Sophie and Tom’s wedding photography started with preparation photos at the Swan. you can already tell it’s going to be a great wedding when the theme comes together in the form of details and styke of dress, flowers etc.

The photography always starts with photos that set the scene, so I started with photos showing the location, the Swan Hotel sign and classic Lavenham backdrop.

Photography of the bride in the mirror

Detail photography, the wedding shoes and bouquet

Photographs like this can be given a more candid feel by simply asking the bride to look to one side.

The bride and bridesmaids at the Swan Hotel

Detail of the bride’s dress details

The bride photographed in the mirror at The Swan. I love looking for crrative ways to frame a photograph, here I’ve shot through the bride’s arm 

Using a mirror can create different layers of depth to a photo

I’m always looking for natural photos. The lighting on Dad’s face here was great

The bride photographed with her bridesmaids

The groom photographed at the church with his best man.

Getting all the guys together for a photo doesn’t take a moment but asking the groom to step forward a little from th restof the guys adds a little bit of structure to a photo

I like to framea photo with elements in the background. Here the church doorway behind and side windows are kept even in frame for a pleasing composition.

The bridesmaids arrived at church, and were photographed in the beautiful tree-lined path that leads to Bulmer church 

The arrival of the bride in a beautifil classic Jaguar

Bulmer church has a long tree-lined pathway, it makes a stunning setting for the gphotographs of the bride walking to the wedding ceremony with her Dad. 

The wedding ceremony at Bulmer Church, Suffolk looks great in black and white. Unless I’m expressly invited to the front of the church by the vicar, I usually photograph a church wedding ceremony from the back of the aisle, unlike a civil ceremony where I’d take a position at the front.

The setting in the doorway looks great in black and white. A sillhouette effect creates a very interesting photograph. 

At a church wedding I will usually arrange a few group photos, just the smaller groups, perhaps parents, siblings, ushers and bridesmaids, and then the larger groups at the reception, once everyone has had time to mingle for a while.

The lighting in this doorway is great for showing textures of the wood, the wedding dress. Lovely bushy green trees behind really add to the country feel

At church weddings I’ll usualy arrange a confetti photo as the last thing we do before heading off to the reception. At Bulmer Church this was also a good time to get photographs of the bride and groom walking together,

More photographs to set the scene again once we’re at the reception venue, So I took a moment to photograph Smeetham Hall while guests were still arriving

As I know the wedding car won’t want to hang about all afternoon, I make sure I photograph the bride and groom with the car early on. 

At Smeetham Hall it’s great to include the lake and house in the background of posed photos. 

After a while mingling (a great opportunity for casual atmospheric photos too) I approach the bride and groom and suggest we start the formal family group photos. These can be as breif or as lengthy as required. 

Once the group photos have been taken it’s nice to take the bride and groom off for a stroll around the grounds. Photos of the happy couple go through a range of styles, starting with walking hand-in-hand, which I think of as the most casual photos possible. Smeetham hall has an amazing numer of roses in bloom on this weekend!   

I love to shoot through foliage, with a short depth of field, to create fuzzy colourful elements in the foreground, and a defocused background, together empasising the sharpness of the subject.

Composing the photograph with the bride and groom set off to one side (The ‘rule of thirds’ principle) makes for a pleasing composition, especially with other elements on the other side of the photograph, like these flowers.

Walking away in the sunshine, then lookng back to camera, with the lake at Smeetham Hall’s lake behind

For a change of lighting, a shady spot under the tree is nice. Short depth of field keeping the background fuzzy, I love to keep the subject sharp but also something else in the focal plane is great, like the bark on the tree.

Standing in the shade with sun hitting the greenery in the distance creates great speckles (known as ‘bokeh’)

My favourite photographs from this wedding are the photographs we took in the shade of the driveway at Smeetham Hall. Here I used my remote lighting setup to light the bride and groom. This lighting really lifts sthe subject from the background, plus adds depth and texture. the speckled light onthe floor throught trees looks great too!  Lavenham Photographic, Wedding Photographer ,Smeetham Hall, Suffolk