Kev & Helen
A lovely vintage themed wedding at Southover Grange, Lewes.The bride & groom (Kev & Helen) for this wedding were actually friends of mine (and still are!) and I'm never quite sure if that adds to the stress or not. They actually invited me to their wedding a little while ago and asked if I'd like to take my camera along with me to take a few snaps. Well, any photographer out there will hopefully agree with me when I say you really do need to be either one thing or the other ie a guest chilling out enjoying the bucks fizz, or the photographer, poised ready to pounce at any opportunity to capture that special moment in time that is guaranteed never to be repeated.
Anyway, Sue my wife was not going to pass up the opportunity of getting dressed up in vintage garb, so the next few weeks comprised mainly of her buying dresses from charity shops, frilly gloves from ebay and me hitting vintage shops in places like the 'Needlemakers' in Lewes, East Sussex, where I found a smart waistcoat.
Sue looked great in her outfit, together with black fascinator. I eventually found a quality vintage suit, and the thing I most looked forward to about this wedding was wearing my treasured gold pocket watch in my waistcoat! This had a special place for me, as it had been given to me by Jack, Sue's dad and my friend - a short time before he had died.
We operate pretty much as a husband and wife team. Sue is that extra personal touch who really connects in a special way with the wedding party. She understands the bride's needs and little idiosyncrasies, enhancing her experience immeasurably.
I've even seen her running around as an extra helper, doing all sorts of things just to help keep everything stress free. But she is also a great sounding board for me when we bounce around creative posing ideas.
Kev and his brother Doug his best man, were wearing kilts and Helen looked fantastic in her dress.
The lovely gardens in the grounds gave us some stunning options for a few eye catching shots.
The church blessing and marquee reception was planned for the next day. This was going to be covered photographically by another friend, so Sue & I reverted to plan A - bucks fizz mode!!
However, the one thing I managed to do in the meantime was to process my favourite image of the couple and to mount and frame it, ready to present it to them at the reception the next day. To say they were pleased was an understatement. I love to see peoples faces when they love their images - it makes it all worthwhile... :)
