Favourite Bride & Groom Shots 2009

February’s usually a slow month for weddings, so I’m taking this opportunity to do a couple of posts on favourite images from 2009.

We’ll start with some non-candid Bride & Groom shots. I’m not a fan of dragging the B&G off for an hour mid-wedding and posing them to death – photography isn’t the most important part of a wedding – spending time with your family & friends is what it’s all about. It’s the photographer’s job to record this – hopefully with a large slice of flair and elegance.

That said, you’ve just got married, you probably look as good as you ever will do and you’re feeling pretty loved up, so it would be churlish not to try to capture some of this.  So I aim for two things with my B&G shoots – do them quickly (so the B&G can get back to the party rather than hanging out with a relative stranger) and produce images with a natural feel. Here are a few examples, see what you think.

Sarah & Dave were married in Burley-in-Wharfedale; their wedding reception was in a marquee in their garden. Their house is more or less at the edge of the moors, so we took a quick walk into the countryside to shoot some B&G stuff. The sun was just on its way down and this is my favourite from a brief but very successful shoot. Who said shooting into the sun was a bad idea?

Anna & Andrew’s wedding was at the stunning Glen Tanar Estate in Aberdeenshire. The estate has its own loch where this shot was taken. This is pretty much exactly what I mean when I say I’m trying to create natural-looking shots.

This next shot was a seriously rushed job. Rachel & Simon were married in Sheriff Hutton and we literally had about two minutes to get some B&G shots before heading off to the reception at the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York. Still, a pretty old church as a backdrop, some nice, soft, overcast light, the extraordinary Nikkor 85mm f1.4 and finally a serendipitous gust of wind to add some dramatic shape to the dress and you’re away.

This is a slightly more staged shot. Fiona & Ross’s wedding was at Bolton Priory (surely one of Yorkshire’s grandest locations for a religious ceremony) and their reception was at The Red Lion in Burnsall.  Though they were living in the Dales when they got engaged, they had since moved to Dubai so they were keen to record the landscape of the area in their photographs. My assistant was called upon to do some heavy lifting with a nearby bench then I pretty much left Fiona & Ross to their own devices. This is just one of many great shots we got.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this small sample of B&G shots – I’ll post some candid B&G stuff in the next week or so.

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