Diary of a wedding commission : Alison & Neville

So this is how it goes…

Sunday 12th July 2009

Arising from sleep in Peckham of all places, I pick up an email from Alison enquiring about my prices and availability. Her wedding is scheduled for Saturday 29th August 2009. Within 30 minutes of her writing to me I’d replied to let her know that I would be back from assignment by that evening whereupon I’d email her a more detailed price list than the outline pricing on my Web site. I also confirmed that I was currently available for 29th August. Within 2 minutes of sending that, I received a thank you from Alison. Flowing communication always makes for a good start. I did also learn a valuable lesson from this initial phase of the enquiry; I need to store my detailed pricing list and other documents on an online server that I can access from  anywhere and not just from my computer back at base! By that evening my pricing plan was despatched by email as promised.

Tuesday 21st July 2009

My land line rings during the early evening and my three and a half year old daughter Amelia takes the call. A few minutes later I manage to persuade her to break from what sounds to be a fascinating conversation and hand me the telephone. Thus I have my first spoken conversation with Alison and we discuss details in a little more depth as Amelia sets about climbing onto my shoulders and sitting on top of my head, a trick she reserves for moments when I’m deep in conversation with others. Alison and her fiancé Neville are based in Ipswich but are to marry in the Poole area as that is where Neville grew up (on Brownsea Island as it happens!) We arrange to meet in person the following Monday. With Amelia still perched on top of my head and endeavouring, herself, to re-enter the conversation I point out to Alison that I don’t actually bring my daughter along on wedding shoots, but she suggests that I should! :~)

As it happens, recently, Amelia shuffled in to the living room dragging my tripod along. Setting it up in the middle of the floor she exclaimed “I want to be a photographer, just like you Daddy!” I insisted she was to become a lawyer and that was the end of the matter.

Monday 27th July 2009

I meet with Alison and Neville at the entrance to St. Peter’s Church, located in the Ashley Cross district of Parkstone, Poole, the venue for their marriage just over a month away. We adjourn to the Bermuda Triangle, an intriguingly and eclectically decorated real ale and German beer pub that is as close to St. Peter’s as the road passing between the two will allow. The consultation, I feel, goes really well. I ask Alison how she found me and am delighted to learn that this is my first Google lead (thus far it’s all been word of mouth, which is indeed the backbone of my business but it’s also nice to start getting serious attention from people with no prior third party connection). Whilst the search string that she used eludes Alison by this stage, she tells me that my Web site came up on page one, in tenth position, and having gone through the prior nine was the first that presented a style of work that grabbed her. This is not to say of course that there isn’t other work out there at least of the quality of mine – I’m constantly aware that there is a great deal that I aspire to as my practice progresses – but it does bring home the importance of being true to one’s own (developing) style as a photographer in order to match with the right clients for oneself. The fact of Alison coming from an acting background is certainly something that is as much of interest to me as my style of work is to her; I can certainly see where the two gel. Before presenting my portfolio to Alison and Neville I ask them what image they have of the photographic coverage of their wedding day.

Neville conveys a desire to see key moments captured, interaction between people and peaks of emotion. He also expresses a fondness for detail and things seemingly at the periphery of the wedding day that might go consciously unnoticed but are actually key aspects of the fabric of that day. Fantastic! He’s just done my sales pitch for me, and I don’t do sales pitches. I decided early on that I can’t bring myself to sell an image of myself and my work; I can only continue to thoroughly enjoy what I do in this field by being myself and allowing my imagery to speak for itself. So we proceed to my portfolio.

Alison points out how much she liked this image, from Louise & Nick’s wedding, when she saw it on my Web site:

I’m especially happy to hear this. It’s one of my favourite images from my body of work and I feel it encapsulates what I love about this job.

I notice Neville lingers over one image, from Petia & Chris’s wedding, for a deal longer than any others:

This likewise instils in me a calm pleasure as I sense he’s one to read a narrative that doesn’t shout across the surface of an image (I do like images that shout by the way, but all shouting and nothing else simply becomes a confusing visual cacophony; something is also needed in the way of pictures that talk quietly in order to paint a true narrative of a day).

As we proceed through my portfolio I build upon my already fairly well established notion that these are the type of people I want to photograph. Interspersed throughout the conversation, Neville asks me a series of questions about my practice, how I mitigate against the possibility of technical faults or illness on the day, how I deal with marshalling groups of people for the ‘formal’ shots, all the questions that one should ask one’s prospective wedding photographer, perhaps. Pragmatism in others is something that reassures me as I consider myself a pragmatist.

Both Alison and Neville appreciate the energy and vibrancy in what I consider my keynote wedding day image to date, again from Petia & Chris’s wedding; all of my business cards and other marketing materials have it emblazoned across the front after all!

With this image in mind, as Alison and Neville are to hold their reception and evening party at The Royal Motor Yacht Club on Sandbanks, I ask them if they fancy turning up for that stage of the day on jet skis.

As we draw the consultation to a close I sense that we’re all three satisfied with proceedings but I make a point to tell Alison and Neville to take their time before coming back to me with a decision. From the very outset in this business, even when prospective clients have indicated to me on the spot that they have made their minds up to commission me, I deliver a genuinely heartfelt thank you but ask them to take a little time to ponder before confirming (I’ll always hold the date in the meantime). I don’t know why I do this; to me it simply seems the right thing to do.

On departing The Bermuda Triangle Neville comments on how much he likes the place and how it would make for a great spot for he and his groomsmen to gather prior to the marriage ceremony. He also notes that it would make for a great photographic opportunity :~)

Tuesday 28th July 2009

I receive an email from Alison and Neville. They have decided to proceed with commissioning me as their wedding photographer. From this point I start working for them, a month and a day prior to the big day itself.

Friday 31st July 2009

I contact the secretary of The Royal Motor Yacht Club to arrange an appointment to visit the venue to check out the lay of the land, so to speak, and to scout out the best photographic opportunities that the club provides. A visit is scheduled for Wednesday 5th August.

Wednesday 5th August 2009

A busy day indeed.

At 12.00 midday I arrive at The Royal Motor Yacht Club and meet with the club’s secretary, Mr. Paul Reidy, a most helpful gentleman who shows me where everything will be taking place come the day and advises me on what he likes best, visually, about the club and the environment it sits within, essentially a commanding view of Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island! Before departing I explain to Mr. Reidy that as I intend to document every significant aspect of Alison and Neville’s wedding day it is important that I’m in place at every location ahead of them. He swiftly resolves any concerns I might have in this respect by offering me the best possible parking space to get in to the club in advance of the key members of the wedding party.

Fortuitously this also turns out to be the day that Alison and Neville will next be calling across from Ipswich to visit the area, their last visit before the wedding day itself; it is quite important to my practice that I have the opportunity to engage in at least one in-depth face to face meeting with my clients after they have commissioned me, in order to get the most detailed possible sense of what they are looking for in photographic coverage of their big day. I am also keen to develop the best possible sense of my subjects’ personalities, what makes them tick, the things they care about in life; consciously and sub-consciously this will direct how I go about image creation as I bring the commission to fruition.

I arrange to return to the RMYC at 3.00pm to meet with Alison and Neville and in the meantime go to check out a location that Neville initially suggested as a potential spot for some small group and couple portraits subsequent to the marriage ceremony and prior to the reception, Evening Hill directly overlooking Poole Harbour. Evening Hill certainly boasts a beautiful view and I’d be happy to stand or sit there for any period of time looking out over the harbour and Brownsea Island in the background, and normally I’d certainly not be staring at the floor around me whilst doing so but my photographer’s eye is scouring every aspect of the position and I’m not satisfied with the gorse bushes that populate the area, nor the scrubby, worn sand and grass mix of the ground and especially not the waist high wire fence that backs the otherwise sufficiently rustic wooden fence at the edge of Evening Hill (presumably in place to prevent dogs and small children from hurtling over the cliff edge into the harbour below). I feel moved to stress that it is a lovely location, but there’s just too much material there that wouldn’t combine best with a beautiful wedding dress and a fine set of wedding day suits :~) It would have been perfect for head and shoulder shots with such a lovely background, but there’d be plenty of those to come at the reception venue itself.

On my return to the RMYC later that afternoon, Alison and Neville are just finishing their sampling of the full set of courses that the chef is to prepare for the wedding party on the day itself. They’re clearly in gastronomic heaven. We proceed with discussing details for photographic coverage and agree to explore further opportunities for the staged small group shots in alternative locations. Whilst I do sufficiently enjoy the posed photography aspect of wedding days it does always prove the only particularly logistically challenging part of my job, not least because I’m keen to not see the larger body of guests left for a considerable period of time deprived of the bride and groom. In the main I am there to document, not to intrude, and certainly not to disrupt the natural flow of the day. Even the most avid lovers of the reportage or photo-journalistic approach to photography that informs the core of my practice do, after the event, value the nature of staged group photographs, at least those I have worked for thus far, so the best possible solution will be found.

Alison and Neville depart the RMYC to attend a meeting at St. Peter’s Church with the Reverend Roger Bayldon who is to conduct their marriage ceremony. Later that evening I telephone Rev. Bayldon to arrange a meeting of my own with him so I can discuss the church’s rules for photography and allow him to get the measure of me in person. It is rather important to my practice that officiants feel confident that I am not the type to blunder about a venue disturbing proceedings in any way, shape or form. If I can establish such confidence I am more likely to be allowed to go about my job with the minimum of restriction and that will allow for the best possible photographic results for my clients.

Tuesday 11th August 2009

After ‘phoning my mother to wish her a happy birthday I head towards St. Peter’s Church for a meeting with Rev. Bayldon. He turns out to be a particularly friendly and helpful man and photographer friendly to boot. Rev. Bayldon shows me the best possible vantage points for photographing the processional, the marriage ceremony itself and the recessional; he indicates to me where and at what points photography would not normally be allowed (minimal from my perspective); he shows me his favourite features within the church then accompanies me into the grounds. Here we discuss the best possible solution to Alison and Neville’s desire to have a photograph taken of them with their hundred or so wedding day guests directly after the ceremony. St. Peter’s Church sits on a gentle slope that descends from its main porch to the outside road and has no natural elevation beyond this point! That will make getting a hundred congregated faces in shot a great deal of fun :~) Not fancying the prospect of climbing a tree in a three piece suit with two professional cameras dangling from my neck, I resolve to source the loftiest possible step ladder that might fit into my car.

Tuesday 18th August 2009

Being aware that come the day itself I’ll be busy documenting interactions between people, I return to St. Peter’s Church during the morning to spend a hour and a half photographing architectural details and vistas.

I’m happy to find that Rev. Bayldon is also there so I can continue to learn from him, and I have an interesting conversation with one of the church volunteers, Mrs. Cook, whose son it transpires is a keen photographer.

Subsequent to this visit I pop across the road and stick my head into a local gymnasium where I explain to one of the staff members, Richard, that I’ll be photographing a wedding at St. Peter’s on Saturday 29th August and much as I explained to Mr. Reidy at RMYC, conveyed my need to be ahead of the key members of the wedding party at all stages. I ask if it might be possible to use their car park, a feather’s throw away from the church. Richard readily agrees to this but then checks a calendar on the wall and points out to me that on the evening of the 29th a band would be playing at an adjacent venue, Mr. Kyp’s. He points out that whilst parking would be no problem for me, there was a chance that I could find myself parked in as the band and sound engineers turn up during the afternoon to set up for that evening. Such information was even more useful than the kind agreement to afford me a parking space! Richard helpfully points out to me some other local alternatives for parking.

Next I pay a visit to The Bermuda Triangle to explain to the hosts that Neville and his groomsmen intend to visit the establishment prior to the wedding ceremony, and to seek their permission to take photographs in the pub on the day. They could not have been more helpful! On the way in to the pub I had noticed that they have three parking spaces directly alongside the building, all marked as being reserved for official pub use. I mention to them my need to be ahead of everyone on the day and before I have a chance to ask them about these parking spaces they say “You’ll be needing somewhere to park then; you can have one of ours”. I explain that I’d be likely to be in the area for a good few hours. “Not a problem!”

The Bermuda Triangle doesn’t yet have a Web site of its own but there are plans afoot to set one up. They’ll certainly be getting a nice collection of royalty free photographs for use on that site from somewhere.

Thursday 20th August 2009

I become the somewhat bemused but quietly proud owner of a four-section 2.1m 15Kg stepladder. That should do nicely for a photograph of a hundred people!

Tuesday 25th August 2009

I check the Sunrise and Sunset Calculator on timeanddate.com to find out when the sun will set on Alison & Neville’s wedding day. I notice that the nights are closing in at a rate of around 3 minutes and 40 seconds per … night, and that rate is picking up momentum by about a second every couple of days. Oh, and the sun is scheduled to set at 7.59pm on 29th August. I hope it’s in the mood for creating a spectacular splash of colour across the skies of Poole Harbour that night.

Wednesday 26th & Thursday August 27th 2009

I visit a dozen shops and department stores in the Bournemouth area in a search for padded clothes hangars (in white and cream, if you please, to cover the most traditionally likely dress colours) as I’ve become aware that when it comes to photographing bridal preparations, dresses that can cost a significant amount of money are often delivered hanging on clearly inexpensive plastic hangers. This can lead to an incongruous image of a hanging dress. I come close, finding some blue, brown and jovially multi-coloured offerings but no white or cream to be found anywhere. I make a note to resort to an online search for the next commission (but thankfully Alison’s dress, it transpires, is delivered hanging from a good quality wooden hanger).

Friday 28th August 2009

I indulge in a pre-commission warm up over in Hampshire; actually a fantastic learning experience. Arriving home at 11.00pm I set about downloading all the images from the Hampshire wedding to my computer so I can clear my memory cards in preparation for the big day tomorrow, check all my equipment, set batteries to recharge and re-read my dossier on Alison and Neville’s wedding day: maps of locations, details of timings, lists of requested group photographs, etc. so all the information can be left to bubble away in my sub-conscious when I get to sleep at around 1.00am.

Saturday 29th August 2009

This happens! :~)

The pictures tell the story but I’m keen for my own practice (as well as for the purposes of this diary article) to reflect upon the logistics behind their creation. I wake up at 8.00am, scrub up and eat some breakfast, re-check all my equipment and pack it into my car, water my crop of tomatoes then don my suit. Just before leaving home I engage in a little ritual that I’ve grown accustomed to practicing and have found really does the trick for me; I look at the slide show for my most recently published wedding commission on my Web site and tell myself, “That’s what you do”.

I start my car, the LCD clock turns on, it’s 10.15am. I’m due to be at Alison’s hotel to photograph the bridal preparations at 11.30am. The drive from my home to her hotel will take 15 minutes.

I turn the engine off and re-enter my home for a cup of tea. I’ve always borne a strong compunction to be on time for appointments; maybe at times this makes me a little over eager on the timing stakes :~)

I arrive at Alison’s hotel at 11.15am and select the two lenses I’ve decided I want to use for this first stage of the commission, a fixed focal length 35mm with a wide maximum aperture of f1.4 and a 24-70 zoom with a maximum aperture of f2.8 across the range, and mount each one onto a separate camera. Pre-selecting a limited range of kit for any one stage of the day allows me to move about unencumbered by my full range of equipment and it’s never so far away that I can’t access something extra if I discover that shooting conditions aren’t what I expected.

The bridal preparations commence and I lose myself in my job for a period of almost two hours.

The ceremony is due to commence at 2.00pm and I’m hoping to fit in some fly on the wall photographs of the Neville and his best man Mark along with assembled guests at The Bermuda Triangle pub beforehand so I depart as soon as it is announced that Alison’s car has arrived and drive from Bournemouth’s East Cliff district across the boundary into Poole and down towards the Ashley Cross district, hoping for no major traffic hold ups (but if there are any, Alison’s car will likely be held up in them some way behind me so at least I won’t miss photographing her arrival at the church! :~) The traffic is smooth, the management of the pub have kept me a slot in their small car park as promised, the sun is shining; I’ve enjoyed every minute of the commission so far (and continue to do so to the very end).

At this point I can relax, in a manner, and just go with the flow until it’s time for the guests to head across the road to St. Peter’s Church. I take photographs inside and outside the pub sticking with the same lens combination that I employed for the bridal preparations; I hear a guest comment, “How did the photographer get here before us!”, someone from the hotel (I didn’t break 30 all the way). When time comes for everyone to convene to the church to await Alison’s arrival I’m waiting at the entrance to photograph all of the guests as they walk up the pathway. “What an efficient photographer!” someone utters in passing, quite possibly the same person I’d heard outside the pub. It strikes me in re-reading what I’ve written that I seem to be selling an image of my professionalism here but if I’m to be honest it’s simply the case that such comments give me the warm fuzzies :~) I aspire to do a good job as a service provider and it’s nice sometimes to find reassurance that I am doing so whilst that job is in progress.

Once all the guests are through the door I enter the church to take the last photograph of Neville as an unmarried man, or the last several as the case might be. I then exit the church to await Alison’s arrival, photograph that from several angles, then re-enter the church and skirt down the side, to the head of the aisle to document the processional. Having done so I make for the wings and spend the duration of the 45 minute ceremony continuously traversing the sides and edges of the church to capture everything that occurs from as many varying angles as possible. I must wear a pedometer on one of these commissions to work out how many miles I cover in a day! For the ceremony itself I have swapped out my 35mm lens for a 135mm lens with a fast maximum aperture of f2. In photographing civil ceremonies I’m typically afforded the luxury of being able to place myself particularly close to the bride and groom throughout but church ceremonies tend to come with a different set of rules and the fast long lens allows me to capture critically evocative moments to a high technical standard.

Outside the church I capture a series of documentary images of elated guests congratulating a beaming bride and groom then set about preparing for the next phase of my job that day, getting a photograph of a hundred or so guests with Alison and Neville at their head. One of the bridesmaids, Danielle, has been volunteered to serve as my crowd wrangler for the day and I let her know that I’ll be ready for the ‘everyone shot’ soon. I pop back across the road to the Bermuda Triangle to extract my step ladder from the car and heft it over to the church yard where I erect it; all done in a matter of a few small minutes and the crowd is fully assembled just as I settle it into place. I’ve never seen such a large group called to order so rapidly; Danielle really is a natural at crowd management!

By this stage the 135mm lens has returned to my camera bag for the remainder of the day and from this point onwards I am back to the 35mm and the 24-70mm zoom. I have a preference for working close to my subjects in order to be able to tap in fully to the rhythms and flow of their mood and interactions.

The big group shot done I proceed to photographing the confetti parade. Aside from the posed group photographs this is the sole aspect of a wedding day that I will seek to orchestrate in any manner and this, solely, as I have observed a recurring phenomenon in modern weddings. Almost everyone brings a camera to a wedding with them these days, be it a dedicated model or one built in to a mobile ‘phone. People snap away at all junctures seeking to capture and record memories of what has taken place, and quite naturally so. This does tend to lead however to something of a problem with what should be a visually spectacular aspect of the day as so many people seek to capture on their cameras the sight of the confetti flying they end up by default taking it in turns to throw theirs! Thus a spectacular shower can become an intermittent drizzle, unless the cloud is seeded.

I’ve now completed my brief for the churchyard and I quickly pack away my step ladder and shortly after 3.00pm I drive off for the next location. We’ve decided on Coy Pond, to the northern end of the Branksome district, as a location for a series of posed small group photographs involving bride and groom, the bridal party and the best man along with parents and siblings of the newly wed couple. Just across the road from Coy Pond itself, at the very upper end of Bournemouth Gardens, a parade of weeping willows forms the backdrop to a large lush lawn.

Once again Danielle helps me out enormously in ensuring the right people are in place for the right photographs and all are done to schedule by 4.00pm. Whilst I’m totally in the service of my clients on wedding days and I’ll photograph what they want, when they want for however long they want to spend on doing so, I always have in mind that I don’t want to deprive the guests of the couple’s presence for longer than necessary.

Ahead of Alison and Neville’s departure in their wedding car, I set off in my car for the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Sandbanks to be in place to capture their arrival for the reception.

As I enter the one way system that runs the circumference of the Sandbanks peninsula I spot a familiar looking vehicle a few cars ahead of me as I approach a junction. It’s the wedding car! I suppose it is being navigated by a professional driver after all, with possibly better knowledge of local routes than a SatNav device can offer. Still, brides in their wedding day dresses aren’t known for immediately springing forth from cars as soon as they reach the kerbside so I do get in place in good time to photograph Alison emerge for the next phase of her and Neville’s big day.

On the gun deck of the RMYC I’m back into photo-journalist mode and document the arrival of Alison and Neville and the reception from their guests followed by capturing the flow of the cocktail hour. Part way through the reception I head downstairs to the function room to photograph the wedding breakfast table details then I’m back up on the gun deck for another round of posed group photographs including Alison and Neville along with friends and extended families, in a variety of configurations, with Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island as a backdrop.

At around 5.30pm it’s time for everyone to convene to the function room to await the commencement of the wedding breakfast. I move around the room capturing fleeting interactions between guests, seeking to build a picture for Alison and Neville of the manner in which their friends and family were enjoying this day.

It is a stipulation of my contract that for all day coverage commissions I am allowed to take a meal break, normally at the same time the wedding party and guests take their meal (during the rest of the day I keep myself fuelled with bottled water and cereal bars). Most people aren’t comfortable with the notion of being photographed whilst placing food into their mouths anyway. Alison and Neville have done me the great honour of providing me with a meal and seating me at one of the guest tables to eat it and a fantastic meal it is too, amongst fantastic company. I’d certainly not expect such treatment from paying clients but am deeply appreciative of the gesture (and no real surprise perhaps that I completely forgot to clock off at the contracted time, and I do mean that I forgot :~)

In between courses I continue to capture images of guests and members of the top table interacting and enjoying themselves and once the meal is complete I have the opportunity to spend some time with Alison and Neville alone, back up on the gun deck as the sun sets over Brownsea Island for a set of portrait photographs.

We then return to the function room for the speeches. I work from alternate ends of the table, typically on the side at which a speech is being delivered from, so that rather than having the clearest possible shot of the face of the person speaking I can capture the reactions of others seated at the top table. These tend to make for the most poignant images, a bride beaming in appreciation at what her father is saying, the groom caught in a maelstrom of mirth and embarrassment at a revelation from the best man, and so on. More direct facial portraits of the speakers are captured from an unobtrusive position, low down towards the centre of the top table.

It’s during the speeches that I take the sole photograph of the day that I am ashamed of technically. The bride’s father in delivering his speech thanks me for being the hardest working wedding photographer in the history of weddings (an accolade I am certain cannot be strictly true though I may be the most well fed such photographer at this point) and the guests all applaud. Abashed, I hide behind my camera and take a photograph of the bridal party all looking straight at me, smiling and clapping. The camera shake is abundantly evident in the resultant image! :~)

After the speeches we proceed to the cutting of the cake then on to the first dance, subsequent to which my contracted coverage for the day is concluded.

A few hours and a few hundred photographs later I pack the tools of my trade away, thank Alison and Neville for involving me so closely in their special day and head for home.

Congratulations Alison & Neville!

Job done!

Well, not quite yet :~)

Sunday 30th August 2009

I arrive home at 1.00am and set about downloading all the day’s images from my wallet of Compact Flash cards to my computer, additionally backing them up onto an external hard drive whilst checking through the hundreds upon hundreds of frames to ensure the results are what I expected. I can’t sleep without such certainty! Reassured by what I’ve seen I make it to bed at 3.00am and think sleep arrived by 4.00am.

By 11.00am I’m able to move my limbs fully, albeit tenderly :~)

For much of the remainder of the day I set about filtering, cataloguing, editing and rendering images from the previous day’s wedding. Significant a task as this is, it really is a pleasure to relive such an event moment by moment. By evening I’m ready to post a feature on the wedding on my Web site and submit a sizeable sample set for Alison and Neville’s appraisal. They’re heading off for their honeymoon though, so I’ll await word from them on their return.

Monday 31st August 2009 – Friday 4th September 2009

Editing and categorising of images continues in parcels of time throughout the week amongst other work. A large gallery of images from the day is built, added to the Web site and password protected for viewing by Alison and Neville’s family, guests and any friends they wish to invite to view it.

Thursday 24th September 2009

Alison and Neville have returned from their honeymoon, their wedding day gallery goes live and I despatch the digital files to them with all the photographs from the day. Once they have had an opportunity to absorb all the images and make a selection, I will set about designing a press printed hard back storybook of their special day.

Contact Bournemouth wedding photographer Phillip Allen : phill@misterphill.com : 07870 696248