Poppy and Harry got married twice - First they had a legal ceremony at Malvern Registry Office in Worcestershire, and then a week later had the ceremony they'd always dreamed of - outside in the summer sun, standing under a grand oak tree. The location they decided upon for their outdoor wedding was Rock Village Hall in Bewdley.
For the morning of the wedding, Poppy had hired Worralls Grove Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast, a luxury venue that proved to be the perfect place for photos of the bride and her bridesmaids getting ready in the morning. (If the name sounds familiar, Worralls Grove Farmhouse recently featured on, and won an episode of Channel 4's 'Three in a bed')
There are so many photos from this wedding that I absolutely love, and most of them happen to be black and white images!
With time running out before I had to leave, there was a push from the bridal party to get ready, which led to everyone chipping in and helping the others getting dressed. The maid of honour, in the centre in the photo above was the last to get ready as she herself had been assisting with the bride getting in the wedding dress. I adore this photo, as there is just so much going on. If you look closely, there are actually two bridesmaids doing up the buttons at the back of the maid of honour's dress. At the same time, the maid of honour is receiving a present from the bride, and is welling-up with emotion. My favourite aspect of this particular image, is how, with the conversion to black and white, the bridesmaids dresses have been rendered a deep black whilst the white bride's dress remains so: This really helps add contrast to the image, with the bridesmaids standing in front of a light background, and the bride, in her bright dress being juxtaposed against a dark background.
Having spent many hours getting ready that morning, the moment which creates the lasting memory for me was when Poppy's dad saw her for the first time on her wedding day. It was a beautiful moment, with Poppy's dad coming forward to hug her. I positioned myself in the sitting room, and was shooting back into the living room through the open doorway. Doing so served two purposes - firstly, I was relatively hidden and out of the way, meaning I wasn't going to change the nature of the image with my presence, but secondly, shooting past the bride whilst keeping her in the frame really adds to the story-telling ability of a single image. The emotion in this black and white photo is clear, and I'm so happy I was there to capture it.
Moments like these can't be captured if you pose photos, and for me, that's where documentary or 'reportage' wedding photography comes into it's own.
