Monday, April 27, 2009

Lincolns Inn wedding, London

On Saturday 25th April I travelled to London for Anna & James' wedding. The ceremony took place in the beautiful Queen's Chapel of the Savoy. It was the first time I have heard the National Anthem at a wedding. After a moving ceremony the couple signed the register while the choir sung PSALM 128.

The reception took place at Lincoln's Inn, London. This was my second visit to Lincoln's Inn, it's certainly a fantastic setting for a wedding reception and the food is excellent.

Anna & James have flown off to Vancouver, Canada, for their honeymoon.

These are a few photographs from their wedding story.















































Silhouette Artist


I recently discovered the work of silhouette cutter Sarah Goddard. She will attend your wedding with scissors in hand and cut paper silhouettes of your guests. Her work is amazing, this is a silhouette she cut of me. (I did ask for some extra hair!).
Sarah has a website - http://www.visagesilhouettes.co.uk , or her telephone number is 0118 9670 632


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Olga & Darren's wedding at Coombe Abbey

Olga & Darren's wedding was on Easter Sunday at Coombe Abbey near Coventry.

The ceremony took place in the Abbeygate which was lit with candles and looked very atmospheric. After the ceremony the couple and their guests were piped out by an Elizabethan minstrel playing the English Bagpipes. Some emotional speaches followed before dinner.

These are a few photographs from Olga & Darren's wedding story-



Photographs have now been removed at the request of the couple. To view a wedding from Coombe Abbey please visit the following page -

http://www.weddingphotojournalist.co.uk/blog/coombe-abbey-wedding-photography/

http://www.weddingphotojournalist.co.uk/

Monday, April 13, 2009

Choosing a photographer

At a recent wedding the venue had a second wedding taking place at the opposite side of the hotel. The staff told me the other wedding didn't have a professional photographer and had instead asked a relative with a "good camera" to take the photographs, apparently not unusual at present. I have noticed certain magazines recommending you save money by getting a friend to take the photographs or by putting cameras on the tables. Obviously I have something of a vested interest in wedding photography, but it's not lost business that bothers me, it's the fact the couple will almost certainly be very disappointed with the photographs. It's not a "good camera" that makes unforgettable photographs, it's a skilled photographer. Recently I brought some Jamie Oliver cookware, unfortunately for me I'm not a World class chef now. I might have the right tools for the job, but I don't have the skills of Jamie Oliver.

I'm a photographer because it's what I love, I photograph love stories and produce albums that become treasured possessions. My job is often stressful, you have to get everything right on the day as you can't go back and do it again. It takes hundreds of weddings to get the eye for photography (I have been a wedding photographer for 9 years, previously I was a newspaper photographer for 12 years), to the point you can predict what will happen and be in place to photograph it. Anyone can take photographs, only a select few can really capture the wedding story.

The bride from a recent wedding booked me a couple of days before her wedding. She had already booked another photographer, but fell in love with my style of photography. Having paid the balance in full with the other photographer she cancelled and booked me. I'm very flattered that my work evokes such strong emotions that this bride was willing to loose a substantial amount of money to swap photographers.

Choose a photographer with your heart and you won't regret it. A wedding album becomes one of your most treasured possessions and should be full of all the love, life and happiness of your wedding day.

Simon Atkins. April 2009.
http://www.weddingphotojournalist.co.uk/