A short few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be asked to photograph for Louise and Mark at their wedding.  The weather was FOUL all through the week before and really hideous the week after, but they had a near-flawless day of gorgeous sunshine, the lucky things.

The details had been picked out incredibly well and really added something special to the wedding.  This gave me a lot to photograph and helped to create a 'story' of the day, I always like it when the bride and groom have selected and thought about details, it adds a lot more to the look and feel of the day than you might expect!

The flowers above were hand-picked and arranged by the bride and added a lovely and fantastically rustic feel to the day.  The bouquets for the bride however were stunning and very much created by a talented florist, they rightly drew a lot of compliments on the day (as well as a few jealous glances!).

http://www.traditionalflower.co.uk/

I was keen to get a photo of the bridesmaid's dress on the hanger, it turned out less technical to do this than try to get a photo of the bride's dress on the hanger and I was really happy with how this photo came out.

I think it's important to photograph the bride getting ready, it's all part of building the 'story' of the day and it's very popular to have a photo book printed to remember your day and these images will form a big part of it.

Arguably one of the best bits of a wedding (for the groom perhaps) is the car!  I really like this image just before the bride left for the church, after all the rushing around in the morning you need to unwind a little before heading of.

Approaching the church and I'm loving the bridesmaids with their last-minute flower rearranging, it was a very pretty (and tiny!) church.

After the ceremony we relaxed a bit and I love this shot of the newly weds with their wee one.  It's often the candid and informal shots that capture how a wedding felt and this one really does show how relaxed and enjoyable the day was.

After drinks on the lawn we were back to the barn for food, more drink and even some morris dancing from the local morris men (who all lined up for a kiss afterwards).

The Fleece Inn...
http://www.thefleeceinn.co.uk/
...is a fantastic venue, I couldn't fault the food and the service was very good.  They had a very healthy collection of cask ales on the go as well which is always appreciated!

I had invested in a new flash for the wedding and enjoyed using the wireless feature, it turned out to be very handy indeed for the first dance.  There was no white ceiling to bounce a flash from and any attempt to light directly wouldn't have looked right so I gave the flash to an assistant to hold and used it off camera.

  

The new alpha 77

Well, an investment was made and a new camera was purchased!! I went for the Sony Alpha 77 in the end after so many good reviews and reports.

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_a77_review/

It's only been with me for a short while but has been used already for a few practice shots at work and around town. I haven't shot a wedding with it yet, frustratingly it turned up in time for a wedding, but I didn't want to risk using a brand new and untested camera on the day.

It's brilliant to use though and will be out and about in time for the next wedding, above is a quick shot from Priory park in Chichester (in March, where's that sun come from?!). I'm fully used to the EVF (Electronic ViewFinder as opposed to an optical viewfinder) already, and although I wasn't sure at first I'm coming around to it. The image above was shot as a jpeg and I've changed the contrast in photoshop because it was a very hazy, warm day (again, March!!). I would agree with a lot of reviewers that the jpegs are a little over-sharpened out of the camera but I will be shooting in raw anyway for assignments so that won't be an issue.

I've already found it really easy to use, partly because I've come from the Alpha 700 (the successor to the Alpha 77) but mostly because it's very well thought out. It appears to work perfectly with my Sigma 24-70 EX DG and communicates wirelessly with my Metz flash very well. The 'focus peaking' feature is already becoming VERY handy for manual focus and I've surprised myself by enjoying the various creative styles it has, which I normally ignore on a camera :)

In short, watch this space for more photos from this camera!

Gemma and Mourad's wedding

I was asked to photograph Gemma and Mourad's wedding on a sunny (ish!) Saturday at the start of the summer and had a real blast. They had chosen a fantastic venue and made the most of it with a great band, brilliant details, a magnificent buffet and a fantastic mix of friends!

There was a slightly challenging start when it began to rain in a fairly serious fashion just as we all left the registry office but I had taken a white umbrella for the happy couple to use and left the flash on. They turned out as some of my favourite confetti shots in the end!

We couldn't go outside for a little while once back at the venue but it was a chance to use the flash a little creatively, and I'm pretty happy with the above photo. There's an argument for getting another flash at some point but the one light gives a great effect.

We got the gents outside for a "Groom and the boys" photo and i'm pretty fond of this set-up, it works well with the groomsmen.

It cheered up and turned into a really nice evening in the end, this gave us the chance to take a few 'couple' photos around the grounds as well as capturing a few guest photos as they all arrived.

It was good to get out into the grounds and the sun really came out for the evening!

I've been keen to get this photo to work for ages, it's pretty hard when you're pressed for time at a wedding and the ring won't stand up in the book. It's often a copy of the bible however in this case we used a copy of the Q'uran to reflect the groom's religion. With a little bit of careful flash bouncing I managed to create the heart-shaped shadow.

It's great when you spot a bit of detail or a little bit of the venue that photographs well and this shot of the bride's shoes on the window sill worked well.

There was a pause between the ceremony and the reception so Gemma was able to take a bit of time to get ready again (it also gave me a chance to photograph details and make-up!).

The reception was great fun and everyone there made me really feel as though I was one of the guests, the band especially was brilliant. Which gave me a chance to play with the iso and have a go at some low-light photography.

It really was a great wedding and I had a brilliant day!