This afternoon I am delighted to welcome back Samantha to the Blog. Last time Samantha talked us through her venue choice and today she is taking to us about photography. As you know I love photography and I do think it’s one of the most important, if not THE most important aspects of your wedding planning. Choosing the right person to capture your day is such a big decision, there is so much choice out there and you have to find the right person to fit in with your personality, your budget and your style. Today Samantha talks us through how she made her choice and why getting the right photographer was so important to her.

 

I’ll pass the Blog over to Samantha………..

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you’re all well?
I’ve loved reading all of my fellow Boho Brides blog entries, sounds like we’ve all had a lot of important decisions to make and they’re not all easy ones!

I don’t know if anyone else is wondering how to find the time to fit in all of their DIY bits and bobs – I am honestly thinking of asking work whether they’ll consider giving me Wedding Leave! A week here and there to finish all of my little projects that are currently sat half-finished in Wedding Corner (formally known as the dining room table) My save the dates (which I had to stop because I ran out of cotton – thanks Nan for saving the day with that one!) will probably not end up going out until the end of the year at this rate and then it’ll be time for invitations to be sent. Few!

This past month has been a whirlwind of miserable weather and dark mornings, flu (or man flu in my case that is still refusing to shift) and my poor little cat Chilli jumping out of my bedroom window and running away, leaving us with her broken hearted son Sausage who has transformed into a baby who needs constant attention!
But most importantly, it’s mainly been about photographs. My favourite thing in all the world that always picks me up when I’m feeling down.
So it’s going to make me really happy to chat about that to you today – if I could get paid for doing this every day I’d be one happy lady! (You might want to make a cup of tea as this might be a long one!)

 

Dearly Beloved

So a few weeks ago I got a message from our lovely photographer Claire Penn (for once it was her contacting me, not me hounding her!) asking if we would be interested in being ‘the couple’ at a photography seminar at Willington Hall in Cheshire. The course was to be run by amazing London wedding photographer Marianne Taylor (Wedding Photographer of the Year 2012) on a fantastically brilliant style of photography called Beloved. I was instantly hooked! A quick call to Simon…”Pleeease can you get the day off work” and a bit more pleading….and I was back on to Claire confirming our attendance! Yay!
So while I was waiting for the day to come I was in touch with one of Claire’s friends Zenna Barry who was organising the day (also a brilliant wedding photographer!) who gave me all the info and a link to the website giving details of what Beloved is all about. http://belovedcollective.co

It all sounded so fantastic and completely the sort of photography that I’m interested in. It’s designed to make the couple more comfortable in front of the camera – and given that we were going to be stood in front of 20 lenses at the seminar I was hoping it was going to do just that!
I’m really not that comfortable when it comes to having my photograph taken – we may have a million ‘selfies’ of the two of us at arm’s length, but people only get to see the 10th attempt after I’ve looked at all the others and said ‘nope, I look awful, DELETE, try again’, until one actually looks ok! Drives Simon mad.
And the only ‘photo shoot’ experience I’ve ever had was a girly trip to London for a day that a friend had ‘won’, which resulted in me climbing into what can only be described as a giant polo mint and straddling a chair, while the ‘make over‘ had me looking like I was on my way to a night out in Soho – classy hey? And to make it worse I was talked in to buying ALL of the photographs, which meant me running to the cash machine in full drag queen war paint to draw even more money out and now I have the evidence hidden away in a photo album, hopefully only to be looked at if I need a bit of a laugh – or a cringe.
So to say I was worried about what I’d look like was an understatement, in fact while I was waiting to see the photographs afterwards I felt sick! I knew that they’d be on Marianne’s blog for all the world to see and I just hoped that the pretty flower I’d popped in my hair might just overshadow any ridiculous facial expressions I may have been pulling!

I would completely recommend having a Beloved shoot to anyone who was interested – the experience was amazing! Even Simon, who was whispering out of the side of his mouth when we got there ‘what are you making me do?’ really enjoyed it.
Even though there were so many people watching us it was honestly like there was just the two of us there and we truly got lost in the moment. Obviously it’s not usual practice for there to be that many people taking photographs, so if you were to book a session it would just be you and the photographer and it doesn’t have to be for engagement shoots, people have them for anniversary’s or even family shoots. In fact Kelly had a Beloved shoot for her anniversary by Marianne and the photos are gorgeous!

We met some lovely people (Hi Andrea! You made us feel really welcome, thank you! – Also a fantastic wedding photographer. Yes I am in geeky wedding photographer heaven at the moment!) And all I can say to Marianne is thank you so much for taking some truly beautiful pictures and capturing our love and happiness so perfectly. All of the photos will no doubt be dotted everywhere around the house very soon! Wow what a day!

You can see a few more of the photographs HERE  if you like.

 

The ‘One’

As the wedding photography is one of the most important parts of the day for me, I had to make sure that it was going to be perfect! Anyone who knows me knew that it was going to be one of the things I stressed about. I had several ‘how on earth are you going to choose a photographer?’ and ‘god help whoever you choose!’ comments and yes they were so right! (Although I think I’ve done quite well so far and Claire doesn’t seem too sick of me…yet haha) But to be honest the choosing wasn’t too difficult at all. After trailing through so many (and we’re talking soooo many) wedding photography websites and feeling so deflated and uninspired – and telling everyone so on Facebook in a panic stricken status update – a school friend sent me a message recommending Claire Penn. I quickly went on to her website and have been on it more or less every day since! How had I missed this amazing lady?! I shouted Simon over to look through almost every picture she had taken. “Ooh look at THIS one”, “Oh WOW this is AMAZING, look!” And so it went on…for quite a while! (In fact it’s still daily practice for me to say ‘Claire’s at a wedding today’ with further updates on when the photos have been put online and blogged. I think he’s slightly convinced I’m stalking her – I can neither confirm nor deny that to be true!)

Everyone says you find ‘The One’ when it comes to getting your dress – but more importantly I found ‘The One’ when I found Claire (yep, soppy moment)
Claire has the most amazing eye for photographs, she has a natural talent which has earned her a huge following of devoted brides and photography enthusiasts alike. When I look through her photographs I honestly get so emotional and I am just blown away every time. And it also gets me so excited to eventually see our pictures and I know we totally made the right decision when we asked her to capture our day.

We met with Claire at a local hotel and instantly hit it off; she is such a lovely and genuine person I knew immediately that I could talk to her whenever I needed to. And talk I do!
I think that’s such a brilliant side to having social media these days, I can follow any weddings that Claire does and keep up to date with her work but also communicate whenever I need to and it keeps that relationship (stalking) going. Rather than meeting with your photographer initially and then saying ’see you in a year!’ and that’s the last you hear from them until the morning of the wedding. Not ideal!

Claire has the most perfect style of photography. I’m so not into staged group shots, in fact my Nan is quietly mortified that I’ve said we won’t have 20 photographs of me stood next to each family member in turn in the same position, as was the traditional way. But I just can’t do it! We want a beautiful story to be told of our wedding day and I’m 100% positive that’s what we’re going to get.

I don’t know what everyone else thinks of having an engagement/pre-wedding shoot? To be honest, before we started planning it wasn’t something I was thinking about. But as I said before I’m not that comfortable with having my picture taken. I know that everyone says all brides look beautiful on their wedding day but if you’re a little bit insecure anyway it’s still a worry. (And yes there have already been tears – from me, not Simon – worrying about looking horrific) So after looking at engagement sessions that Claire had done with other couples, I thought it was a great idea! All of the couples looked so comfortable and so in love, whatever hang ups they had before (if any) were definitely not obvious to me. So we’re going to have a pre-wedding shoot next March, a couple of months before our wedding, to get used to the camera. It’s also a good opportunity to get to know your photographer a little more, especially if you’re not really in contact with them, and you’ll also have more of an idea of how they will work with you on the day. And of course it means more photographs! (This also means buying more photo frames which I love just as much!)
I would love to be extremely selfish and keep Claire a secret and all to myself, she’s too good to share! But honestly, go have a peep at her work and you’ll love it just as much as I do.

I know that the photography isn’t as high up on everyone’s list of Important Stuff, so not every couple will really mind who their photographer is as long as they get a few nice memories of their day. Some couples might be spending more on a videographer or the entertainment and be happy with any photographs that guests take to make up an album for them to keep. We’re not particularly fussed on the wedding cake, but that to some will be one of the biggest purchases they make. We’re all different.
But what I will say is make sure you do some research first before you choose your photographer, see their previous work and I always love reading testimonials! It’s always good to see what other people have to say. I know some couples who have been deeply disappointed with the overall experience and also the end results. I just couldn’t imagine that happening, I’d be devastated!

Also, it’s so important to book your photographer (and this probably goes with a lot of the other elements of the day too) as soon as you know they are ‘The One’ so that it’s set in stone. You will be pencilled in on your chosen date until you pay your deposit, but this will also mean that they will have to turn down other couples while they are waiting for you to confirm that you want to definitely book – it’s SO important to not let them lose potential business by not being 100% sure or changing our minds. And the sooner you book, the sooner its one more thing ticked off your list! And you’re sure to have a match made in memory making heaven.

I can’t wait to eventually see everyone’s photographs and see who you have chosen as your photographer for the day – so exciting!

Well I will leave you for another few weeks – happy blogging everyone and wrap up warm!

Lots of love Samantha xx

 

Photo credits: www.clairepennphotography.com and www.mariannetaylorphotography.co.uk

 

The post Diary of a Boho Bride – Samantha and Simon, Entry 2: Choosing My Photographer appeared first on Boho Weddings™.