It’s been a busy patch of Pre-Wedding shoots for me recently in the run up to a wedding-filled May! I’m really looking forward to it and have spent a lot of April clearing my desk, organising my calendar & tweaking my workflow for ultimate efficiency come crunch-time! The couple of weddings I shot through January & February were a great way to ease myself into the year. Bring on the summer! Though whether I say that mid-July is anyone’s guess…
So – here are the photo highlights of this weeks pre-wedding shoots, with Sarah & Jenna in the lovely springy grounds of Woodlands Hotel in Leeds. They’re friends of Catherine Speak of Pink Daisy Creations and are getting married next weekend. I love the vibrancy of the flora at this time of year; leaves fresh out of their buds and regularly watered with April showers.
I do a pre-wedding shoot for all my wedding couples in the month before their wedding, to discuss groupshots & the shape of the day, but it’s main purpose is to get the couple used to being under my gaze. The process allows us to further build on our relationship and for me to talk them through what works and how best to behave. Basically, the more relaxed they feel, the more they enjoy themselves and the more relaxed they feel the better the images come out. I normally do the pre-wedding shoot at the venue we’ll be photographing them on their big day, so as to find some good spots to use on the day and for a bit of context dependent memory on their part. They learnt the ropes there, and so it all comes back on the day.
I always find it interesting photographing gay couples. It’s fine to straight-out ask a heterosexual couple to have a kiss in public, cos society wouldn’t bat an eye. But I always ask delicately broach the subject of public kissing with gay couples, because they may not be comfortable with it. Some weddings I’ve shot have no public kiss to publicly seal the vows. I recently read in a photography magazine that “Making the couple look like friends is a mistake” & I couldn’t agree more.
I hope in these images it’s possible to see the very real love between Sarah & Jenna. I can’t wait to photograph their big day next week!