neighbouring coffee shop in Newmarket. It’s funny meeting new people sometimes, they often carry a presence with them, as if there is something in the air that just lets you know straight away, this is who I am and what I’m about, without them even saying a word. We got on like a house on fire straight away and I just knew their wedding really would be as if I was turning up and covering a friend’s wedding. In fact, the second time that we met, days before the wedding, we only actually spoke about the wedding for half of our actual time together. The rest was spent talking about tv shows (big Twilight fans). This was a good sign. Getting to know couple sand meeting them at a friend level makes my job so much easier. The awkwardness is eradicated, and the comfort level is paramount to taking a wedding collection to the next level.
So, the day finally comes, and I am greeted at the venue entrance by extremely well-dressed staff, and it certainly had a very royal essence to it all. Having been in the past, a place where royalty has often graced its presence, the look of the venue and the staff within certainly retain that level of service, as if they are just waiting for the King or Queen to arrive at any moment. The hallways lined with original oil paintings of past and present royals, as I was led up to a suite known as the Kings Suite. It is here that I found Kirsty as she had begun her bridal prep for the big day. As I entered the room I am greeted with a large, antique four poster bed and beyond that, a very large and grand bay window. Not only this but the suit also had a very large bathroom attached, housing Edward VII’s original bath and taps. Clearly a very historic location.
What a joy it was to capture Kirsty in this location with all the bridesmaids and several younger flower girls all playing around. The large bay window offering such a generous amount of natural light that flooded the room beside the four-poster bed. This area would be my focus and oh boy did we capture some wonderful looking scenes here. The flower girls were so excited about the day and as guests arrived on the terrace out of the window, I captured some wonderful scenes of the girls watching everybody mingle. Later on, towards the beginning of the ceremony, we got everyone together by the window, a relatively small spot for a bride, father, four bridesmaids and as many flower girls, but we got them all to huddle in and capture a wonderfully natural looking shot of them all smiling, chatting and playing with other.
As you can imagine the rest of the venue was just as grand as the Kings Suite. The ceremony room houses a few million pounds worth of original artworks that lined the walls, with large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The room beyond that led to the outside terrace also housing a few million pounds worth of art, along with a large fireplace and antique sofas. Everywhere you looked there were just beautiful scenes. Bearing in mind that most of my job is to capture and document moments as they happen, this made it very easy for me todo just that. The terrace room was fantastic for the same reasons as the large bay window was upstairs, light just came flooding through. Capturing Kirsty and Liam in this room as they began mingling with guests was just perfect, as they are being softly lit from one side, whilst in every scene equipped with the wealth of artwork that decorated the room. It really gave the whole day a real royal wedding look. Beyond the terrace sat the venue lawn, pristinely cut into lines surrounded by history and this really was the perfect spot to capture some fun group shots. Now group shots can often be quite boring unless you make them fun for your subjects, and this really happens by allowing the serious photos to take place and lull the min to a false sense of security. As I dropped the camera down towards my waist with its flip screen turned out and just began to talk and have a laugh with Kirsty and her girls, all while the camera was running. Such an easy tactic that always produces wonderfully natural results.
The terrace really was the place to be today. The place where family and friends had some real fun, and moments were captured continuously throughout the afternoon. The light was perfect on the gorgeous summers day and the terrace really helped protect us from too much direct sunlight. We had great fun with the happy couple walking around the grounds, as the flower girls followed us playing along, and often really helping with the scenes as they caused many smiles and laughs within the shots. Just towards the end, we did manage to get a moment alone along the wall garden archway, as Kirsty and Liam staired longingly into each other’s eyes as the light breeze made Kirsty’s Veil danced behind her. At this point the sun really had begun to dip and it only just managed to glance across the roof behind us, almost like a stage light, meant only for them.
As we moved closer to the cake cutting and first dance, we really centred around the terrace area in anticipation to be called through. One of the flower girls and her grandma were picking up the flower leaves that had been used earlier for an attempted confetti shot, unfortunately the flower girls were just too short to make it work but all was not lost. As they began picking these petals up, they began to play a game where they lay their hands flat and blew the petals at each other and it was captured perfectly just with the last bits of evening sunlight painting them with a warm glow.
Once called into the cake cut, we had all gathered around the table as it was in the centre of the room, almost like a shrine.Again, it was how I would imagine a royal wedding to be in this instance. The room began to fill up and as the circle was realised, people began to flood the doorway to the room, politely jostling for position. Some however missed out due to the size of the gathering. Such a wonderful scene, surrounded by loved ones with these two lovebirds right in the centre looking both happy and laughing with a hint of cluelessness, 9times out of ten at this moment they always ask, “how do I cut the cake”. I guess the possible destruction of a three-tier cake by cutting it in the wrong place is real. I’ve yet to witness this happing though. They were fine, and we captured some beautiful smiles and facial expressions in the process.
So, the moment had finally come, and the first dance was announced moments later, on cue, the giant Georgian royal doors were opened in tandem, revealing the dance floor beyond and everyone began filtering through down one side as the band were occupying the other. I had previously been allowed access to the room in order to set up a dual flash system for the dance. I got myself in place and the happy couple were applauded into the room with happiness and a hint of awkwardness on Liam’s side, he’d be the first to admit. The glorious thing about this for me though is your dancing ability never translates in your images, and what wonderful images they turned out to be. They both looked a million dollars and had the wealth of royal portraits in the backdrop to make the images look even more expensive. I did, however have one more trick up my sleeve. I had been waiting all day to capture these guys at the front entrance with the stunning Georgian venue behind them.Yes, it was night-time by now but there was enough up lighting available, along with my flash units to really create a gorgeous night shot to finish off their story.
Kirsty and Liam you were absolute stars, and it was such an honour to be invited to the most special day. I’m absolutely thrilled that you love your collection as I had. Matt.
