Thursday, 14 May 2015

Wedding: Choosing Your Photographer


One of the most important aspects of organising my wedding was definitely making sure we had as many memories as possible of our big day! I am the kind of person who gets nervous and anxious easily; my mind starts to race and I become super self conscious. I know that when this happens I find it very difficult to recall what is going on around me and don't tend to remember a great deal. The wedding day is certainly one that triggers anxiety in even the most relaxed bride and it just goes by in a whirl! I therefore wanted to make sure that we documented our wedding thoroughly to look back on and remember the happiest day of our lives. I really wanted every moment to be captured and to have a variety of couple, family and general/reportage style photos, as well as a record of all the little details I had worked so hard on to make our day special!


I was determined to find the right photographer who would be versatile and who could capture all our special moments without being intrusive! After months of extensive searching and looking through numerous websites and portfolios nothing felt quite right. Most photographers had a style that was either very soft, where the photos looked overly casual or very posed and impactful, but lacking the general ambience and emotion of the day. That is until we came across Balance Photography at a wedding show. The photographs in their booth were breath-taking! Many of them had a lot of drama, while others perfectly captured raw emotion. There was a great mix of staged and posed photographs, as well as more natural behind the scenes observations. Another thing that stood out was their really inventive ways of organising group shots to make them fun and interesting. The fact that Balance Photography were a lovely married couple themselves immediately put them at the top of our list.
We met them a month later to discuss the style of our wedding, the photos we wanted, our venue and to generally get to know each other. We then had a little engagement shoot about 3 months before our wedding, which was part of the package. I would very much recommend doing this as it not only gives you some fun photos (that you can maybe use for invites or save the dates), but also allows you to practice a few poses in front of the camera and for your photographer to understand how you interact as a couple and what you feel comfortable with. My husband definitely benefited from this as he built confidence in front of the camera and felt much more natural after getting to know Oliver.
On the day I think having two photographers was a huge advantage and I would really recommend having more than one if you are able to fit it into your budget. On the morning of the wedding Rachel came to my house, where I was getting ready, to take some bridal party photos, while Oliver was at the church snapping away the groomsmen and guests arriving. As we had different venues for the church ceremony, drinks and the reception it was great to have them be able to cover everything so we didn't miss a minute! However, even in a small wedding or with one location having two photographers gives you a much better range of images. For example, as I was walking down the aisle Rachel took all the photos of my bridesmaids and myself with my mother from the back - capturing the back of our dresses, veil and the decorations leading into the church. Oliver was at the front of the church, capturing Luke's reactions as he saw me coming down the aisle, the church scenery from the front and my mother giving my hand to Luke and lifting my veil etc. One photographer would not have been able to capture these special moments and I am so grateful to Oliver and Rachel for working as such a seamless team!
 (Just to illustrate this is the same moment taken by Rachel from the back and Oliver from the front)

Oliver and Rachel are the loveliest couple. They are super friendly, warm and fun to be around and all our guests absolutely adored them! They fitted in so well and made everyone feel really comfortable, which you can definitely tell from the images as there are no awkward poses. As well as knowing what aspects of the wedding day to capture they also have great vision and skill when it came to editing the photographs. Rachel worked so hard in making sure that each image was cleaned up perfectly. We didn't want any heavy airbrushing, but the simplest little touches, such as removing a bridesmaids' scattered shoes in the corner of a photo or even editing out a videographer in the background makes everything look just that little bit more polished!
(In this photo the videographer was standing in front of me, but has been airbrushed out!)

If you are looking for photographers for your wedding, or indeed any special occasion, I would urge you to check out the Balance Photography website. Rachel and Oliver are so lovely, fun to work with, talented and enthusiastic. We really can't say enough good things about them!!
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Sunday, 14 September 2014

Wedding Series: Update!

I am so happy to say that, just like me in the photo below, our official wedding photos are finally ready and are on their way! 
Though I was a little bit disappointed to have to delay the wedding series posts I promised you, due to our photographers having a backlog of photos to edit after the busy Summer season, I hope they were worth the wait! Here is a sneak peak of two of my favourites...

Please let me know if you have any particular requests. I can't wait to get started on the posts and I hope you enjoy them! xxx
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Tuesday, 5 August 2014

Our Wedding!

After over a year and a half of meticulous planning, organisation and anticipation on the 5th of July I married my greatest love and best friend. We had the most beautiful day surrounded by our family and friends and my only regret is that it passed by all too quickly! It was absolutely the happiest, most special day of our lives and I am so excited to share it with you all.

We are still waiting for our official photographs (and I am dying of anticipation), but in the meantime I thought I would share a few sneak peeks that our photographers have sent us!
Arriving at the church was such a blur!





Planning a wedding is honestly one of the most overwhelming and demanding, yet enjoyable and fulfilling challenges I have ever had! I really want to share as much as I can with you all in the hope that it may help in some small way if you are planning your own wedding or helping a friend. I feel I have learned a great deal through the process and if I can make anyone else's planning just that little bit easier by recommending an amazing supplier or just providing some inspiration, tips or advice then the hours of wedmin would be made even more valuable!

I will be doing a series of detailed posts about our venues, suppliers, plus all the little extras so please do let me know if you have any particular interests or queries? Even if you are not planning a wedding I do hope you enjoy the photos!
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Saturday, 5 April 2014

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