When I arrived at The Firs for Zoe and Chris’s wedding, the weather looked like it could go either way.
Grey skies, fairly flat light and that slightly ominous feeling that everyone might spend the afternoon checking three different weather apps.
By the time I left, it was ridiculously warm.
Which pretty much sums up the way the day developed.
Zoe and Chris were both really chilled out about everything. They wanted a relaxed wedding, plenty of time with everyone who had come to celebrate with them and a few good photographs without disappearing for half the day to make them.
Exactly my kind of wedding.
Zoe had quite a crowd with her in the morning.
There were a lot of bridesmaids, which meant the getting-ready space was already fairly busy before somebody decided they were all going to attempt a TikTok dance.
At that point we basically had to start moving furniture out of the way just to create enough room.
I’ve seen variations of these dances at a few weddings now, but squeezing that many bridesmaids into one room definitely added an extra level of difficulty.
Eventually everyone got dressed, furniture returned roughly where it belonged and attention turned towards the ceremony.
The ceremony took place down in the woodland.
I’ve photographed enough woodland ceremonies over the years that the logistics don’t really feel unusual anymore, but they still give a wedding a completely different atmosphere to sitting inside a hotel ceremony room.
Guests are surrounded by trees, the light changes constantly and the whole thing feels slightly removed from the rest of the venue.
By this point the weather was already beginning to improve.
Chris waited at the front while Zoe came through the trees with her dad, then everything stayed pretty simple from there.
A few emotional reactions, plenty of laughing, rings, first kiss and then the two of them back down the aisle together.
By the time everyone came out of the ceremony, the grey morning had started disappearing.
Confetti came first, then everyone spread out around the grounds with drinks while the afternoon gradually became warmer and warmer.
Zoe and Chris had gone for a slightly festival-style feel to the day, so once everyone had eaten later on there was definitely no shortage of alcohol.
But even earlier in the afternoon, it was already the sort of wedding where people were quite happy just grabbing a drink, finding somebody to talk to and getting on with enjoying themselves.
Which is generally where I want them.
Like most of the couples I photograph, Zoe and Chris didn’t want some enormous portrait session.
They wanted a few nice photographs together and then they wanted to get back to their wedding.
So that’s what we did.
We wandered off for about five minutes, used the countryside and long grass around The Firs and then sent them straight back.
The photograph of them out in the grass with the tipis behind them came from that same little walk.
Nothing elaborate was planned around it.
Sometimes the light, the landscape and five minutes with the right couple are plenty.
One of my favourite details inside the reception was the table numbering.
Every table had a photograph of Zoe and Chris’s dog.
There isn’t some enormous symbolic story behind it.
They just really love their dog.
Which, frankly, seems like an entirely sensible reason to cover your wedding breakfast in photographs of them.
I’d probably do exactly the same.
Once everyone was seated, the wedding breakfast rolled into the speeches.
What I do remember are the reactions.
Zoe laughing, Chris reacting, bridesmaids losing it at whatever had just been said and everyone around the tables getting involved.
That’s generally where the actual story is.
Once everyone had eaten, it became considerably less restrained.
The drinks came out properly, then the shots started appearing, and the festival feeling of the wedding made considerably more sense.
By the time Zoe and Chris headed onto the dance floor, everyone was very ready to join them.
Their first dance didn’t need turning into a production. They were surrounded by the people they’d spent the whole day with, everyone gradually piled in and from there I just followed whatever was happening.
And that’s probably the best description of their wedding as a whole.
A woodland ceremony, some unexpectedly brilliant summer weather, five minutes away for photographs and most of the day spent exactly where they wanted to be.
With everyone else.
If you want your photos to feel like your day actually did.
No awkward posing. No staged moments. No turning your wedding into a photoshoot.
Most couples I work with want to spend the day with their people, not disappear for hours taking photographs. So I keep things simple. I document what’s happening, step in when you need me, and get you back to your wedding.
Big country house, registry office or somewhere in between, the job stays the same. Honest photographs of the people, atmosphere and moments that made the day yours.
Years from now, I want the photographs to take you straight back to it.