Weddings will be a big part of my blog so kicking this year off in style was the bay tree hotel in Burford which hosted the wedding of Rebecca and Ramon on a cold, grey winters day. The weather was not good (overcast,cold and wet), but this did not dampen the spirits of the 2 brides to be and their guests. The venue was perfect for their day as it was warm, cozy and inviting, with no real need to go out in the cold. A perfect choice for a cold winter's day.

This kind of blog post will show the ins and outs of the day from the equipment I used as well as show that no one wedding is the same. I will also look at various aspects such as the challenges and issues faced and how they were overcome. A big thank you to Rebecca and Ramon for letting me use their images as well.

One of my favorite parts of a wedding has to be photographing the bride getting ready. Its a time of nerves, waiting around and excitement. This was certainly the case here with the added privilege of having two brides to photograph. This was a first for me and it was a challenge but it was great to see the differences between the two brides. One one hand you had Rebecca who was getting ready with her 3 friends who were popping the champagne by 11am, where as in comparison on the other side of the Hotel, Ramon was getting ready with her family around her. It was great fun to shoot both and gave a great contrast in the first images that came out. 

The challenge with this wedding was the light, or lack of for that matter. I used the windows to get some natural light into photos but if this was not available it was artificial light I was using in the form of my 2 off camera flashes. Flash is not something I have discussed on here but is very important, particularly in situations like this one and they became invaluable on a shoot like this where the hotel was dark (mainly candle or fire lit) and even outside it was overcast and dim. Low light wedding shoots are the most challenging I think as they really push you to look for ways to get more light into a scene. Be it moving the bride over to a window or adding the additional flash to get the image.

The Canon Speedlite 430 EXII and the Yongnuo Speedlite YN560-III

Both of these speedlites above were used throughout the day to capture images that, without them, would not have been possible. I can not understand how some wedding photographers call themselves 'natural light' photographers. Now this is all well and good but I can't see how they can capture a whole wedding (especially one held in the winter or in very low light) without presenting most of the images with an enormous amount of noise from the high ISO required to capture these images. I will always try and shoot at the lowest ISO possible but even so, I still found myself at the bay tree hotel shooting at ISO 3200 or higher. The main issue I do find when using flash is the batteries it goes through. I was constantly worried i was going to run out even though I had brought spares. I ended up using every battery I had on this shoot, as I used both flash guns throughout the day.

Examples of using the off camera flashgun, mounted to the camera are shown above. One of the larger rooms has a large staircase that took up most of the room itself. The room was much taller and was only lit from high above. To get a useable image here a flash was a must.

Luckily the most important area of the venue was much lighter and was one of the only times i did not need the flash gun. This is quite the opposite to a usual wedding as it is usually the dark church that pushes the cameras to their limit. This is particularly apparent when a church will not allow flash during the ceremony. This can then lead FOR the need TO USE the higher ISO, and the high F stop lens THAT you paID top ££££ for finally earns its worth AND SAVES THE DAY.

I mostly shot this wedding with the 35mm F/1.4 on the 5D mark 3 and the 135MM F/2 on the 6D. I did also use the 100mm macro for some of the getting ready shots. I did also put on the 24-70mm f/4 on for about 5 mins but the low light situation really did show up this lenses weaknesses when it comes to shooting weddings and I think I made the correct decision in replacing it with the faster and sharper 35mm F/1.4

The venue set up itself was beautiful and suited the couple perfectly. The venue had done a great job with the overall presentation and appearance of the wedding service area. The light, though muted due to the weather, came in from the conservatory on all sides and was perfect in bringing this area to life. It was a set up that anyone would be jealous of and want for their wedding and perfect for an intimate winter wedding like Rebecca and Ramons.

The flowers and decoration is always a major part of a wedding and an area that is secretly judged by all those who attend. I am of the opinion that less is more and that textures as well as colour will make flowers (and cake) really stand out like in the images below:

the use of the yellow with white flowers, along the green foliage gave depth and warmth to the bouquets and table displays (As shown above), and really comes across in the final images.  

it is those small moments, that if captured correctly can tell a thousand words. It can be a look or it can sometimes be something like the image above. These are the moments, or images of these moments that I love to capture most of all. It gives me great satisfaction to capture something like this that can say so much, yet be so simple at the same time.

The image above demonstrates why I love doing weddings, these moments happen so quickly or in this case below the line of the table that they can be missed, but when I get one it makes my day. of course the posed/staged images (cheesey smile) are needed and are great as well but you can not beat a true smile, a look of pure love and happiness, or an image that may not even contain a face but can tell a story. It is the telling of the story that I love and a wedding is unrivaled in being able to do this I think.

I was lucky enough to have not one, but two beautiful brides on this occasion which was wonderful and a joy to photograph. The venue was amazing, as were the guests. I hope every wedding this year can match up to this one just with maybe a little more natural light... here is hoping.

FIN