The Memories Thru a Lens Blog

To everyone getting married, the actual marriage ceremony is obviously the most important part of the day.  To some couples however it is more about the whole day and celebrating with friends and family.

Once such couple I have had the pleasure to photograph was David and Anna, I do believe the ceremony to be the shortest I have ever witnessed, which is exactly what they wanted.  They chose the Hotel du Vin in Henley on Thames to host their short but intimate ceremony and drinks reception.

The Hotel du Vin is a lovely venue for those who aren’t looking for a church ceremony, its a converted brewery in the middle of Henley and the ceremony room is akin to a barn and even has a mezzanine balcony.  So its certainly true to say the wedding ceremony was packed to the rafters.

David and Anna held very much importance on their friends and family being a part of their day, they even wanted them included in the signature artistic portraits, that I take of all my brides and grooms on their wedding day.  It really did make the images a lot of fun as Davids brother relished being in front of the camera which lead to lots of laughs.

We headed off by the river in Henley and after stopping for an ice cream for the bride, got some really fantastic shots.

Later on it was off to just outside Thame to their friends farm, where they had a huge marquee and enjoyed the rest of their wedding reception with even more guests.

I knew it was going to be a merry reception when I saw the tables, the favors where bottles of spirits and shot glasses!  Needless to say there was definitely a state of joyful exuberance and some very high spirited guests by the time the wedding breakfast was over.

Here are some of my favorites from David and Anna’s wedding day.

There is so much advice out there for couples with regard to keeping costs down for their weddings, and after reading one in a bridal magazine I would like to give my advice.

This particular magazine had several ways to save money by cutting down on the photography costs; now obviously it is completely up to each and every couple how they allocate their wedding budget, but for what its worth to follow are my thoughts….

So some suggestions made by the magazine I was reading…

Find a photography student to do your photography – I don’t doubt that some students are extremely good photographers, but they are far from ready to take on a full blown wedding.  Most students are young and therefore don’t have much experience or confidence in standing in front of anyone and directing them, especially with the pressure of dinner about to be served.  Weddings are fast paced events that do not have the luxury of spending an hour to get the shot just right, therefore the photographer needs the experience of real life weddings to do this.

Students also do not have back up equipment or insurance, so I ask what happens if a camera breaks on the day will they just say sorry and finish early.  It’s your priceless memories that are being captured is it really worth using a student.

One or more of the guests can take the photos – I personally believe this to be just as big a mistake as hiring a student.  As I have said in the last paragraph it’s your priceless memories that are being captured so do you really want to get a mate to be responsible for making sure they have got all the things you would like to see in the wedding album??

You may well have someone who has a good SLR camera and is also good at taking photos but wedding photography can not be re-shot, you get a once in a lifetime chance to capture it, do you really want to put that responsibility to one of your guests who really should be enjoying themselves and the champagne.

Have a digital only package and do the album yourself – Ok now in theory this seems like a great way of cutting the cost, but is one I feel is best avoided. There is the chance that the images will stay on a cd for ever more as you will never quite get round to putting them in an album.  I spend a lot of time and skill making up album pages so that your album tells the story of the day, is individual to you and includes as many images within it as possible, will you really have the time or inclination to learn the required photoshop skills to do this.

Whilst W H Smith or such like do have some lovely photograph albums they aren’t really worthy of showcasing your very special day.  The albums I use are all hand made and custom made to suit your photographs; they are extremely high quality and are only available to professionals.  Your album will be looked at time and time again so you want to know that its been made to a high standard that will look the same in 10 years time as it does now. 

I have been a bride myself and know that the costs of weddings can run away with you so you try to cut costs where you can, but the one thing from the special day that is kept are the photographs, so maybe having a cheaper cake for example is better than a cheaper photographer.

One thing that did make me chuckle whilst reading this article was the glossy images that accompanied it by some of the worlds leading photographers (who start at 5K per wedding and go up from there!) funny how the magazine itself didn’t feel hiring a student would have been good enough to fill their pages!!

What I am getting at is that you really do get what you pay for when it comes to the photography (although beware of cowboys!).

If you have any comments or questions please click the link at the bottom of the post and post me a comment, I’d be happy to hear from you.

Things have been a little quiet over the last few weeks, which is normal for this time of year and gives me a chance to catch up on all the things I try to do in the summer and never quite get five minutes to do.  Like preparing my sample albums that go into venues or such like.

However this year over the last few quiet weeks I have been working on some developments for Memories Thru a Lens, both in wedding photography and portrait photography in this upcoming year.  So watch this space.

So I thought I would share a little tip that I was given some years ago (more than I would care to admit!), to anyone how knows a bit about cameras this may seem like the basic of basic things, but for those of you out there who simply take shots on your snap happy to record the precious moments of life, here is the tip…

The opening of a camera lens where the light is admitted is known as an aperture and the aperture works just the same as the iris in your eye.  When you come inside to a dark place after being in a bright place your iris opens out and vice versa, a camera needs to do the same… the aperture being the iris.

So to get a shot in a low light condition such as a church, open the lens as much as you can and this should help get something that you’re happy with.

Of course I could go on as my trusty Canon 5D has many more features and settings that help me with this, but I wanted to make it short and sweet and hopefully give some of you guests a chance and getting the shot you’re after.

If you do see me at a wedding though don’t be afraid to ask, if you need a tip just tap me on the shoulder and I will be glad to help… although if you could try not tap me just as I’m about to get the bride and groom exchanging rings! )