How Would You Feel If You Never Saw Your Wedding Photos?

A particular enquiry has left me thinking tonight a lot about how we see and photograph a wedding day.

When we photograph a wedding we capture the emotion from the day. The first time dad sees his daughter in her wedding dress for example many photographers concentrate on the bride’s descent of the stairs but not many notice the tears welling in Dad’s eyes. We do. We notice both – it’s one of the advantages of having two photographers. We see and photograph different things. We see the excitement in the bridesmaids as they see the bride in her dress too and mum – we notice the pride as she looks in awe at how beautiful her daughter looks today.

But the bride – what does the bride see as she looks in the mirror and checks her appearance for one last time? We capture that too. That last look, checking everything is just perfect and she looks the very best she could do for this most amazing of days ahead of her. The nerves perhaps beginning to kick in as the anticipation of seeing her groom begins to build. The reassurance she is seeking as she asks the question: “Do I look alright?”

To the skilled photographer and photo journalist all this is vitally important to capture – to thrill the couple and family when they see their photographs for the first time with the little moments, tears, joy, laughter we have captured on camera. So what if the bride is unable to see what she looks like? What her parents and bridesmaids look like, what her groom looks like – waiting for her at the end of the aisle? How do we “see” and capture on camera what the bride “sees”?

What if the groom can’t see what his approaching bride looks like, what the ceremony room looks like, the look of pride and love on his parents and families’ faces as they watch him make the greatest commitment of his life? How do we capture and portray on camera what the groom “sees”? How do we bring to life the emotion and feelings of the day which are always so present in the eyes?

I thought about the way I would see my family and friends if I was visually impaired. My feel, hearing, smell and touch would become my eyes. I would be so familiar with the features and beauty of that person I was about to marry that I would need no first glance to reassure me. If I were the groom, I would know her perfume wafting as she approached, the swish of her dress, those familiar steps and instinctively know that she was near. I would be able to sense that feeling of anticipation and excitement as the moment approached that we stood side by side taking our vows. If I were the bride, my fingers would intertwine with his as we stood together and we would perhaps squeeze each others hands – something only the two of us would know – to tell each other that we loved them. I would almost certainly feel my husbands face and features, wondering if perhaps those unseeing eyes were shedding a tear. Mine would be a very special marriage full of private moments between two people.

So how as photographers do we translate this into the photographs? We have an inherent need to “wow” all our clients with their wedding photography. It drives us on at each wedding to try to surpass all their expectations and more. But how do we “wow” someone who can’t see the photos? The answer to this has got to be by the reaction of their family and friends when they see the photographs for the first time.

So if we can capture a touch, a glance in what is known to be the right direction, perhaps a tear, the laughter but most of all the connection between these two people who are so clearly so much in love and if at some stage during the day we have the opportunity to describe to the bride and groom how each other looks to us, in the colours and particular way we see the world then maybe, just maybe we will be able to make a huge difference to that wedding day and help to make it as special to the two people getting married as they are to each other.

If we can translate into our photography that special connection that is present not only between the bride and groom but also their respective families and friends, then and only then will we have done our job well and our photography will prove to be not expensive but priceless.

Get Me To The Church On Time - Wedding Day Timings

Wedding day timings.....what a subject this is! Do weddings ever run to time? Well yes, they do but only because of the intervention of one or two people along the way.

Even the best organised bride will lose track of time along the way whilst she's getting ready. So the key to a successful schedule for the day is to know exactly (or as near as humanly possible) how long each part of your day is likely to take.

It's never too early to start preparing things now - so if you are having a hairdresser visit you on the morning then have a trial of your wedding day hair and see how long it takes to achieve the look you want. The same applies for make-up. If however you are going to a salon then you need to have a trial but also a practise run on the same day of the week (& if possible time) as you are getting married. Traffic from your house to the salon will be quite different on a Saturday morning to a Tuesday afternoon for example. Also check that there is nothing happening locally (such as an "important" football match) which may affect traffic conditions not only for you getting places but also for people such a make-up artists, florists, hairdressers, photographers, cars getting to you. If you know of anything happening make sure you alter your suppliers because they may be unaware.

So....we've tackled the things you can do to minimise the chances of you being late due to outside influences but what about the basics of just now long thing are likely to take on the day? You've probably never organised a wedding before so from this point of view probably have no idea whatsoever what to expect. For example - would you have any idea how long it is going to take to get your 100 guests out of the church after the ceremony? (15 to 20 minutes is the answer to this one - could be longer if you have lots of elderly guest of young children).

So here goes with a (very rough!) idea to wedding day timings:

• Bride putting on the dress, assisted by bridesmaids & mum: 15 - 30 minutes (this assumes all makeup etc. has been done first).



• Bride putting on veil & shoes: 5 mins minimum.



• Photographs with bride & dad at house or on way to civil ceremony: 5 - 10 mins minimum.



• Bride exiting car and entering church: 5 mins minimum, add 5 minutes if taking posed photos exiting car and with dad and bridesmaids outside the church.



• Church service: 45 minutes minimum - often longer for Catholic services or where there are a lot of readings.



• Civil ceremony service: 15 - 20 mins depending on how many readings. Remember that the registrar will want to see you both individually before the ceremony and this will take around 5 - 10 minutes each).



• Posed photographs outside the church - add 5 - 10 minutes on if you are having the bells rung as none of the guests or yourselves will be able to either hear the photographer or yourselves speaking. For one group of everyone 10 minutes to get everyone organised. Add around 5 minutes per additional group unless you have a very fast & efficient photographer (such as ourselves!) who with organisation can do this quicker.



• From arriving at the venue to include the drinks reception you should allow a minimum of 1.5 to 2 hrs prior to the time you wish to sit down for your wedding breakfast.



• Receiving line: this really depends on who you are having in your receiving line (as in just you two or you two + parents from each side) and how many guests but receiving lines can go on for an awful long time. If you allow 5 - 7 seconds for each guest to speak to each person in the receiving line you won't be far out. This doesn't sound very long but in reality receiving lines do add-on around a minimum of 1/2 hour to the sitting down time on the day. Some people will pause to talk longer than you expect whilst others will simply pass through. Receiving lines can be very boring all round. Most receiving lines are done for the benefit of the couples parents rather than the couple themselves.



• Wedding breakfast: Of course this depends on the speed of the venue but an average 3 course + coffee wedding breakfast will take around 1.5 hrs, for 4 courses add 1/2 hour and 1/2 for each additional course.



• Speeches - how long is a piece of string? Of course some people talk for England and some hardly at all. Average speech time from our observations to include Father of the Bride, Groom and Best Man around 20 minutes to 1/2 hour with the giving of gifts often taking up the most time during the speeches.



• Turnaround time between wedding breakfast and evening reception (if using the same room). The venue will advise you specifically on this but most venues take around 1 - 1.5 hrs to do this. You need to allow extra time if a band is setting up in the room for the evening entertainment.



• First dance - it should be noted that first dances very rarely happen at the time they are expected. So if you are booking your photographer on a set number of hours and you want the times to include your first dance you need to allow yourselves plenty of leeway on this one. We are very often informed that the first dance will happen at around 8.30 whereas in reality it is normally around 9.00 - 9.30. Lots of things can affect the time of the first dance, all of them will be beyond your control on the day to a large degree. For example: the venue may take longer to turn the room around (this may not be their fault - sometimes guests lingering in the room after the wedding breakfast can hold things up), often the band may take longer to set up than you or they expect, guests may disappear to freshen up and not return at the alloted time.

We hope this has been a useful little guide to your wedding day timings. Wedding days can run to time but it does require meticulous planning and a little bit of luck! Some key people on the day (such as the photographers) can keep an eye on the times and gently keep you to time with being quick and efficient with the posing of formal groups for example and not taking an endless amount of time outside the church. They are also likely to be the ones who are most aware of the time when you are getting ready - very few brides have a watch on or are clock watching. Bridesmaids can often be so chilled out and fussing around the bride that they lose track of time and don't get their own dresses on in time!

The one thing that is for certain and which happens on virtually every wedding day is that after the day has passed the couple will say to us "We don't know where the time went. All that planning and the day was over in a flash." So our advice would be to try to savour every single minute as best you can and make sure that your photographer is the best you can afford and so they can fill in the gaps later with fantastic photos of moments in time you didn't know or don't recall happening. With the right photographers time really can stand still.

Sharon Malone

Shadow Play At Allerton Castle!

Allerton Castle - what a stunning venue for a wedding! It's literally on our doorstep too only 5 minutes down the road from our studio. With its magnificent Great Hall, stained glass windows, beautiful ballroom, elegant drawing-room, fabulous staircase, gothic looking interior and exterior it always makes for great pictures whether you are outside in the summer in the beautiful memorial gardens or inside in winter with the blazing log fire.

It's also one of the few venues around North Yorkshire where you are guaranteed "exclusive use" without having to pay a massive supplement.

For Paul and Julie's recent wedding celebrations at Allerton Castle we were mostly indoors. Even though it has two magnificent chandeliers at the base of the staircase the interior of the castle is often quite dark - especially if it happens to be the middle of winter! That gives us plenty of opportunities to get our creative lighting gear out and to introduce some light to even the darkest of nooks and crannies which in turn makes for great photos.

Our latest "thing" (because we're always moving on with ideas and new "things" to try) is to play with the shadows that the lights we introduce can create. One of Paul and Julie's favourite pictures from the day does just that. Whilst we're talking about being creative - the "lads" at Allerton Castle nearly always want pictures taken of them playing billiards at some stage during the day. Paul was no exception. In Pauls' case we shot some pictures of him and "the lads" before the ceremony as Julie was with the girls getting ready. We took the time to do something a little different with both the billiards and the rings.

The band at the wedding were excellent. The lead singer was very confident in himself and thought that he was noticed by the ladies I think (if you know what I'm saying girls!). I thought the Saxophonist was pretty amazing too though and so decided to take a shot which I felt represented them both - so I waited for my moment and framed the lead singer in the shape of the neck of the Saxophone. I like the picture for something a bit different - see what you think!

There's a lot of photographers listed on the Allerton Castle website, we suspect it's hard for couples to choose between them - especially since most of them offer the same albums and prices. Hopefully our images set the standard for what you can expect to see from a wedding at such a beautiful venue.