Nicola and Steves wedding was held at Mill Hall in Newbury Berkshire during a beautiful sunny weekend. The venue is certainly a great place to get married. With a very good mixture of stunning grounds and architecture if offers up great potential for many unique photo opportunities.
The day started at Nicolas house in the morning (at 11am) to capture photographs of everyone getting ready for the big day ahead. We captured many key moments of Nicola making last minute adjustments to her wedding dress, children playing, the brides father refining his speech, Nicolas mother helping with a variety of tasks, the bridesmaids, dresses and so much more. Everyone was working exceptionally well together to make sure the day went as smoothly as possible.
I met my assistant (Nathan) at the wedding venue primed with his camera gear and the important tasks of making sure I’m free to capture special moments with as minimal fuss as possible. It’s certainly helpful to have a good reliable assistant at the wedding because they take pressure off the primary photographer by simply allowing them to focus on taking pictures (not changing lenses, grabbing flash guns or carrying too much gear etc). So many key moments can be missed when you least expect it. As a photographer I prefer to think purely about what I’m photographing instead of thinking about my equipment or the technicalities of taking good photos.
The wedding day really did go very well. The whole day was full of fun and happiness. Even whilst working exceptionally hard to capture the best photographs possible I still enjoyed every moment. Having visited the venue before hand (for a pre-wedding shoot) we were able to establish some of the best locations for the photographs both indoors and out. It’s a large venue so there’s many possibilities of great shots using the grounds (with gardens, trees, flowers etc) and detailed interiors (stunning windows, staircase and high ceilings).
We captured photographs throughout the whole day. From getting ready at Nicolas house, arriving at the wedding venue, the ceremony, drinks, outdoor portrait sessions, wedding speeches and of course the disco which was also full of great atmosphere and interesting lighting and a nice setup from the DJ. When capturing the evening photographs I got all the guests onto the dance floor to create some great shots of the first dance using a mixture of ambient light and some flash.
As Nicola and Steves wedding photographer I certainly them a happy and wonderful future together as husband and wife. They make a wonderful couple and I’m sure they’ll cherish the wedding prints for many years to come.
