Our Approach to Wedding Photography

First and foremost the day is about your love for each other and celebrating your love with the friends and family that matter most to you. Your wedding, should be your wedding! Nobody elses! The wedding day is not an elaborate photo shoot and we are ever conscious of this when documenting your wedding story.

Each and every wedding is different. Sure there’s usually vows, rings, cake & champagne but there are so many more components to a wedding. That’s why we feel it’s very important for us to get to know you a little better before the wedding day. We love to meet our couples either in person or over facetime/skype and talk about their day and which elements mean the most.

It's  your day!

Before The Wedding day

When our couples first book, we love to discuss their plans for the day, answer any questions and suggest other great suppliers that we have worked with previously. 

As the wedding day gets closer, we send a wedding day questionnaire and we arrange a pre wedding consultation which helps us to get a feel for your wedding plans and gives us the opportunity to talk about your wedding plans and schedule. 

A generous schedule for the wedding day can really add to the enjoyment, reduce stress and give you more precious time with friends and family. It also gives us that time to get the extra special photographs you see on our website.

When discussing your schedule we offer helpful suggestions for your consideration. These suggestions are based upon our experience from over 375+ weddings, but they are just that – suggestions. If you have something else in mind we are more than happy to work to your plans!

Before the day we confirm the schedule and request a list of group photographs for us to work to on the day. This helps reduce stress and ensures we don’t miss any important family photographs. The family photographs are an important memory to have but we feel its important to keep these fast and fun to stop the lockjaw and boredom setting in!

Some couples decide to have a pre wedding photoshoot or engagement session. Pre wedding photography is a great way for us to get to know you better before the wedding day. It helps you to feel comfortable in front of the camera.

We meet up at a great location (the city, the countryside, a beach or your favourite spot) and we spend an hour or two walking, talking and creating great photographs. It’s all about having fun and being relaxed.

We also love to Travel! So whether it be Venice, Paris or your favourite getaway, consider having your pre wedding shoot abroad!

Pre-Wedding Photographs

On The Wedding Day

On the wedding day itself we like to introduce ourselves to everyone first before taking any photographs. We let them know that if there is ANYTHING they need that we are here to help - When we say anything, we mean anything!

At previous weddings we have helped in many ways from simple things like taking the bridesmaids bags to wedding venues, to taking best men back to the hotel to get the speech they have forgotten! Obviously, we are photographers primarily and we don’t want to miss any of the action, but if emergency help is required we are always ready to help.

Photographically we like to make sure that we capture every part of the day excellently. Some wedding photographers focus on a documentary wedding photography, some focus on a posed portraiture style however we feel it's extremely important to capture every part of the wedding day to the highest standard. We are prepared for any occasion - rain or shine.

During the wedding, we are always taking photographs throughout the day. This is what helps us capture the amazing moments – the touch from a father, that nervous look, and even the little tear from Mum as you say your vows. We do not put the camera down when we have “The Shot” as more often than not – a better shot is about to happen straight after!

First and foremost we look for real moments when photographing a wedding. We photograph your friends and family simply being themselves, having an awesome time at your awesome wedding. This is what tells a wedding story, not dramatic portraits. For us, the dramatic and artistic portrait photographs are the icing on the cake and we always find time to create these when we have captured the important and natural photographs. 

Getting Ready

In the morning we like to arrive for the bridal preparations.  At this time we photograph the details, including the wedding dress, the shoes and any other details that are special to the couple. We search for the most attractive areas to photograph the details and are very mindful not just to choose the easiest area.

After photographing the details we photograph the preparations and all the laughter and fun of the getting ready part of the day. If the couple are getting ready at different venues, a 2nd photographer can really help to make sure both preparations are captured thoroughly on the day. With good planning however it is possible for Tobiah to capture both parties preparations. 

We find it's really nice to plan time to have 10-20 minutes with your friends & family before leaving for the church or ceremony venue. It gives you time to relax, collect your thoughts and  is a such a special, intimate time to be enjoyed with those close to you.

We like to arrive at the Church/ceremony venue 20 minutes or more before the wedding to capture guests arriving and introduce ourselves to family and the person who will be conducting the wedding ceremony. This gives us the opportunity to  assure them of our non obtrusive approach during the ceremony. At this point it's a great chance to photograph the groom looking excited and/or nervous before the ceremony!

We capture the arrival and then Tobiah photographs the walk down the aisle from the front of the ceremony location. If you hire a 2nd photographer they will capturer the entrance from behind. The same is true of the wedding ceremony with Tobiah Photographing from the front and the 2nd photographer often capturing alternative angles and compositions from the rear of the venue.

During the wedding ceremony we again focus on capturing  the emotions. We use a variety of lenses to tell the story – from closeups of the ring exchanges to wide shots of the venue that really help to set the scene. 

During the wedding ceremony,  we are always very mindful not to  disrupt this precious occasion.

The I Do's

After the wedding ceremony we feel that it is VITAL that we do not whisk the couple away for photographs as this is one of the most emotionally charged moments of the wedding day, a time to be enjoyed with friends and family. This is when some of our best natural  or “documentary wedding photographs” are taken and we like to photograph friends and family congratulating the happy couple. We also love a good confetti line! We say "Go big or go home!" This leads naturally into the drinks reception.

Just Married!

At the drinks reception we again suggest that you take time to enjoy the moment.  Enjoy the canape’s and champagne, we won't whisk you away for hours! We'll be capturing natural photos of your friends and family, documenting all those little bits you might miss. 

After some fun, we can then take a few group photographs and get these out of the way quickly. We usually suggest around 10 group photographs so that the couple don’t get too bored but we are flexible on this as per your requirements. We generally take the group photographs first so that the wedding guests can get back to enjoying the party as soon as possible. It also helps to do the group photographs before the guests decide to go for a wander throughout the venues grounds! – We were never that good at hide and seek!

Drinks Reception & Group Photographs

Most couples ALWAYS say “I HATE having my photograph taken” and this is absolutely fine with us! We actually get more worried when somebody says “I LOVE having my photograph taken!” because thats not normal, right?!

After the group photographs we usually take the couple for some natural portrait photographs. We understand that you don’t want to spend hours taking photographs and so we keep it fun and interesting. 

We usually suggest around 30 minutes or so for portrait photographs. This will give you time to relax in front of the camera and have beautiful photographs for generations to come.

We like to take relaxed natural portraits, however we offer a little posing suggestion / prompts to to make the photographs look that extra bit special, without feeling forced or stiff.  We enjoy taking some of the portrait photographs from a distance so the couple can enjoy being alone. 

Couple's portrait photographs

After the portrait photographs it’s nice to return to your guests and continue enjoying the drinks reception whilst we photograph the wedding breakfast room and all its details. People make a wedding, but the details that you worked so hard to put together deserve to be photographed too!

When guests sit down for the wedding breakfast we take some natural photographs of people at their tables, and then photograph the couple's entrance into the room. 

Before  The Wedding breakfast

During the wedding breakfast we look around the venue for areas that we may be able to set up a dramatic evening photograph if time allows.  We also take some photographs of guests talking in-between courses but we always like to allow guests to eat in peace! Nobody wants to see how they eat a prawn salad!

During The Wedding Breakfast

During the speeches we like to capture the tears and the laughter of not just the head table, but also of the wedding guests.  We are very keen to not disturb others in the speeches (as we are throughout the wedding day) but work hard to capture the speeches from interesting creative angles. We often take photographs from low making sure not to block the view of guests but really telling the story  from a great and involving perspective.

The Speeches

After the speeches maybe the light and weather is particularly nice, maybe there’s a sublime sunset? Well some couples take the opportunity to have a few more photographs, just for 15 minutes or so. This is when some of the best light can be found. Of course this is optional and only if time permits. If you just want to drink with friends, that's cool with us!
With all of our portrait photographs, we feel it’s very important to keep things moving and fun and so we work very quickly.  

After The Wedding Breakfast

And finally it's party time!  We enjoy capturing the cutting of the cake, and the first dance. We then brave the dance floor for a photo boogie – You can’t expect to take photographs of people dancing if you are not dancing yourself! This is when we get some of our favourite photographs of the day. Photographs of the Auntie Jean doing the worm - that kind of thing! 
Many choose to book us until midnight to capture all the dance-floor shenanigans,.

And finally there's always time for a final dramatic evening photo before we say our goodbyes. 

time to  party!

It's a wrap!

After the wedding day, we carefully edit and curate your images to tell a wonderful wedding story. We create an involving wedding gallery and slideshow for you to share with friends and guests and aim to have this with you within 4 weeks. We then ask you to choose your favourite photographs and will design and wedding albums you choose to order. 

This process is very simple and you have opportunity to make changes so the wedding album can be just perfect.  And finally - you recommend us to all your friends and we get to see you at loads more weddings year after year! 

If you have any questions about our wedding photography or our approach please do feel free to ask.