Hello there, David here from www.davidpurlsow.com
- Technical Tip -
Before I start let me point out that the photos in this review of the wedding of Dave and Laura are UN CROPPED that means they shots you are looking at are exactly as they were taken in the camera. – Each time I post a wedding story I like to do something different, this gives you an idea of the kind of photos I take and the importance of cropping in camera – The more information you have in a picture the better the quality of the image, if you have to crop too much out of the photo, you loose detail – as you can see I try to crop in camera as much as possible. Next time your photographing a wedding or someone, try to get on the image you want to end up with before you take the picture it ends up as a much sharper image in the end
- End -
I remember meeting up with Dave and Laura outside a fish and chip shop in Aberystwyth on a cold and wet day last year, I had been booked by Dave and Laura via the website and we met up in person when they were visiting family near by. Nikki and I had gone to Aberystwyth to meet Nikki’s mum and dad for dinner and guess what, the chip shop was closed
Anyway I had been looking forward to this wedding for a very long time, the wedding was taking place at The Conrah in Aberystwyth a spectacular wedding venu with an awsome Marque (see photo below) – The wedding was going to be a low key in terms of photos with Dave and Laura both saying they did not like having photos taken and just wanted a relaxed style of photos.
This year has been one of the hardest I can remember in terms of weather for weddings, and the day its self was pretty much dry with a few rain spots here and there but quite windy. The weather yet again did nothing to spoil the day which is a huge credit to Dave and Laura and there guests.
As I arrived I bumped into Dave and snapped my first photo of the day, The groom photo.
And then quickly went about my business of snagging all the detail shots like the flowers and the cake etc – As a “Green” copule the flowers were quite important and very impressive but were natural and carefully selected.
All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw a nice looking Jaguar with ribbon driving off and thought OOOOPS the bridesmaids have arrived, I ran (okay I dont run but I shifted myself) and made my way outside waiting for the bride to arrive, I saw a group of girls all dressed in nice dresses and thought before the bride arrives I should take a quick group shot – At this stage I was on autopilot adn was concentrating so hard on getting a shot of the bride arriving that I had not noticed Laura standing right there – OOOPS – I took a shot of the girls – Laura included.
Then I asked the girls “when do you think she will be here”………….. Oh, Oooops, Duh………. thats about all I could think of when Laura said Hello David here I am
Well I missed the arrival of the car but had decided I could shoot it later, it happens from time to time in weddings that your planned shooting goes out the window and you have to go with the flow – its all part of the fun – no wedding is the same and very very few ever go exactly as planned, My job as a photographer is to go with the flow and make sure I get it all covered.
Anyway back to the flowers – Laura had a really pretty bouquet, as did the girls but Laura’s really stood out, the colours were so vivid, the photo has not been touched up in any way.
In keeping with the day never going exactly as planned, take a look at the ring shot, here you will see the best man is holding the rings but look at his cuff – nice cuff links and guess what – there mine – yep I wear a nice dress shirt when shooting and always have my camera cuff links on – one of my superstitions – unfortunately the best man had forgotten his cuff links so I offered him mine if Dave and Laura did not mind me just rolling my shirt sleeves up.
One of the things I am always aware of when putting photos online is making sure they have a reason to be here, its easy for the bridal party to look at a photo and instantly remember what was happening etc, The two photos below are just such a story – For some reason Laura’s dad’s Jacket was missing buttons, but Mum came to the rescue with needle and thread to hand and popped them right back on – If you didnt know the story the pictures would seem out of place but its all part of the normal activity that takes place at weddings and photos like these bring back memories for the bride and groom but maybe not to you as a viewer
Weddings always bring out the best in people and always put them into great moods and they pose for photos they would normally never do – I walked out of the reception of the Conrah and spotted a guy wearing a facinator and thinking thats a bit different shot a snapshot
I should point out its his WIFE’s hat I think – but then the guy next to him said “hello handsome – give us a kiss” and guess what ?????????????
Right around here time was getting close to the wedding itself so it was time for a quick couple of shots before the wedding takes place and then into my place ready for action.
The pic above is the last photo taken before the wedding itself.
Due to the layout of the room, I was in a great position to be able to grab shots of both the bride and groom as Laura walked down the isle – Here is the shot of Dave just as Laura starts to walk down the Isle
and here is Laura walking towards him, arm in arm with Dad.
As with the rest of the day, the wedding service was very relaxed and only lasted a few minutes, got a good few pics but chose this one to share with you because Laura is beaming with delight and looks so happy – this was just after the exchange of rings. The registra was looking at me while I was taking photos for some reason – I had asked and was told I could take pics but each time I did she looked at me ?
So after the wedding I snapped from the sidelines – remember this was to be informal photography so I concentrated on Dave and Laura enjoying their day and capturing the happy moments that took place
So here’s a question for you, What happens when you throw an entire basked of confetti at a couple ?
Answer – you end up with a confetti shot to remember !
Then what happens of someone standing behind the photographer lets off a Confetti canon ? – First the photographer almost has a heart attach but then you get a great photo of people’s reactions – if you look at the guests it sounded like a bomb had gone off and confetti shot into the air, it scared the hell out of me !
At this stage it started spitting with rain again so we decided that the few formal photos that would take place would take place in the marque.
Just one of the group shots – followed by the cake cutting photo
Following this was the fake car photos
And an artistic shot as Dave and Laura walked back to the Conrah
The last two photos now but before the last photo, this was a shot Dave and Laura asked me to take, any time a bride, groom or both ask for a specific shot, you better believe that its an important photo.
The last shot of the day, the group shot – originally I was going to shoot this from an upstairs window but with the ground being wet I shot it inside the Marque, not the best place for the shot but it worked well here, the stage really helped as it gave me just enough to work with to get everyone in the picture !
This was the first of my weddings at the Conrah hotel in Aberystwyth this year and it was great fun which returned some great photos in my mind, Dave and Laura will be the final judge of that and I am sure I will hear soon what they think.
Congratulations Dave and Laura, good luck in your new life,
dp
David Purslow
Photographer
www.davidpurslow.com
07799 666808
1 comment
The “hello handsome give me a kiss” was OK until they closed their eyes