David Purslow November 3rd, 2008
Hello there, David here from David Purslow Photography - www.davidpurslow.com As you may know I am one of the wedding photographers in Pembrokeshire. Before I start just a quick little plug - I dont only shoot weddings in Pembrokeshire or weddings in West Wales - I shoot weddings and PORTRAITS all over the UK.
Okay, Plug over !!!!!
Well as you would have seen if you watch my blog, a week ago I had the great pleasure of shooting a fantastic wedding just down the road from my home town of Haverfordwest. The wedding of Sarah and Andrew had been on the books for a little over a year and about 4 weeks ago, Sarah Andrew and Sarah’s mum came over for the pre wedding chit chat.
From the get go, I knew this wedding would be a little bit different, the wedding was FULL of lots of meaning, the minsiter doing the wedding was an Uncle, the Church is looked after by Sarah’s dad and is quite a special little venue - the feelings that this wedding invoked just kept coming throught the whole meeting.
Sarah Andrew and Mum talked over what they wanted and what they didnt want but pretty much left it up to me and on the day as often happens the weather had the final say so !
The Friday before the wedding I did my customary drive by - I always visit venues before the actual service EVEN if I have shot there before, you never know what may have changed and I find my little scouting parties well worth while. As soon as I walked into the Church I KNEW the light was going to be amazing and you will see why shortly - the place is a photographers dream. - Enough of my ramberlings, on to the wedding !
I arrived about an hour or so early, I always like to get to the venues (If I am not shooting bridal prep) before the guests arrive, that way I can get my establishing shots that start to tell the story in the album.
As soon as I walked in, I KNEW I was right about the light, here is the first photo I took that day
As I walked up and down inside the church I just couldnt help my self getting lost on shooting the detail shots that I LOVE and the light made it even better - here are a couple
Soon enough the guests started to arrive along with Andrew - boys being boys the groomsmen decided to entertain themselves while waiting for guests to arrive !
and as with all the details of the day, the colours were perfectly matched and looked amazing
By around now, all the groomsmen had arrived so I snagged them for a quick photo
If I am not doing bridal prep, this is one of my favorite times, about 45 mins before the wedding, the groom is all relaxed and the full scope of the day has not yet sunk in - you get some great shots of the boys looking really relaxed.
Then as time ticks by, suddenly it all changes and around 15 minutes or so before the wedding, the reflection sets in !
Around this time, the guests are filling the church and its a great time to grab some really nice shots - all these shots, infact all the shots until hte sigining of the register were taken WITHOUT A FLASH - I LOVE available light, you get some much MUCH better shots for several reasons, 1 - people dont see a flash and think your NOT taking photos, 2, the shadow detail and specular highlights really add to the photo and 3 the colours are so much more vivid !
Here are a bunch a few shots where people thought I was just looking thru my camera but not taking shots
So here we are, 10 minutes to go, the bridsmaids car arrives along with the brides and flower girls - The flower girls must have been freezing cold as it was a very wet and windy day but like little angels they posed for the camera.
I had been told the MOB (mother of the bride) was not over the moon with her photo being taken but as such a big part of the day, I always get some shots of the MOB but have kept them off the blog.
I always find that Children really make for great photography subjects, and in this shot, the interaction of dad and baby boys is great, they are mirroring each other and it makes for a really nice photo dad will like and mum should love !
The 5 minutes before we are due to start, the bride comes around the corner, I always love this time, its a very special moment for the bride and for the FOB - You very often get some amazing shots thru the car windows on moments like this, very moody and feeling felt moments !
Here Sarah is sat next to her dad as she pulls up at the church.
Then comes the standard Bride in the car shot - I am not big on shooting the traditional shots but you have to get a shot of the bride in the car before she gets married ! - Today the weather was perfect (for the photographer - the light was amazing) - I lit this shot with gods help only - I used GOD light only and NO flash - all too often photographers get lazy and just turn on the flash and blast away - We call it spray and pray in the business - if you take 20 shots one will be okay to use. I prefer to take a couple of seconds and shoot the shots properly and I think you get much nicer results by doing so.
Right about now, you would have noticed around a 100 spelling mistakes, well my computer crashed the other day and I have spent a few days sorting it out, its about 90 % there but work need to carry on and the spell checker is a little way off from being fixed !
Okay back to Sarah - This shot is always a big seller - the brides always want this shot as do the FOB’s The brides last photo with dad before walking down the isle - again I positioned them so the light was flattering to the bride and would give pleasing results.
As soon as I shot this picture I ran off into the church to get my light readings for when Sarah walked down the isle - I did a few practice shots and then double checked my settings on flowergirls adn the bridesmaids.
Moments before the wedding service began, here is Sarah and her dad walking down the isle.
Well you know the rest of the story from here but here are the highlights,
Do you take………………..
So why is everyone looking the wrong way ??????????
The paperwork !
Outside the church
**** DAVID PLAY TIME *****
Okay, I keep saying the day was wet, cold and windy, well with Andrew and Sarah’s help, we locked the guests inside the church after the wedding so I could shoot a few pictures - WHEN they view the blog this will be the first time the see this photo (below) and I dont know if they will like it or not but as soon as I walked outside and looked up, I knew I had to shoot it and make it dramatic - I shot this photo with a little bit of flash to bring out the bride and groom, the flash was off camera a little to not give the deer in the headlights look and I needed the flash as I wanted to underexpose the image a little to bring out the sky. What you see here is REAL I never added the sky to this photo, this is the WEATHER on the day. All I have done to this photo is to darken the edges a little to bring your focus onto the couple.
Okay back to the normal stuff.
Then we let the guests out, Sarah had been drying rose pettels for a long time, and thats what the confetti was made of. - It flew really well !
The the lucky and newly married couple jumped into the car for a quick getaway.
There are only 3 more pics, I wanted to concentrate on the wedding today, the feelings, the effort put in and all the little details that made this a magical day.
Sarah and Andrew did the next shot for me, it took some work to get them to agree but I thought it would capture the fun of the day pretty well
Here is the cutting of the cake shot - this was a hard shot to get as the place was crowded and the light was VERY VERY poor, the cake was in the darkest corner in the whole reception venue - that being said, YOU NEVER move the cake - I have seen the videos of someone trying to move the cake and it falling over !
Due to the weather we had to shoot the group shots inside and we found a little room to do it in, the lighting was pretty poor again but thats all part of a wedding and you have to go with the flow. After the group shots were finished, Sarah wanted a shot of the whole of her EXTENDED family ! - I think this is all bar 1 of them !
Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at the photos, the day was great fun, the couple were great fun and the family were great fun - This is why I CHOOSE to shoot weddings, I LOVE wedding days !
Congratulations to Sarah and Andrew - Hope you like the the preview, see you soon, call me when you get home !
ciao
dp
David Purslow
Photographer
www.davidpurslow.com
david@davidpurslow.com
0759 007 6666
01437 779412
Remember to check out the rest of my blog, and if your thinking about portraits or wedding photos give me bell, I would love to talk to you and show you a few albums etc.
Peace - dp
- The photos are pretty much as shot in the camera.
