Be a Wedding Photographer

October 22nd 2016, 9am, I woke early to celebrate my birthday with Clare and beautiful little daughter, but I had to leave as I had a job to do.  I was hired to be a wedding photographer.

Clare's Auntie (Denise) met her partner Barry a few years ago and decided to tie the knot. As I was studying photography at Bolton College I asked if they would mind if I could act as second photographer at the wedding to practice my newly acquired skills.  In response to this, they both requested me to be the lead, to take full control and take the official pictures for their wedding.  An absolute honour but also a lot of pressure.  It was great to be given so much trust to capture the emotion, happiness and joy of their special day, but the thought of having the photographs come out too dark, blurred, cropped or just not perfect was a massive challenge to overcome for an armature.

I arrived early at the venue to try and capture the room untouched, the cake assembly, the guests arriving, the groom meeting everyone and the pre-ceremony excitement.  Once I heard Denise was on her way, this became more than just a photo opportunity, the pictures had to be perfect.

Denise arrived early with her daughter, two sons and Barry's Granddaughter.  Whilst the guests inside headed towards the ceremony room, I tried to capture Denise in all her wedding glow.   Denise's sons are characters and very rarely have a serious moment.  I could tell from the view in my lens that they were proud of their mum in this moment, in awe of her, but still found time for a giggle and jape.

Back inside the guests were gathered.  This was the moment I was fearful of.  The bride only enters the room once, the groom only sees his wife-to-be for that one moment only once, the rings, the first kiss, the thoughts and reactions only happen in an instant and if I missed any one of those moments then the whole reason for me being there was null and void, I would have failed.

Looking back on what I captured in that 30 minute window, I was very happy with the results.  There are a few shots that could have been done better, more artistically that a more trained eye would have spotted immediately, but for a first timer, it went well.

Now the fabulous couple were married it was time to take them away from the celebrations for a little photo shoot.  Trying to capture the happiness in their eyes whilst also framing the moments of joy and love.  The frosty October air was fresh but a little too cold to spend outside for too long and after I had taken as much as possible I let the bride return to the warmth.  I used this opportunity to offer the guests family portraits, trying to add another little skill to my bow.

At the wedding breakfast, I was given a little reprieve,  "Enjoy your food and relax" I was told by the Groom, so I did.

When the speeches started I was back on duty.  The Groom and Best Man speeches are always a moment worth capturing.  Reaction shots of the laughter, smiles and sometime grimaces on the guests faces, moments of thought and respect for those unable to attend and looking towards the future.

Finally, my role of photographer was coming to a close, I had one more very important job to do and then it was back to relaxed photography.  Denise and Barry had been to dance classes for the last few months and wanted to display their newly acquired skills on the dance floor as the new couple.  Again, this moment is one that needed capturing right and one that you can not ask for a repeat of because the settings on the camera were not right or they were not in the right position.


As the dancing and party began, I was happy to capture the final moments of such a special day, one that I was truly honoured to be a part of.

When I returned home, I was absolutely knackered.  This is a hard job to do and even with all the experience in the world, there is still so much pressure to capture the day not just right, but perfect.  I have shown the pictures to Denise and Barry and they are over the moon with what I accomplished. Family started to use my pictures as profiles on Facebook, compliments started to come in about certain shots I had done.

Prior to this day I considered taking up the role to earn some extra cash at weekends, and although it was an amazing experience, I think the pressure of capturing so many perfect moments in one day is something I will leave to the professionals.....although, if you ask nicely, I am available for Weddings, Christenings, Birthdays etc

Thank you Denise and Barry for your trust