Poole Wedding : Alison & Neville

Having ascertained that I'd be taking a photograph of a hundred or so people in the grounds in front of St. Peter's Church and that those grounds gently slope down towards the road, thus I'd have no natural elevation to allow me to get everyone's faces in shot, I purchased myself a 2.1m four section step-ladder in preparation for the commission. I could have done with hauling the step-ladder up to Alison's hotel room to photograph her shoes. They truly were a modern marvel of plantigrade architecture.

Alison. That's all I have to say :~) As a photographic subject she leaves me speechless much of the time.

Danielle, one of the bridesmaids, an absolute star. Danielle helped me out enormously in rounding up all the right people for the posed photographs later in the day as well as marshalling those hundred or so people into the right spot for the 'everyone shot', outside the church, in a matter of minutes. I'm particularly keen, in providing a bride and groom with all the group shots that they desire, to ensure that the process doesn't unduly disrupt the flow of their wedding day. I put it very much down to Danielle's organisational talent that everything in this respect ran as close to schedule as I imagine it ever could.

A l i s o n

Just look at the poise. Were that me the wine glass would be down on the table and the spare hand would be fighting with the other one to get that contraption away from my eye. I'm just giving away the fact I'm a man here aren't I? Okay, I'll hush up and get on with the pictures :~)

Alison's dress, simply stunning, and an extraordinary piece of engineering to boot. Am I talking like a man again?

S i l e n c e

Received wisdom suggests that women make for better multi-taskers than men. Being accepted into the thick of bridal preparations has opened a whole new perspective to me in this respect. Deductively, I can state that the received wisdom is simple fact. Left to right, Alison's Mum Lesley (I had a great chat with her in the en-suite bathroom about the dynamics of natural light, bath tubs and frosted windows), A l i s o n, and Alison's Maid of Honour, sister Rachel. This is one of the most profound interactions I've ever seen (humbly, I am but a man).

Magazine material.

I showed this diptych to a friend who asked "who took the photograph of you taking the photograph of them?" I still can't work out the answer to that myself. For any photographers wondering about the one handed technique, don't worry, the tip of my nose has phenomenal grip. Alison was ever so kind in telling people that her photographer was a genius. Maybe she was just explaining away to them the reason why there was a man in her room spending most of his time laying on his back under a piece of furniture :~)

Some drama school ritual no doubt. Five of Alison's six bridesmaids studied with her to become qualified Thespians. I was on to a photographic winner from the start really :~)

With heavyness of heart it was time for me to leave the Hallmark Hotel and head down to Ashley Cross to the Bermuda Triangle pub where guests would be congregating opposite St. Peter's Church and Neville would be preparing himself with Best Man Mark. I came out shooting though! I hasten to add that I wasn't heavy hearted about going to a pub, nor certainly about hooking up with Neville and Mark, but you know.

Best Man Mark looking appropriately focused. Apparently he and Neville, centre frame, had a relaxing pre-wedding night of it. Mark turned out to be a solid character, the commensurate best man organisationally he kept everything on track throughout the day with fantastic good humour and attention to others' needs. He's clearly the type that cares for others.

Mark mitigates against any chance of Neville's jaw locking up during the reciting of the vows.

B r e a t h l e s s

From left to right: Neville's mother Anita, Best Man Mark and a cast iron railing I was hiding behind, Neville looking back towards his mother, A l i s o n, Alison's father Robert, another cast iron railing I was hiding behind. I have plenty of unobstructed shots but I like this one for all that it is.

The Reverend Roger Bayldon. A very nice man indeed.

Alison's drama school friends put on a truly resounding performance during the ceremony. It really was quite something.

Married

After the ceremony and the smooth execution of the 'everyone shot' the bridal party headed up to Coy Pond for some group photographs. Best Man Mark ably marshalls the party into place. Neville revisits his pre-wedding night with Mark.

The Willow trees at Coy Pond make for a delightful backdrop. Let's be honest about it though, the subjects would have made any background look picturesque.

Alison loving her dress.

Once I've photographed sufficient weddings I shall be publishing a book titled "Grooms and their tribulations with buttonholes".

Day to day the lovely Helen on the right wields a professional digital SLR camera taking photographs of the insides of people's mouths. I get to meet a great many fascinating people in this line of work! Later that night she offered to take some photographs of me with one of my cameras and I must say she took what I feel are the best photographs I've ever had taken featuring me. On hearing Helen's offer I told her that it's always been something of a strange thing to me that I photograph a great many events yet I've not been there; at least the photographic record suggests strongly that that is the case. She said she knew, and that was why she'd made the offer. It was indeed a wedding party populated by a great many kind and caring people.

Mark ensures the train is running smoothly for the next stage of the wedding party.

The Royal Motor Yacht Club boasts a commanding view over Brownsea Island.

Service at the reception was exemplary, as one might expect! The food was truly delicious too. I know because Alison and Neville had me seated amongst their guests to share in the wedding meal!

A l i s o n

S p e e c h l e s s

... though the speeches were just about to commence. A week before the wedding date I checked the sunset times for Poole and ascertained that the sun would be setting at 7.59pm that day. The speeches were scheduled to commence at 8.00pm so I whisked Alison and Neville upstairs to the gun deck just beforehand with the sun setting but producing a gentler set of tones than one might have wished for. Then as the speeches commenced, this happened! :~) Ah well.

Then ... this happened!!! I frantically searched for an emergency hammer and braced myself to kidnap Alison and Neville from the top table and haul them to the other end of the function room, but there wasn't a hammer in sight. I contemplated sacrificing one of my cameras to the large plate glass window but thought better of it. It was so spectacular, four passing UFOs and a seagull came along for the view.

"Show me that! It's going to look awful!" she insisted, having realised I'd just taken a shot. So I showed her. "Oh! That's really good! Carry on!" she continued with a smile. To be honest I'd have been hard pressed to take a bad one.

There's something that really grabs me about this image that I can't quite put my finger on, but it might be that beautiful sunset over Brownsea Island.

Neville clears the decks in preparation for his speech.

To the Bride and Groom!

This generous guest offered me payment in goods to take a nice photograph of him. I think the photograph does him justice. I'm typing this in falsetto.

The first dance. It was going to be an energetic night.

An energetic and truly talented dance floor diva, Alison carried a skilled pit stop team with her to undertake minor repairs as required.

Alex Turner won his bet.

I went hunting for light during the night, and I found it.

... and bathed Alison & Neville in it.

It can be a lonely job at times being a wedding photographer. You meet the bride and groom a couple of times before the wedding date, they're great, they treat you really well but you're left to your own devices as you hunt out the images that will relate to them the story of their big day. A lonely job indeed.

So you take hundreds upon hundreds of photographs and yes, sometimes the focus slips and you bin the image. Then you get something like this. Well I like it; I think it speaks volumes about the time being had. I don't think I'd get away with delivering a whole album in this style though ;~)

Time for Cinderella to be whisked away...