Two weeks ago today I was shooting a wedding at Woodlands hotel in Leeds, when I got an emergency call from my photo-homie Rob Booker. He detailed that he was a groomsman at his good buddies wedding the following day and their wedding photographer was stranded in the Canary Islands under volcanic dust.
Denied.
I bet this happened to more than one couple in the past month.
Booker described how cool & chilled they were and asked if I fancied getting involved. Now I’m very much a get-to-know-the-couple-and-get-them-used-to-being-snapped-with-pre-weds-and-the-likes kinda guy, so rolling in to shoot strangers for a few hours was a bit of a weird one. But all the same I stepped up to the fray and joined these funky kids…
Introducing the most excellent Rich & Katie!
The day was The Bridge Hotel in Wetherby. It was interesting snooping about, cos I’m actually gonna be groomsman here for a pal in August.
It was all in one location, so I was able to shoot it all myself, but I always notice the absence of a second shooter.
After leaving Rich and his Best Man Luke to dismantle their Corby Trouser Press, I dived in with the ladies for a bit of prep action.
You can tell you’re with cool kids in the details. Check out these kicks!
Katie has ace platinum hair, a bolt through her chin & some punky tattoos.
Rich has been a pretty famous bands too and had an ace sense of humour.
He & Luke were drinking a spot of Suntory Whisky, as ironically promoted by Bill Murray in Lost in Translation.
“For relaxing times, make it Suntory time“
Rich’s speech…
…getting a once over
Their rings both were both engraved with ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, as performed by The Journey
Mum & Sis before heading heading down the isle…
A bit of vintage processing on a sisterly moment
Radiant
and down the isle…
You may kiss the bride.
A couple of vintagey details
The button hole & colour scheme.
Considering they’d said “We don’t like posing” and I’d never shot them before, they were fantastic to shoot.
It was a lovely spring day outside, so the gang congregated outside for bucks fizz mingling
The gang!
Confetti fun
Fun fun fun
A best man moment.
This little lady seemed to like the idea of photography, so built her own camera & turning the tables, snapped me a couple of times!
I even had a little play with a bit of backlit flash in this cool glass corridor.
Larvely.
The wedding breakfast
I was lovin this ace this postbox! I hear you can pick them up on eBay
Cakage
I do like this moment, but often wonder why are lineups always by toilets?
Spot the dude…
This was by far and away the saddest set of speeches I’ve ever seen. Katies father died in December, and although they tried to put the wedding back he sadly passed away before their big day. But he did have a place on the top table and managed to write a speech that his best friend delivered. It was so sad. Beautiful, touching and amusing, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, myself included.
It’s one of those times, where as a photographer you wonder if photographing the tears is overstepping the line, but it was such a significant & beautiful part of the day. Katie’s dad was most definitely there in spirit.
And could still make people laugh.
Rich & Luke followed with great wit and comic timing.
And this little chap liked the props.
I’ve handed the images over to Mr Booker, who’s processing them as wedding present for Katie & Rich, alongside the photobooth he ran for them in the evening of the wedding. Be sure to check his blog & client areas for the images in coming months.
I was so glad to join these lot for their beautiful big day and wish them all the luck in the world.