Wedding dresses back to the Future

Bride and groom sharing a private moment in the back streets of Nerja in southern Spain

     The back details of a bride's dress are sometimes very beautiful but there are other reasons for photographing backs: one of the reasons is clearly seen above, the further away the bride and groom move from friends, family and photographer the more the illusion of privacy is created and the photographer can record intimate moments without intruding.

       

Bridesmaids displaying enviable tans and rosebuds in their hair       

      Another reason for photographing these backs apart from their beautiful tans is it's an ideal way of recording the scenery and visually establishing where the wedding took place. Yes it could be Italy, but the bride will always be reminded that she was in fact in Spain.

Bridal couples in the beautiful grounds of Margam Park have plenty of space for walking

         Back home in England or Wales, the weather does occasionally prevent bridal couples from wandering too far from their wedding celebrations for fear of a soaking.

An umbrella can be handy if it rains all day, even if the bridegoom doesn't know what to do with it

      My first years as a photographer were not spent surrounded by gorgeous dresses and party people on their best behaviour at a wedding, but on the mean streets of South London before the developers moved in and raised their profile and status. Local newspapers were great training grounds, like repertory theatres for actors, lots of opportunities to practice your craft.
      I first got taken on, as a staff photographer, by my local paper, the Balham and Tooting News,  many years ago (largely because the lovely editor knew that taking on a woman would annoy his  cocky, macho-male incumbent who was, at the time, holding him to ransom over which jobs he would or wouldn’t do, particularly in the evening and at weekends).

         The poor dear man imagined that a woman would be more malleable. Ha! 

         He warned me that if I didn't take the job there would be no more freelance work because with two staffers he couldn't justify the cost.

         I was very much afraid I wouldn't be able to cope. I loved taking photographs and had closely studied a correspondence course on what newspapers want and how to present stuff to editors (no internet in those days, no emailing a couple of frames to the news desk and ringing up to harass the picture edit later) but my professional experience was limited to shooting a few teenage love stories in a freelance capacity, for “My Guy”, placing occasional articles in magazines, and six months working freelance for that same paper.

         So my first dispatch to a football match came as a shock to both of us.

       In a way it was fortunate that the match was a non-league event at Tooting and Mitcham because I hadn’t a clue where to stand, sit, kneel or what the game was about. I found a spot by the goalpost and was soon chatting away to the goalkeeper who didn’t really seem to have much to do.

          When the game hotted up and play came down our end of the pitch my power winder came into it’s own and I shot an entire reel of film (36 frames). However when the ball went into the net, a large sweaty bloke covered in mud (perhaps the captain) hurtled towards the goal and suggested to the goalkeeper that something other than the ball would be kicked if he didn’t keep his mind on the game. At this point I retreated to the side lines.

      Twenty minutes later I had regained my courage and was happily snapping away, running up and down the lines behind the linesman.

      History doesn’t relate what the referee said to me because fortunately I can’t remember it!

         I would love to say that I took wonderful pictures that day but history does relate what my editor said:

           “Patsy, this is useless, you’ve got nothing but the backs of their heads”. 
          At the time it was a lesson well learned.

But what doesn't work in sport can add an extra dimension to wedding photography.

A beautiful dress in the courtyard of this hotel in Seville creates a lovely design for an album

Visit my website for more happy bridal couples

       

      

            

Sunshine, Summertime and Sunsets

Beautiful bride, overjoyed to be in the snowy Welsh Valleys  

     
     In reality the bride above would have her hair soaking wet from the mist, the hem of her lovely dress black and sodden with mud and her beautiful arms like the carcass of a turkey with goose bumps and frozen flesh........ nice.
    Even photographers have to take a holiday in the sun eventually…..! When they become desperate enough.

      The desperation this time was caused by the longest, coldest, winter most people up here in the Welsh Valleys can remember. With a summer of wall to wall welsh wet to look forward to, a trip to Majorca at the end of April seemed to be a necessity for health and sanity reasons and for the health and safety of the brides I shall be photographing. 

Majorcan idyll, a great place for a wedding

          For most of my working life since my children were large enough to fend for themselves I have taken holidays covering colourful events in France, the Gipsy Pilgrimage from Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, being one of my favourites and various pageants in Spain and Italy coming in close runners up, because the pictures still sell and the events are fun in themselves.

           This April trip had no monetary motive. Rest, relaxation and a little roasting in the Mediterranean sun was the sum total of my aspirations. However although I resisted taking my wedding cameras and my favourite lenses (that hurt) a camera is still a must. 

A classy venue, except for the plastic cups.

Not a lager lout in sight, the plastic cups are there to preserve the safety of little feet, and the lovely 
racing yachts below give Arenal a decidedly elegant air.

Yacht racing in the charming seaside town of Arenal

           My battered FujiFinePix with its 28-300 mm lens is always the camera I choose for family snaps and beach outings and despite the lack of control in focusing and it’s inability to produce sharp images when the lens is covered in sand or greasy fingermarks, it does produce some surprisingly attractive images. Particularly some delightful sunsets, something I have never been lucky enough to encounter in Wales!

At the end of a hot day, a glorious display by the setting sun

    Any beautiful Welsh bride deciding to get married in the sunshine of Mallorca, I'm ready and available, my Spanish is excellent, my skills unquestioned and what's more, I know exactly where to find the best sunsets. 
        Which is not to say that I won't be only too happy to provide a large white umbrella and the identical skill set anywhere in the triangle between the Gower, Brecon and Cardiff.

To see more, slightly warmer brides visit my website

Vintage Wedding

29 January 2013

         A potential client contacted me this week and with one word turned me from a business like adult into a six year old, salivating, at seeing her first confectioners window (probably in France where they have all the sticky, chocolatty, goodies on display). What did she say?

She said, I’d like a sort of ‘Vintage’ look.

       "How lovely." I shrieked.

Ideal wedding material in these gorgeous little bonnets?

    From the sepia tones of the 1880’s through the muted colours of the 20’s and thirties to the sharp black and white of the forties and fifties all these presentation styles have their delights but they are as nothing to the possibilities they present in terms of era?

Wedding bliss according to the movies 1820's

       Could she be wearing a Jane Austen style dress, puff sleeves, a sweetheart neckline and one of those gorgeous, little bonnets that frame the face and turn every Miss Jones into Clara Bow?

Not a wedding, the sixtieth birthday party of the Fagan tribe's patriarch

Or could she be wearing something out of the 1900’s with large frilly skirts and even larger hats sprouting window boxes of flowers, feathers and frills. Like in this picture of my family in Ireland in the 1900’s.

     Look at all those pillars!

(So where is this house now? Why isn’t it mine? And where did all the money go?) 

I can surely be forgiven for a little curiosity? 

     

Two gorgeous  Catherine Dean modern wedding dresses in slinky 1920's  Downton Abbey style

      The only thing my potential bride has mentioned since my reaction to the word ‘vintage’ turned into semi-hysteria is that the dress is satin and very figure hugging. That does sound exactly like all those lovely slinky, 1910/1920 Downton Abbey gowns.

I can’t wait.

For more lovely brides and their stylish spouses go to my website.

Sundry thoughts on Wedding dresses

January 14  2013

Lovely Lyndsey and her  bridegroom share a kiss at King Arthur's hotel on the Gower Peninsula, despite the weather

    In a magazine somewhere I came across a photographer  complaining about a bride "bulging over the top of her wedding dress!" 

    Poor lass! The dress may well have been bought six months or even a year earlier.

      Imagine her horror if in her joy at her forthcoming nuptials she, and her other half, have been indulging in too many evenings out with their friends, and too many of the lovely meals she has been cooking him. Now, on the day of the rehearsal, with 24 hours to go, she discovers the dress is so tight she can hardly breath! 

     Fifty years ago, mother, mum, nanny, gran and granma could all wield needles and sewing machines like professional seamstresses. They'd have had that dress off, the seams let out, tacked and re-stitched within a couple of hours with not a bulge in sight.           Nowadays however more than fifty percent of modern women, old enough to be parent or grandparent of the bride, pride themselves on their inability to ply any sort of needle.      Thank goodness for the green revolution bringing back all the 'old fashioned' crafts and skills otherwise come Armageddon those of us left behind will be trying to re-create the computer chip before re-inventing the wheel and brides will go to the altar in sackcloth.

     With all the developments in technology, I've yet to find a computer  that can darn a sock or let out a wedding dress.     

Wedding day glamour, a dress from 'White Mischief'  looking glorious on a very slender model.

       This type of dress, absolutely gorgeous, would look just as wonderful on a fuller figure  but it wouldn't prevent the bride's biggest mistake: choosing a photographer who couldn't see past a few bulges to the beauty every bride exudes on her wedding day.       
     In the UK wedding photographers like to take you, the bride and groom, for a wander to capture romantic portraits at some point during your day. Before the chocolate fountains and the demands of family and friends begin. This is a time for the two of you to relax together and enjoy some special moments in the early evening light. usually immediately after the ceremony and (if your photographer has any sense) before you get stuck into the champagne (renowned for creating flushed cheeks and runny mascara). 

    Americans do their romantic couple shots in a completely different way. The “Don’t let the groom see the wedding dress” taboo is reversed, as the photo shoot is before the ceremony. Before you are married! That means when you first walk down the aisle he has already seen you. (And there is much less opportunity for you to leave him, in that invidious position so beloved of British soaps: Dumped at the altar! ) But also, sadly for the photographer, there is less chance of the lovely moment when he first catches sight of you gliding towards him in all your bridal finery, and his heart fills with joy and his eyes fill with tears.

Bridegroom Alex with tears in his eyes as he first catches sight of his beautiful bride

His irreverent bride is moved to giggles

See more laughing brides and grooms on my website

Striking fear into your wedding photographer

When discussing their wedding day, there is one phrase that bridal couples, very occasionally, come up with, that reduces me to goldfish status ie: mouth open, blowing silent bubbles and totally unable to communicate!

         “We only want a couple of pictures”.
 I might understand if the words came from an older couple who consider themselves un-photogenic and dread ploughing through 500 plus images of themselves, looking less attractive than they were in their youth, but the older age group are much more positive. 

         Older couples seem to know exactly what they want "Two hours flat " and then please disappear photographer. Or the full works. 

Bridal bliss looks wonderful at Coity Castle

When they order an album this age group know how to make a big effort and look wonderful.
Looking wonderful is not the only issue here. For those 'plighting their troth' who do not marry 
in church, how should such a momentous day be recorded, if not by photographs and an album, preserving the photographs for posterity? Even more importantly these albums are charming records to be enjoyed by their children (and the children from previous marriages) and their children
ie: the grandchildren of the bridal pair. All of which is right and proper and exactly how it should be.
 (And what's more the kids love them).

 I would like to explain to those who who utter these words, as a prelude to trying to book a photographer for an hour or two, my first thought which is:

          "But I might not get anything!"

The one thing that strikes terror into the heart of any photographer, let alone a wedding
photographer, is the chance that he/she might not have the opportunity to do justice to
 the subject (in his/her own judgement).
          During the event the best photographs may not come from from any of the set pieces.
          The arrival of the bride
          The ceremony
          The kiss
          The walk down the aisle
          The cutting of the cake
          The first dance
          Or even from the photographs of the couple immediately after the ceremony in
the twenty or so minutes allotted to the photographer (although often this time does
produce lovely shots which form the anchor stone of the album).

Wedding day magic, they do it with mirrors

 Reluctant subjects are not unusual, some men consider their wedding day as a chance for a binge with their mates.........
          On one occasion the bride and groom were not speaking by the time it came to cutting the cake, let alone sharing the first dance.  So there simply were no pictures of these moments. However having got some delightful shots earlier, with a bit ofcreativity, the album was a great success. (With the bride at least).
         Did they live happily ever after.......... so far history does not relate!

Moved to tears by the beauty of his bride

    For more touching moments on my website just click here      

        

Bridal pair run off to Coity Castle

Bridgend couple add romance to their wedding celebrations

        Special people Alison Reynolds and Darren Wyatt got married at the Great House Hotel in Laleston on Saturday, August 20^th.

      As we all know the Welsh winter had already set in by then and threatened to ruin our more exotic plans.

      The night before the big day, the Friday, the bridal couple had paid a visit to a rather soggy Coity Castle to see if it was possible to shoot some pictures within it’s romantic confines. The Castle itself looked as dramatic and inviting as ever but wet grass and mud are not things most brides associate with wedding dresses and satin shoes.

     If it doesn’t rain on the day, we told ourselves. It did rain on the day….. and it stopped ……..and it rained again…… but our indomitable couple proved to be made of stern stuff, and undaunted we set off.
   Fleeing the wedding venue immediately after the ceremony, the glamorous bride swapped her high heels for something a little more resilient once we were through the Castle gateway. Once there the old stones seemed to be waiting just for us and we spent a truly happy half hour exploring Coity’s nooks and crannies, it’s archways and bridges, it’s dungeons and towers. There is no doubt in my mind that the awesome history and dramatic beauty of the deserted ruin added a sense of adventure to what was already a perfect day.
Romantic wedding photographs in Bridgend