Debbie and Viv at Leeds Town Hall

When Debbie and Viv first asked me to photograph their wedding, all they knew was that they were going to get married at the Brodrick Suite at the Town Hall, and then move on to the Adelphi (the finest pub in Leeds, if you ask me). 

As we began planning the event, I gave them the advice I give to all of my couples, and recommended they look at the traditions and patterns of weddings, and take their guests on the same emotional adventure whilst discarding anything they didn't feel was relevant to them. Although civil partnerships are a brand new thing with no historical traditions, people expect certain things from a ceremony, and there are some symbols which are just too meaningful to pass over. Take what you want, lose what you don't, but make sure everyone knows you are married.

It was clear from the moment guests began arriving in 1920s outfits that something special was going to happen. What they created for themselves was a totally original, warm and fun celebration of their relationship with the full participation of friends and family.

Out of all the weddings I've experienced, this was only the second I've been at where the crowd spontaneously cheered when the couple entered the room, and again when they were declared married. Absolutely lovely, and although I feel this way about all of the ceremonies I attend, I have to say that it was a true honour to be there.

Andy and Hayley at the Sun Pavilion

Harrogate is like Leeds's posh maiden aunt. She sits up there at the foot of the Dales, over the border in North Yorkshire, and looks down into the valley to see what the noisy younger city is up to. She's all Victorian wrought iron splendour and landscaped genteel parks, Betty's Tea rooms and farmers markets to Leeds's red brick urban bustle, night clubs and shopping heaven.

  One of her loveliest treasures has to be the Sun Pavilion, on the edge of Valley Gardens, a light, open and welcoming little venue that collects sunshine through a stained glass roof, where Hayley and Andy got married in their own relaxed and uncomplicated style. 

Another lovely couple enjoying their big day with all of their family around them. I'm delighted to have been there to shoot it.  

Carly and Liam's Wedding

Carly and Liam came to me last summer, recommended by a friend, and so I was delighted to accept the opportunity to photograph their wedding. The year passed very quickly, and after our final planning session at the end of June, the 4th of August arrived almost before we knew it, and we all found ourselves at the Campanile Hotel in Bradford ready for them to tie the knot. It was a lovely relaxed and happy day, full of extended family and friends. Just the way weddings should be! 

A little bit extra...

Now that I've done a few weddings, and have established the way I like to work with my couples, a pattern has emerged, and recent feedback has made me take it a little more seriously.

Speaking to Sarah the other weekend when I handed over the disk of images from her wedding to Paul, and then whilst having an initial chat (via Skype - it's all new technology here at CSP Towers!) with Jo and Claire, who are due to tie the knot in 4 months time, it's been brought to my attention that the questions I ask during my planning sessions also help my brides and grooms think more realistically about the wedding.

Where it's quite normal for the lucky couple to think about their happiest day in terms of isolated events with certain features that need to be organised, I need to know who will be where at what time, what they will be doing, and how they will be getting there and leaving. It's all about moving people, and moving around them.

So, where the couple's list is about choosing the venue, flowers, cake, cars, suits and all those elements, my list is a more cohesive plan of how the day will run. What will be happening immediately before you get married? How and where will your guests arrive and gather? How will you first see each other? What will happen during the ceremony? And so on for the everything else that will happen whilst I'm there.

What I tend to recommend, to get people thinking the way I need them to, is to imagine the day is all over. What do you want to remember? What do you need to do to make those things happen? And how can I be in the right place at the right time to photograph those things, and all the extra little moments that you might miss because you're too busy enjoying yourselves?  If you want certain things to be in the images, like confetti falling gently over you whilst you walk through an avenue of your smiling friends outstretched arms, then we have to make sure those things happen the way you want them to so that I can photograph them.

The one thing that's almost certain is that I've had more weddings than you have (unless you are a registrar, a cleric or related service professional).  I have seen lots of beautiful and individual variations on the theme of two people who love each other standing up in front of their friends and families and telling the world that they want to be together for the rest of their lives.

While you are moving from one matrimonial state to another; moving from the door of the vintage car/bus/campervan through the church/hotel suite/town hall state room; out onto the lawn/barnyard/balcony; off to wedding breakfasts/banquets with or without speeches and on to the first dance and a totally awesome celebration knees-up, the emotional pitch of the day moves from nerves and anticipation, through excitement to relaxed enjoyment, and ends in total celebration. How best can we create those moments and capture them?

Feel free to use my experience! Pick my brains, talk me through the plans you already have to identify the things you may have overlooked and help you come up with ways to make your day exactly what you wanted.

Plus, I'm a big soppy wet hen when it comes down to it. I love a good wedding, and have been caught with a lump in my throat on more than one occasion. Even though I might not know my brides and grooms quite as well as the guests do, my emotions move with theirs, and it's an awareness of this that informs my planning for the photographic opportunities.

I want to get the best photographs I can for you, and the happier and more relaxed you are, the easier that makes my job.