Mel and Chris's Wedding

Before I was married I played in a 5 aside football team doing the typical ‘must get fitter for my wedding day’. Now, I have no interest in football (at all), but I enjoyed the kick around with a few mates (even in the freezing cold rain) and I made some new friends, one of whom was Chris. I only managed 10 months playing football before an injury stopped me going - which I'm obviously devastated about...! A few years passed by (more than I’d like to admit) and I got a message from Chris asking to meet up to talk about wedding photography. Great! He said he had already made his mind up about booking me to be their photographer from seeing my work on Facebook etc. -  always nice to hear! However, we still needed to meet up for our pre-wedding consultation to go through packages and of course to meet Mel and make sure she was happy with me photographing her on such an important day.

We met for our consultation in Lichfield at a small café next to canal locks near the venue which was held at Alrewas Hayes. The venue has a grade 2 listed building on site, which is privately owned and lived in by the owners. There’s plenty of room inside and acres of land as it is surrounded by Lichfield’s countryside. I showed Mel and Chris my sample album which showcases a wedding I did the year before. Not only is this a good way to see the quality of the albums I supply, but it shows the coverage I get shooting a wedding - right from the bridal party getting ready to late in the night on the dance floor. After going through all the details we then went for a lovely walk around the venue which is always useful to help visualise the day.

Mel and Chris booked the Sapphire Digital Package which includes 200-300 edited images, my signature wooden box with prints and matching USB drive. Once they had seen the photo’s in the online gallery they couldn’t choose just 300 images and wanted to upgrade to the Ruby Digital Package, so they ended up receiving all 640 images from the day.

The day itself was a beautiful September day, but the wind had picked up so this was something I would need to manage. I met the very relaxed bridal party at 11am in the huge bridal suit in Alrewas Hayes. It was a very calm room with Hayley Thompson - Makeup Artist, doing her thing whilst the Champagne flowed. I also had some time to take some photos of the table decorations and final preps of the cake which was made by a close family friend. I stayed at the venue until Mel was in her dress, she was running behind a little – obviously having too much fun! I then headed to St. Chads Church where most of the guests had already sat down. Chris was looking a little nervous at the front of the church wondering where his bride to be was. One of the good things about having a photographer is that they tend to know what's going on so I  can help to settle the nerves - I reassured Chris that Mel was on her way! The organ began to play and Chris could take one last deep breath before looking down the aisle to see his best friend and soul mate walk towards him. The ceremony was beautifully led by Rod Clark and Joshua Penduck and even though it was a very dark church to shoot, it was a gorgeous place for a wedding. 

I thoroughly enjoyed being Chris and Mel's Photographer and they were a joy to work with! They both said how uncomfortable they felt in front of the camera, as do most couples, but from the start they got into the swing of things and were ready to have their photos taken. Not only did I have some lovely messages from them both, but I also had some from the guests who mentioned how much they enjoyed me being part of their day.

I'll let you enjoy the rest of Mel and Chris's wedding with the photos below.

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