A lot of wedding suppliers and particularly photographers create wedding specific blogs, this is something I only want to do on occasion and when I feel it’s justified.

But I do want to expand on my wedding work. I love shooting weddings and genuinely feel honoured to play my part. So I want to provide a different insight and angle on these days in line with how I pride myself in catching the little and natural moments that so often get missed and are not seen.
It might not feature the bride or groom or both or be overly traditional, but these are some of my favourite images and some reasons as to why- one from each wedding from the main part of 2016. Thank you again to all the couples involved.

When Bonnie & Carl said "I do" it was an emotional day. Despite this being the day that Carl became a husband it was also the day he 'officially' became a stepfather... but this shot whilst signing the register in church suggests that the stepfather part to Carl was just as important to him as everything and anything else that came of the day. A new and complete family.

I always like to get this angle of a nervous groom as his future wife is seconds away, but just before she started her walk up the aisle Mark turned to his bestman, who was also his son and shook his hand by way of a thank you before Heidi arrived. It was a lovely moment between father and son and one I didn't expect to happen and a prime example of a little moment in between the big moments.

She didn't know I was looking. She didn't think anyone was looking, to Laura it was just her and Gary with a quiet 60 seconds before they were announced into the room as the new Mr & Mrs Ratcliffe. A great day, I even tried my hand at break-dancing later on.

I was up in York where Nick & Emily tied the knot. After the "I do's", the kisses and handshakes and the group shots the couple got away from it all, it was all planned and I was the only one allowed with them (for a short while). There was a little room that Brides & Grooms take 20 minutes in, being a couple of taste and style Nick & Emily had ensured there was lots of gin for them to relax with- I was annoyed I had to leave, but I got this as I went. 

This is another quiet 5 minute shot. There is a lot of hustle and bustle at a wedding and with little ones in tow it can become overwhelming and quite tiring. Again, ceremony done, group shots done the guests were all taking their seat in preparation for food and speeches. Sam & Amelia and the gang got a quiet 5 minutes and at a distance I saw this.

Dan & Sally did tell me this was happening which meant there was only 4 of us in the room that were in on it. I had done this before and I enquired as to whether the owl would be flying dummy rings just incase as had been the case as a previous wedding.... but they said "No, it will be the real rings"- this is where I'll be honest, I just envisaged it was going to go horribly wrong and I was fully braced and a little excited to get the most spectacular "Catch that bird, it's got the jewellery" photos ever........ but, the owl flew straight to Craig's hand delivering the rings with the utmost of accuracy to provide one of the big highlights of a beautiful day.

Rob & Tamzin tied the knot at Tamzin's farm. It was a truly unique venue as it had a big pond at to the side of the marquee and I would have never asked the couple to risk their wedding attire or dignity by climbing into a little rowing boat knowing what could go wrong (even though it would have made for good photos!) but they did so off their own back and with it I got this. Rob rowed very gently incidentally.

Initially you'd think that the bride Mary was late and eventually she was by a good 20 minutes but when I got this Mark the groom was that nervous he had sat down much earlier than needed which didn't really help him as I think he sat there for a good 40 minutes before his future wife arrived.

This was the very first photo of the Vicki & Phil's big day and features Vicki's mum who was great value all day long. She deliberately and happily posed for this sat in the doorway of Shottle Hall, curlers to boot without a care. Weddings aren't all canapes, group shots and flowers- there's so much work that goes into a wedding before the guests arrive and the process begins and this is an insight into it.

Martin & Jo were willing to put their wellies on for this, they had planned to do so even before it decided to rain on the majority of Saturday's in July. We could have never got this deliberately, we had done all the posed shots and were leaving the boggy field and at that point Martin became very chivalrous and hoisted his new wife up to carry her back to the gate. 

I find that Brides, or Grooms for that matter fall into 2 categories- they're either nervous throughout the build-up or at the very last minute, despite having been calm for hours it's when what is about to happen hits them in a wave. I had finished taking shots of the men downstairs and I went back up to capture Kate leaving the bridal suite and got to witness that wave and bridesmaid Suzannah justifying her rank.

to be continued......