Pt 3: Emma + Jamie’s Wedding At Netherbyres House
What to expect from me after “the deed” is done.
Riiiight, so congratulations and all that, you guys did it. What now?
For photos, I like to let you get some quick hugs off yer nearest and dearest but then steal you away for couples’ photos pretty soon after the ceremony, if it works with your plans and any travel between places. It’s best to do it now as it’s probably the first time you get to have an actual chat on the day and you’ve just done something pretty big so I creep around while you get to say lovely things to each other and I’m not listening. But if I do hear chat about schedules and real life stuff you’ll get a ticking off cos this is the time for being all lost in dreamy hot clouds with each other and being all woozy as it sinks in.
The whole day will feel mad surreal regardless of your plans and how big or small your day is. You’ll probably catch the nervy butterfly feelings just as you are finishing getting ready too, but they always dissipate as soon as you see each other at the ceremony.
My Solid Advice
My solid advice as a photographer who-has-never-been-married-but-has-witnessed-a-bunch is take this time to really just be with each other, switch off worrying about entertaining guests or being nervy about doing a speech or any of that stuff and just stare at each other and be present for each other. The rest of the day folks will take your attention so just enjoy some slow quiet time with each other while I creep around in bushes or behind bins or whatever — don’t mind me.
Group shots benefit from a shouty and well organised friend
While we’re doing this we’ll have a shouty and well organised pal or sister, someone who’s not a total drunken liability or too quiet, grabbing the list of folks for any of the more traditional group shots that you want. They’re a ball ache, nobody likes just standing there for these but often it’s the only time in years families from around the world get to be together so we know the value of them. I tend to get some weird form of tourettes as I’m suddenly the centre of attention and in 10 years I’ve always thought it would be a great time to have some go to philosophical catchphrase but I generally start talking about potatoes to avoid swearing in front of your nan. So what I’m saying is limit the number of groups to the bare minimum you can get away with. Mostly cos you’ll be bored and because folks hire me for the candid stuff and if I’m trying to herd your tipsy uncles then it’s going to eat into the time you get to enjoy with your guests and the number of more natural and creative edits I can get for ya. Plus really, it’s like a tap, I’ll say some double entendre and then they just keep coming so the least amount of time for it the better.
Speeches, Dancing and Carbs
Then the rest of the day is shooting candid stuff. Speeches are great hunting ground for emotional reactions and the only other thing we might do is another 5 or 10 minutes of portraits, just the 2 of you, if there’s a golden hour lush evening light to play with. I’ll try and make you dance with me at this point cos I’ll be full of the tasty carbs you gave me and will need to get back in the zone. Spotify out and we’ll dance around a field, garden, back alley, wherever the hell we are.
The Sashay Away
Then once dancing is on the go I tend to shoot the first 3 or 4 songs then I moonwalk out of there as generally everyone is well oiled and doesn’t need pro photos of their antics at that point. I’ll maybe grab a wee dance with you first unless it’s a ceilidh cos I’ve had injuries from ceilidhs so refuse to get involved unless I have full body armour.
The first wedding I shot after lockdowns, when live music was finally allowed again, the very last of the restrictions really, I swear I nearly cried when I heard Valerie. Not cos I think it’s a good song but because she’s often like the 4th or 5th tune in a wedding cover band set and it turned out I’d missed her. Bless.
When can we expect a first look at our gallery?
After the big day, I’ll send you a handful of sneaky peeks via your online gallery. This will be password protected and comes with a link to share with friends and family. You can download all your wedding edits as part of your package, they’ll be high resolution nae watermark or shenanigans. The galleries are also linked to a bunch of international printers offering lots of different print products, tasteful mind, no bedspreads or that. But there’s no obligation to buy any if you don’t want to.
Guests can also order digital downloads or print products too. There’s also a thing called a mini session on there which isn’t us hanging out in the pub, but it’s the gallery host’s weird name for a portrait session with me on location. You’d probably just be better to email me to sort that out. But a wee reminder that I do like doing those too.
The gallery also offers the option to design your own album with a brilliant printer, Folio. Their albums are very beautiful, made with eco inks and paper supplies, lush fabric, reclaimed leather and other material cover options and various sizes etc etc. If that all seems a bit too much like work I can also design and order the albums for you. You’d just need to save your favourites in the favourites folder on your gallery and we can sort it out from there. Albums are pricey but 100% worth it. I recommend sitting on it for a while to ensure you are happy with the images you’ve picked to include and traditionally paper is the gift for a first anniversary anyways if you are into that type of patter.
How many pictures can we expect?
It’ll take a few weeks to get the rest of your edits done. There will generally be between 50-100 edits per hour of coverage depending on what we got up to and how big your guest list was. Edits are mostly bright light colour images, none of that heavy dark game of thrones chat here, but with some more stark black and whites in there to get a bit of balance. Then if I’m being well organised I’ll ask you for your feedback and some chat about your favourite memories from the day and any advice for couples planning so I can talk about you on here. And I’ll try and bully you into staying pals by joining my mailing list and being friends on Instagram cos we’ll have had a great time hanging out and it’s always good to see what you guys get up to in life after.
The end
And that’s kind of it, it’s pretty straightforward, I just kinda shoot what happens, try and help out with dodgy zips, remind your mum she looks great and make sure the best fella hasn’t lost the rings and isn’t mortally hungover before his speech. Mostly I think my job is to make sure you relax into the day and can stay present in it and really enjoy it cos it’s a celebration of you two and what brought you to this point together over you being hosts for the day. So we’ll have a daft laugh and a dance and make some lush memories for everyone.
Supplier Love
Netherbyres House, Miss Mobile Disco, Jo’s Kitchen, Mill Pond Flower Farm, Those Were the Days Bridal and shouldn’t their pal start a bakery sideline?
**we don’t deal in off-the-shelf
Specialising in capturing human connections and wingwoman for the camera shy, Solen’s unobtrusive, natural and artistic approach to photography is highly coveted for weddings, elopements, portraiture and events.