Lvone and Mendisi...

          When I first arrived at the house I couldn't tell who was the bride I approached the mother of the bride and told her congratulations, she replied with 'thank you, Lvone is upstairs getting ready you can go see her'. To my surprise, that was in fact, the bride.

Where can I start with this wedding, well, that's quite obvious, the bride. The lovely Lvone, bossy yet polite, my favourite type of bride she knew what she wanted and what time she was doing it. Now, the reason I became a photographer is because they are one of few people that women listen to without hesitation. The bride and I gelled instantly I arrived at her mother house the morning of her wedding. She was excited, nervous, on edge, happy, thrilled and agitated. The morning of your wedding you will feel more emotions than you ever knew you had. 

       Lvone had the most polite and beautiful family and bridal crew, they were all helpful and everyone pulled together to make the day run smoothly. They were all up and ready on time, before the bride as I like them to be. the bride didn't let anyone but the father saw the dress before she put it on so it was a surprise to the whole bridal crew, flower girl, and mother of the bride. We set up a shot to capture the expression of them when they first see the bride is all her glory. 

      The whole day was beautifully planned, they bride and groom decided to get married in the same place her mother and father got married just over 20 years ago. The attention to detail was really impressive they ever got the wedding rings from the 'Forever' range the same as the bride's parents. It was an emotional first half of the day and there were a lot of memories from the bride parent giving away their daughter the same place they also got married. It didn't stop a few happy tears being shed on both sides of the family.

      We had great fun shooting all the guest and bridal party, everyone knew everyone and got on very well with each other. The families were very welcoming to each other and it was like one big family. The Reception was small and intimate which was a first for me because usually I'd have 300-400 people to contend with but there were not more than 150 people at this one, I had plenty of time to get the shots I wanted to get and move on, my brain was in full creative gear. The speeches were a true reflection of just how well the families got on and even gave the mother of the bride a nickname. The location of the reception was perfect it had multiple locations I could use with the couple in order to get them the best shot together having a private moment alone to take in what was actually happening. 

    It was immensely clear the love that they had for each other and they really appreciate what I did and what they were going to get out of it at the end of the day. I Love this type of couple I couldn't ask for anything more from a client and am sure that we will become lifelong friends. I honestly wish them the very best and a happy and healthy life together. 

The Challenges of the day

    Now, when things are this perfect it doesn't mean I didn't have challenges. I'll give a few examples of things that went wrong but I made the best out of my situation. 

     At the house, I was taking shot inside and outside and changing my setting back and forward certain a challenge as I would forget to change things back, and I overexposed some of the outside shots which I correct the best of my ability and the cameras capability. Their shots aren't technically correct but I'm sure the bride will appreciate the moments I caught. 

I forgot to do the ring shot at the groom's hotel and I didn't know if I would have had time at throughout the day, but I had a 10-minute window at the reception where I asked Lvone and Mendisi for the ring to quickly get the shots at the venue. They turned out great as you will see in the slide show I will put up very soon so stay tuned for the update.

the only other thing that went wrong was I dropped my flash with my wireless triggers and then they didn't seem to work. To overcome that I had to move on calmly and think on my feet.  I had to use the slave mode on the camera with my flash and use my on-camera flash to trigger the off camera flash the result were outstanding still. I captured the love and intimacy between the couple with a beautiful sunset sky in the background.

  This is a new direction for me. This was the wedding that I realised that all my hard work was starting to pay off. This was what spark that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you accomplish something.