Wedding Photography
Wedding Photography based in Watford, covering Hertfordshire and London
Your wedding happens once. Nobody is going to say the vows again because the photographer was changing a battery.
I've been photographing weddings for more than ten years. My job is to catch your day as it happens and hand it back to you as a story. The look you give each other at the end of the aisle. The moment your nan finally gets up to dance.
A wedding goes by in a blur. You'll spend most of it being hugged, steered, fed and toasted, and you'll miss a lot of what happens to everyone else. That's what I'm there for.
Before the day
We meet at your venue first
Before the wedding, I meet you both at your venue for an engagement shoot. It does two jobs.
The first is that we get to know each other. I'll be honest: I hate having my picture taken. There's no photo of me on this website for exactly that reason. So I know how odd it feels to stand in front of a lens. By the time your wedding comes round, you'll have done it once already, with me, and found out it doesn't hurt.
On the day, I'm a familiar face rather than a stranger with a camera. And the person you meet at the venue is the person who turns up. I don't send anyone in my place.
The second job is learning the venue. While we walk round, I'm scouting. I'm working out where forty people will fit for a group photo, and where the two of you can slip away for a few quiet portraits. On the wedding day, nobody wanders the grounds looking for somewhere to stand. I already know.
It's how I've always worked. When I photographed London's New Year's Eve fireworks for Visit London, the most important decision was where to stand, and I made it long before midnight.
You keep the engagement photos too. They make good save-the-date cards.
The shot list and the group list
Before the day, we put together a shot list of the pictures that matter to you. Then we plan the group photos properly: which groups you want, and who goes in each one.
Group photos are where weddings lose time. Every minute spent looking for a cousin who's wandered off to the bar comes out of your drinks reception. With a list, we get through them quickly and you get back to your guests.
I'll also ask for your list of don'ts: anyone who can't be photographed, and any moment you'd rather keep private.
On the day
I'm discreet when it matters and visible when it's needed. Most of the time, you won't notice me.
Getting ready
I start the day with each of you while you get ready. The nerves and the last-minute fixes are where the story begins, so that's where the pictures begin too.
The ceremony
During the ceremony I'm quiet and out of the way, and I'll usually already know where to stand. I'll catch the moments that matter: the walk down the aisle, the vows, the rings and your first kiss as a married couple.
Group photos
This is the one part of the day when I stop being discreet. Group photos need someone in charge, so I take the lead, usually with the best man's help. He knows the faces. I know the list. Everyone gets their picture, and you're back with your guests before the drinks get warm.
Your guests
While everyone mingles, I'm taking candid pictures of your guests: old friends finding each other, and the conversations you didn't get to hear.
Throughout the day I also photograph families and friends in their own groups, not just the ones on the list, so everyone who came is part of the story.
Your venue
You chose your venue for a reason, so I photograph that too, including the room, dressed and ready, before your guests sit down.
Into the evening
I stay into the evening to see you cut the cake and take your first dance, and to catch the dance floor filling up afterwards.
Your photographs
My final images tell the story of your entire day, from getting ready to the first dance.
Within a couple of days, I'll usually have a few pictures ready for you as a sneak peek. The full gallery follows in about two weeks. That's quicker than most, but it isn't rushed. I won't trade quality for speed.
Everything arrives in a private, password-protected gallery on my website, as full-resolution files ready to print or share.
The flowers will wilt and the suit will go back to the hire shop. The photographs are what you keep.
Belt and braces
You've probably heard the horror story: the memory card that failed and took the wedding with it. I work so that it won't happen to you.
My cameras take two memory cards and write every picture to both simultaneously. If one card fails, the other still has the picture.
I always bring a spare camera and plenty of charged batteries. If a camera gives up, I pick up the other one and carry on, and it won't affect your day.
I carry public liability insurance, and every booking comes with a written contract.
Prices
The whole day: from £1,850, plus expenses
This covers everything from getting ready to the first dance and the start of the evening party. It includes:
an engagement shoot at your venue, and the photos from it, worth £250 on its own
planning your shot list and group photos together
a sneak peek within a couple of days
your full gallery, in full resolution, in about two weeks
Ceremony, groups and drinks: £500, plus expenses
Not every couple needs the whole day. This package gives you two and a half hours, enough for your ceremony, the group photos and the drinks reception afterwards. Extra time is £200 an hour. It doesn't include the engagement shoot.
Extras
Albums start at £500. You get a 12 x 12 inch hardback album and two smaller albums, one for each set of parents.
Staying until the end. The whole day includes some of the evening party. If you'd like me there until the last dance, it's £200 an hour. Think of it as overtime. By then I've been on my feet since the buttonholes went on, and I'll get home long after your last guest has been poured into a taxi. The late hours are when the dancing gets good, too, so every one of them leaves me with another stack of pictures to edit in the morning.
Very big weddings. If you have a lot of guests and would like a photo of every one of them, that takes longer to edit, and the price reflects it.
Send me your date and venue and I'll give you a proper quote. A deposit and a signed contract secure your date.
Where I work
I'm based in Watford and photograph weddings across Hertfordshire and London, including St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Rickmansworth, Bushey, Radlett and Borehamwood.
I already know many of the area's popular wedding venues. If I don't know yours, I will after the engagement shoot.
I'll travel further, too. I've been known to catch the train the night before, stay in a hotel, photograph the wedding, go back to the hotel because it finished late, and come home the next day. A one-day wedding became a three-day job.
For weddings like that, travel time is charged at £100 an hour, and train fares and hotel costs go on the bill. Tell me where you're getting married and I'll work it out with you.
Reviews
Reviews on a photographer's own website are easy to invent, so I don't put any on mine. You'll find genuine ones on Google, where I can't edit them.
Questions
How many photos will we get?
It depends on the day. A small, short wedding might give you around forty pictures. A wedding that goes on all day, with more people and more going on, gives you a lot more. Either way, I aim to cover everything and everyone.
Do you bring a second photographer?
No. I work alone, so you get me all day. If you're getting ready in two different places, I start with the bride and her bridesmaids, then head over to the groom and his mates, and go on to the venue with him.
How far ahead should we book?
As early as you can. Dates get busy, and I can only photograph one wedding a day.
Check your date
Tell me your date, your venue and a little about the two of you. If I'm free, we'll arrange a chat, and after that I'll see you at your venue.