My compulsion unabated to start at the beginning and commence each wedding feature with the first image from the day I may risk the danger of inadvertently promoting myself as a conservatory photographer (or not, as the case may be) but here is where it starts, for me at least, on Ruth & Nick’s glorious, blazingly hot and sunny and ultimately highly relaxed and relaxing Devon wedding day.
Nick is awaiting a fine breakfast. I know it’s a fine breakfast because I just ate it myself. Not his actual breakfast though; he did get to enjoy his own version of the one I’d eaten earlier.
I was on my way out for an appointment with the hairdresser though not before mentioning a little about Stella and Andrew’s fine Devon B&B and holiday cottage rental establishment. Ruth & Nick put me up with Stella and Andrew the night before and the night of their wedding. Nick stayed there too, though just the night before, and rather kindly offered the larger of the two rooms to me as I’d be staying longer. A mere 30 seconds walk from the marquee where the wedding breakfast and evening party would take place (60 seconds for the return journey at night, when my feet weren’t quite as sprightly as they had been in the morning) the hospitality was fantastic. The accommodation was too. The breakfast certainly so as well.
I could have stayed forever.
But there was that appointment with the hairdresser.
To the front of the property a view that many would grow to love that day. To the right a road that many would travel.
It's going to be the next big thing in bridal headwear.
Ruth is a fantastic subject to work with, a fantastic client to work for. She put her ease with the camera down to our pre-wedding test shoot a little while back at Hengistbury Head in Dorset; prior to that she’d suffered a highly common and in many respects perfectly natural, at least perfectly understandable abject blood curdling terror trepidation of towards the scrutiny of the camera. Throughout her wedding day she knew exactly when to engage the camera directly (indeed during the group photographs phase she was the only one to look straight to camera in every single frame) and when to forget its presence. The test shoot had proven that the camera doesn’t bite, she looks great in photographs and I certainly wouldn’t blog anything that made her look silly*. She was also quick to advise others appropriately and for my purposes really very helpfully if they responded to the camera’s presence nervously. I have a liking for using other people within a scene to frame my key subjects within a shot and sometimes find people apologising and stepping out of the way, when I’d wanted them there from the outset. Ruth’s hairdresser, Angela, was just such a polite person, apologising for straying in to frame when I’d actually been waiting for her to complete the picture.
“It’s okay, just ignore him”, Ruth advised gently.**
“Really, do ignore him, you’ll only encourage him otherwise.”***
“Is he still here? I thought we’d shaken him off.”***
“Can someone call security please?”***
Quite the wit she is!**
* there’s nothing at all silly about wearing a towel on one’s head.
** true.
*** author’s embellishment.
Nick, I should add, made for an equally fantastic subject and client. Always a cheeky grin waiting to spring to the surface and aside from that, he gave me the bigger bedroom. But he’s not at the hairdresser so forget him for now.
Since her secondary school days Ruth has been having her hair done by Angela at Shades in Honiton. In the four years that she's lived in Bournemouth, she's only used a local hairdresser once and continues to wait until return trips to Devon to get her hair done. As a side note, Angela also has a sound understanding of photography. On greeting her that morning with an enthusiastic mention of the quality of the weather she immediately identified the fact that I'd have my work cut out avoiding squinting eyes and harsh shadows.
Some questions are best left unanswered. Ruth's tiara needed trimming down a little. It's not that Angela produced a pair of pliers from her handbag; it's the fact that I counted four different pairs of pliers, produced one after the other as each pair failed to cut through the metal (that's quality tiaras for you!)
The road to Ruth's family home.
The field across the road from Ruth's family home.
Something told me I'd found the right address.
Ruth commandeered the bedroom her brother had annexed when she left home and headed for the bright lights of Bournemouth. Reminds me of when I annexed my sister's bedroom all those years ago. I think she's forgiven me now.
Suspect last seen depositing wedding shoes across the Devonshire countryside.
So, ummm, it's ten to two. The ceremony is due to commence at two-thirty. We're a twenty minute drive from the church, through winding rural roads prone to cattle jams and tractor tailbacks. Cool as a cucumber though no salad in the sandwich, Ruth makes sure her bridesmaids don't risk fainting in the aisle by sorting them out with some sustenance. A two minute job though and by no means responsible in any way for the... slight delay to the start of the ceremony. We'll leave that to... the... b-u-t-t-o-n-s.
The clock can do what it likes as long as the calendar doesn't flip to 27.
Personally I was keeping my distance.
Each of the above images was photographed three minutes apart.* This was going to take some time!
* perhaps.
* perhaps not.
Tip of the week comes from fellow wedding photographer Emma at Big Bouquet: A top tip for future brides who may have to tackle those teeny buttons, though – a crochet needle makes it a lot easier and quicker to fasten each one!
So we had Angela the hairdresser with her handbag borne suite of pliers but no crochet needles in my camera bag. I’m shamed. I’m also a stitch more knowledgeable than I was yesterday.
I decided I’d best get to the church and arrest Nick if he gave up with waiting and tried to leave.*
* service subject to additional fee.
"What do you mean 'they didn't have any crochet needles'?"
Then a lot of things happened which, sans helicopter, I wasn’t able to document but create your own mental images if you will of car convoys, forgotten bouquets, rapid rural u-turns and criss-crossing short cuts. Coming to think of it, imagined is likely more exciting than photographed from the air (for the image viewer if not the maker).
Still, same day service guaranteed…
I'm sure Ruth's Dad clicked his fingers all the way up the aisle. Groovy.
Quickly introducing Reverend Wall. Nick the Vic as Nick referred to him, that being our Nick, the Groom. I'll stick with Rev. Wall to avoid confusing... myself. An excellent Rev. through and through; charismatic, witty and highly engaging, he was also particularly photographer friendly telling me I could go where I liked and do what I liked as long as I didn't stick the camera up his nose which would have been... interesting as my favoured lens has a 72mm diameter filter thread. Anyway, I'm wittering during a highly poignant moment in the day's proceedings so please ignore me and just read the picture.
That'll be an I will. Nick delivered the most emphatic and clearly enunciated set of vows I've yet heard a groom deliver.
The auto-focus on my camera somehow got distracted.
Ruth's great-aunt. An avid photographer.
The Sheldon Singers. Yet again I wished I could photograph the beauty of voice.
From the Order of Service: "Recessional Music - Wedding March - Mendelssohn". Ruth containing her happiness for the off. Straight faces surround her and Nick (imagine they're making some effort to remain so; you might not be wrong).
As it turns out the opening strains of Mendelssohn's famous number mix perfectly into La Marseillaise before one of Ruth's all-time favourite tunes, All You Need is Love, takes over to lead her back down the aisle...
... and she explodes beautifully with tears of joy (but I'll keep the images small so as not to embarrass her :~) Nick, equally surprised, was no less wet eyed as he joined Ruth returning up the aisle.
This week's answer to the existential crisis of wedding photography.
I must say something about Ollie here. An old school mate of Ruth's brother, a week prior to the wedding he volunteered his services in a variety of manners. Personally speaking (and for the better good of the photographic record) he coned me off a parking space immediately outside the church so I wouldn't have to risk missing a beat between bridal preparations and ceremony. He served as Master of Ceremonies throughout the wedding breakfast and into the night and proved as accomplished a MC as the best I've come across (I have photographs of him sporting his microphone as he joined the second dance and into the dark of night as Ruth & Nick were seen off by the assembled party). He managed to orchestrate the first dance so it coincided perfectly with sunset and I dare say he undertook a plethora of important tasks that I didn't notice. I salute his five star delivery of service with... a photograph of him carting a big bunch of flowers from church to wedding breakfast.
Ruth visited her Grandmother's resting place with Nick and laid her bouquet there.
Back to Otter Valley to celebrate. Ollie got there before us.
A quick lesson in making grand entrances or coincidence of mid-motion posture and the press of a camera shutter? We may never know.
Ruth's Dad Michael opens the speeches.
Nick's turn is called but it seems he's distracted.
Jim, the Ushers' Usher.
Nick wrestles his new brother-in-law into fraternal submission and a big man hug for his Dad, Gerry, an all-round star. I was pleasantly taken when he turned to me too, not for a wrestling match but with a gift and thank you card from he and Ruth. Most unexpected and deeply felt, there were no reflective surfaces nearby for me to capture the moment but Ruth's great-aunt was up like a shot with her camera so the honour is rendered visually somewhere.
Best Man Seth. I'm still trying to work out if the hand rubbing is a sign of speech delivering nervousness or glee at the deconstruction about to be delivered.
Target acquired.
After all these years, his very own ... Donald Duck wallet?!
The marquee couldn’t have been better positioned, with commanding views of Otter Valley and an easy matter to pop out for the odd photograph as the Sun presented beautifully varying lighting conditions.
'Twixt speeches and wedding breakfast an opportunity for a quick spot of Eisenteinian juxtaposition of imagery.
My favourite mis-focussed image of the day. It has the makings of an album cover. Not a wedding album mind you.
A sumptuous wedding breakfast taken (and thanks from me for an excellent feed) we popped down the lane to visit a particularly grand tree. The cows put Ruth off the notion of getting any closer, not that she has any fear of animals being a country girl through and through but you know, the dress.
Love is in the ear. Caption suggestions welcome for the right hand two.
Devonshire manicure.
I assigned the important task of documenting the cutting of the cake to my associate photographer. Fantastic camera she has too. It makes a mockery of my 5D MkII which doesn't have an array of comic digital overlays to add instantly to subjects' faces (I have to slave away in Photoshop to do that).
A steep hill. A bouquet toss. High heels galore.
I love seeing my work being put to such meaningful use.
There are more images again over at my Facebook business page and indeed there was partying and dancing and twirling into the night but as I pieced together this feature and added images of guests enjoying that hillside view I found myself utterly relaxed, very much at peace with the world, it simply seemed to sum up for me something that permeated an exceptionally memorable day.
I could have stayed forever.
If you were a guest at the wedding and would like to receive notification when the full gallery is available do drop me a line.
Contact Devon & Dorset (and just about anywhere) wedding photographer Phillip Allen : phill@misterphill.com : 07870 696248
by Phillip Allen
show hide 9 comments
neil matthews - Phill – the gap between your weddings is way too long for me; not only am i guaranteed a fabulous set of images to look at in wonder but a great read as well – saving me a fortune in paperbacks! once again, stunning work Sir!
Stefano - Wow, gorgeous set of images that made me feel like I was actually at the wedding.
Cristina - I can almost smell that warm summer evening. Bravo, Phill – your eloquence with words and images is second to none! And bravo also to your beautiful and emotional (but fun with it!) couple. I love those bouquet toss images!
Shella - These are fab! What a relaxed and beautiful wedding :)
Nick Key - Great set of images. really diggin your black and whites!
Tony Good - ‘Ere, you two, clear off out the way, can’t you see our ‘tographer from Calf and Cattle is here for this month’s centre spread?
Steve Koo - Such a cute couple, and a cute wedding to boot! Nice work!
Brad Ross Photography - Another masterpiece Phill! Great work.
Thomas Lester - Haha! The autofocus got distracted! Great job as usual, Phil. Great moments.