Nina & Tommy – Festival Wedding Derbyshire

I’m going to be blogging this one different.

But let’s get the preliminaries out of the way first. This was an absolutely joyous Festival inspired wedding in a field in Hathersage. Nina, Tommy and all their guests were having such a wonderful time that photographing it was a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. They had gone out of the way to make the day so individually them that it couldn’t have been anyone else’s wedding. From The charity bar, to Nina’s Dad’s band rocking the dancefloor (as well as Tommy and The Groomsmen). It gave the day the feeling of actually being at a festival.

Doing it differently this time

I thought instead of sharing tons of images, I might just pick a few and talk about them in more detail. Either about the story of the day, or the photographic process, or whatever else enters my constantly rambling mind at the time.

Nina had sourced woven fans for herself and her bridesmaids in case it was a hot summers day. She also prepared toast and eggs for her guests and managed to burn the toast. Which created another use for the fans to help clear the air and stop the smoke alarm.

Nina & Tommy had already asked me to stay a bit later as Nina’s dad and his band were doing a set at the reception. When I was photographing the groomsmen they stopped to rehearse a song, that they were planning to play later at the reception, so I also knew I wouldn’t be leaving before I’d seen that happen.

I spent ages playing with different feet in this image. I wanted to get as many feet as possible (I think I had six lined up at one point), but also make an aesthetically pleasing image with a lot of feet. There you go, sometimes the photographic process is that simple. I love the way the warm colours fall together throughout the image – especially as Nina’s shoes seem to colour coordinate with the living room rug.

I only arrived at the wedding field few minutes before Nina and the Bridesmaids, so ran around in a mad panic snatching what I could (and knowing I’d get loads of images of their guests throughout the day). I liked this one as it captured a lot of story, but also had that personal moment (the hug) in the middle to tie everything together.

When things happen fast, sometimes you just have to stick with the lens you have on camera (and the camera you have in your hand) I would have loved to have an 85mm ready to go for this, but I do love the way it gives an epic sense of scale. I also love the bouquet appearing from the window of the camper van. I think it’s one of those images that needs printing big (at least given its own page in a wedding album) to get the full effect.

I also took a panning / blurry shot as the VW campervan came in to park. Because I wanted to convey the movement and excitement.

I ran round to get the view of Nina arriving from behind Tommy. I wanted to get an image that got the story from both ends of the aisle. As Tommy was in daylight, and Nina was deep in the shadows of the marquee it took quite a bit of editing to make this image actually make visual sense. (For photographers – also notice the deep depth of field to get as much detail and story out of the image as possible)

Nina & Tommy’s wedding ceremony was overseen by celebrant Lorna Cooper. Who not only bought a calm and confident nature, but also a wonderful outfit for the occasion (made me kick myself that I was not thematically coordinated for the event)

I’ll admit, I was expecting Nina & Tommy to walk down the aisle at the end of the ceremony. So all the groomsmen rushing in for a hug sort of caught me by surprise, but it added an interesting angle and definitely still stands out as one of my favourite photos of the day. (Often the unexpected ones do)

Within a few seconds I was back in the middle of the action though.

This was another example of multilayered storytelling. It has that connection between the couple in front,  Nina & Tommy covered in confetti and the guests looking on in the background. Nothing is wonderfully sharp though, so I thought I’d hold back until I’d shared some more as technically it’s something that a lot of photographers would have binned for its imperfections. (You can read more about my attitude to perfectionism here)

Still on the subject of imperfect. I had several photos like this, but none had this level of connection. I think that’s due to focus falling onto Nina’s dad’s hand and his own wedding ring. It’s a happy accident, but again, one that most photographers would have taken out and replaced with a more technically correct image. I know it’s not just stuff that I see and feel and I do think it’s why a lot of my clients book me – so I have to listen to my inner voice, even if my outer critic sometimes yells at me a bit louder.

This is going on a bit, isn’t it? Did you expect there to be this many photos and this much rambling? I certainly didn’t/

This one’s a frame within a frame, with little bits of story dotted about all over the place for you to pick out and spend some time with. I think it also captures the feeling of being there on the day. As I’m sure lots of us dived into the marquee for a quiet moment at some point.

I thought I’d group these three photos together, as they all use the marquee window as an abstraction. Sometimes that’s the only thing going on. Often there’s a story on the other side.

When the bridesmaids did their speech, it was a retelling of Nina & Tommy’s story in the style of a Jane Austen novel. It commenced with pulling out a novel and blowing the dust off. This one actually made it into my portfolio.

I love this image of Nina & Tommy. I won’t go to into depth about how I got it, because TBH I’m trying to be as open to serendipity at this point in the day too (and finding it working most of the time). Read into that what you will.

I must admit when Nina said her dad’s band were playing, part of me groaned. But they really were wonderful and had the crowd dancing and begging for more.

And then it was the main event. Tommy & The Groomsmen getting up to perform Wheatus’s  Teenage Dirtbag and the crowd going crazy.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the alternate take on the wedding blog! For those who do still want to view loads of photos, I’ll post the slideshow below.