I’m James, a wedding photographer based near Evesham. I’ve photographed more than 500 weddings across the UK, including Shropshire venues such as Davenport House, High Grosvenor House and The Hundred House Hotel.
Most of the wedding does not need directing. I’ll step in when a little guidance helps, keep the family photographs moving and leave the moment alone when it is already doing everything it should.
You get to spend the day with your people, and the photographs still bring back how it felt.
The easiest way to understand how I work is to look at complete wedding days.
These weddings include an outdoor ceremony, a characterful barn, spring rain, confetti, speeches and properly busy dance floors. The venues change, the weather changes and the people are completely different.
The approach stayed the same: a little direction when it helped and plenty of room for the wedding to happen.
A useful venue guide should tell you more than what can already be found in the brochure.
These guides are based on photographing real weddings at the venues: how the spaces connect, what works in different weather, where the light is useful and how much time couples actually need for photographs.
Weather changes. Speeches run over. Guests vanish just as the family photographs are about to begin, and the light can be completely different from what the forecast promised.
After more than 500 weddings, none of that feels unusual.
At Davenport House, April and Scott were able to marry outside on the lawn. At High Grosvenor House, the rain gave Matt and Lauren one of their favourite photographs. At The Hundred House, the spaces are close enough that moving indoors does not disconnect everybody from the wedding.
My job is to keep an eye on the timings, weather and light without making you manage the photography for me.
Some couples want everything from preparations through to the dance floor. Others need six hours around the ceremony and reception.
The collection changes the amount of time I am there. It does not change the way the wedding is photographed.
If you already have a date and venue, send them over and I’ll let you know whether I’m available. If the venue is not decided yet, tell me roughly where in Shropshire you are looking.