London Winter Weddings Rock
With Special Guest Maverick Sabre
Shanade & Matts had every single version of an English weather day that, snow aside, all the combined gods could throw at us. We were not fazed. These cool cats were savouring their Wedding day. I think it’s so important for couples to get that. No matter what happens on your special day embrace it.
It’s your day and whatever comes up is special because of that. Rain, wind, sun, snow, storms. It may be easier said than done sometimes but the fact of the matter is we can’t control the weather so we may as well have a ‘bring it on’ attitude to all of it. As a London Photographer you get used to shooting in all weather conditions.
You’ve no place shooting weddings in the UK if you can’t deal with it. In fact if you consider yourself an artist then you should see any challenge as a creative gift. Leverage it. I want to challenge myself and create something even more special.
Bridal Prep was at the Hotel Cafe Royal on Regent Street. A special morning with just Shanade and Mum. The light in the room was equisite. Shadade was in her element. Oasis rocked the room. Mum and Daughter cracked open the bubbles and I got some special photographs of this beautiful bride in make-up.
I’m never hurried in prep. Nothing is set up. Everything is allowed to run it’s natural course. I want to capture the heart and soul of what is actually happening. I don’t want to add to anything or take anything away.
It rained before and just after the Church ceremony at St Mary's Square, Little Venice. We had no formal shots which gave us more time for portraits but we wanted to shoot them before the reception which was at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, close to Trafalgar Square. It was coming down heavy with rain so I improvised the early shots and took them on the upper floor of the double decker bus when we arrived.
The reality is the light that spills into buses and trains can be pretty special. The light traps and bounces all over the place. It’s window light twice over. The Bride and Groom rocked it and we made some special frames. There are two individual portraits with the couple looking out of their respective windows which I absolutely love.
And then we got lucky. A spill of sunshine. We virtually leaped from the bus and got to work. We knew we wouldn’t have long before the skys opened up again so we worked at good pace. I shoot portraits fast anyway. I don’t rush but I’m on purpose. I do this because it creates a kind of spontanegous energy that spills into the photographs.
I shoot a lot of portraits around this area, Trafalgar Square is close by. I’m not interested in the obvious attractions. Rather I’m interested in the beautiful bounce of light you get from the endless buff cream paving and surrounding buildings. With the wet weather on this occasion the light was equisite affording us a beautiful pallette to work with, albiet for a short amount of time.
And then we were safe and sound inside and dry. The guests settled in for the wedding breakfast, glasses raised, speeches made. Eventually it was time for the dancing. And the huge surprise.
Shanade and Matts favourite singer is Maverick Sabre and they’d recently seen him live at Wembley Arena. Their favourite song of Mavericks is “I Need’. A beautiful balad. They had decided this was to be their wedding song. Matt suggested he would get the band to sing it. Shanade said no. If Maverick Sabre isn’t singing it nobody is. Just play it on a CD - the band can kick in later.
Now for the moment when our Groom Matt pretty much put grooms to shame the world over. Somehow. Someway, with this person knowing this person knowing this person … Matt was able to get Maverick Sabre to arrive at the wedding to sing 2 songs. One of which was ‘I need.”
Shanade had no idea. None at all. The girls would hide Shanade at the other side of the building with an excuse as Maverick entered the building. At the time of the first dance Matt would crafily, slowly, announce the dance to his beautiful wife.
For me as a photographer it was so so so important I caught Shanades reaction to first realising what was going on. It was everything. I rarely use flash but I did on this occassion for those several shots at the end. I think I nailed it. I hope I did. Her face was indeed a picture. Mavericks voice was incredible. The entire room went wild. Maverick sung. The couple danced.
The night was young.