Sussex wedding photographer's blog » Wedding and corporate photography from Lucky Dog Photography

I missed my first wedding ever this Saturday, as Kate and Nigel got married in Brighton register office at 10.00 am. Luckily this was all pre-planned, as the couple had decided to get the marriage out of the way before even getting ready for the day. After visiting the register office, Kate, her mum and bridesmaids made their way to The Metropole Hilton on Brighton seafront to start putting on the glamour. I stayed with them for just under an hour before setting off for the main ceremony at Brighton College. The college has it’s own chapel, which isn’t licensed for marriages but can be booked for blessings. For anyone thinking of using the college, they do have a wedding license for the Hordern Room next door, so you can have your whole day in one location if you want.

The chapel is lit with my least favourite light bulb in the world, the appalling orange sodium light, great for reducing your electricity bills but the worst possible choice for wedding photographers. I’ve done my best with the colours, but will probably end up converting a lot of the shots to black and white in the end. You can see an example of both in the posted pics.
Despite my moaning the couple had a lovely ceremony, choosing a Humanist service run by local celebrant Michael Wooler, followed by a wedding breakfast in The Great Hall.

The best part of the day, from a photographic point of view, was a trip in a taxi down to the Brighton bandstand on Hove seafront at twilight. The sky was just darkening as we arrived and it’s given a lovely atmosphere to the scene. The wind was quite strong, but this ended up being a real asset as it blew Kate’s dress into various great shapes. A bit of off camera flash added an element of drama to the shots. I could have carried on shooting here for half an hour or so, but the wedding schedule only allowed us a few minute before we headed back to the college for the cutting of the cake.

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Here are a few images from Vicky and Ant’s wedding at the weekend. I started the day at The Old Ship Hotel in Brighton where all the family and guests were meeting up. We then took a bus over to St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean for the wedding ceremony. It’s a beautiful church with a history going back to Saxon times, one of the more recent additions being a set of windows designed by Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer Edward Burne-Jones, to commemorate the marriage of his daughter, Margaret, there.

Like most traditional churches, it’s quite dark inside. I’d been told I could use a flashgun during the ceremony but I tried to keep this to a minimum. Apart from distracting the bride and groom’s attention it also tends to destroy the atmosphere in the images. Vicky and Ant lit candles during the service which looked particularly nice using the available light, but would have been ruined by flash. This sort of shot has only become possible in the last couple of years, with the huge improvement in professional digital cameras and their ability to work in low light. Even eighteen months ago I would have struggled to get anything useable, and the colours would have been so bad I would have converted everything to Black and White. You can see the results below, shot at ISO 3200 for any camera nerds out there. At the end of the ceremony four of Vicky and Ant’s friends sang from the gallery as the couple walked down the aisle and out of the church.

We made our way over the road to Kipling Gardens for all the formal photos. Despite a short shower half way through we managed to get these done quite quickly, and I had ten minutes alone with the bride and groom to take some photos before they left for the reception. This is usually the most frantic part of the day for me, it may be the only time I have to take shots of the couple and I have to make every minute count. I always ask for 20-30 minutes but the pressure of the day often means that’s not possible. My first priority is to get some good straightforward full and three quarter length shots, then, if I haven’t been told to go away, I’ll move on to something a bit more creative.

After this it was back on the bus to Brighton, for a drinks reception on the seafront opposite the Old Ship. I had three quarters of an hour for some reportage shots, and a final opportunity for a few photos of Vicky and Ant before they went back to the hotel for their wedding breakfast. I stayed for the speeches and caught the first dance before I left at about 9.30 pm.

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Asti and Robbie outside East Court Mansion in Surrey

Here’s a selection of photographs from Asti and Robbie’s wedding in Surrey this Saturday.

Asti began the day in her parent’s house in Horsham, and I joined her in the early afternoon to take some shots of her preparations. The weather was looking a bit gloomy, but we managed to get into the garden to take few photos of the bride with her parents and family.

The wedding itself was at East Court Mansion in East Grinstead, an 18th century listed building restored, and now run, by the Town Council. The grounds stretch away into the Ashdown Forest, and on a good day would have been a great location for exterior shots. Unfortunately, by the time the ceremony had finished it was tipping down with rain, so I had to do the formal shots inside with a bit of emergency lighting. Thank you to Stuart, the very helpful caretaker at East Court, who quickly whipped all the chairs out of the ceremony room, so we had space for some of the larger group photos.

Despite the rain there were opportunities for some nice shots. When Asti’s parents were married a friend had lent them a vintage Citroen for their wedding car. The owner  brought the original car along on Saturday and allowed us to use it for some posed photos. We took shots inside and outside, it made a great background. The front of East Court is quite elegant, so I also asked the couple to pose by the pillars outside the entrance.

One thing that Asti hadn’t mentioned when she booked me was that her father, her father’s friend with the Citroen, and another of his best friends who was also attending the wedding, had all been professional photographers. One of Robbie’s relations was also in the photography business. However long I work as a photographer myself, this is the sort of thing that makes me nervous! I don’t know why it should worry me, but somewhere in the back of my mind I expect someone to come up and say ‘You’re a charlatan and a fraud sir, how dare you call yourself a wedding photographer. Call that a composition?’. Luckily they were all very nice, and didn’t lean over my shoulder offering me helpful tips and questioning my lighting techniques, so my confidence soon recovered.

Later in the evening the weather improved so I took Asti and Robbie outside again. We spent some time at the front of the building, then went to the back for some more dramatic shots as the light started to go. The view over the Surrey countryside has gone, but I think the sky and clouds add some atmosphere to the images. I ended up staying a bit longer than planned, and caught the first dance before making a move back to Brighton.

Asti putting on her wedding veil

Final adjustments

In the back garden at Horsham before the wedding

And at the front getting ready to leave for the ceremony

The wedding ceremony at East Court Mansion

Signing the register after the ceremony

Asti adjusting to married life

Outside in the vintage Citroen

And another of the Citroen

Asti and Robbie outside the front of East Court Mansion

Robbie with best man and friends

More shameless posing from the newly weds

And a bit more out the back

The first dance

Some very special dance moves from Robbie

And a last kiss.

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