Locations Don’t Get Any Closer To My Studio
In my 15+ year career as a wedding photographer, this was the only occasion I’ve attended multiple locations and not used my car! It was quite surreal being able to walk to both the bride’s home, the church ceremony and the reception venue from my studio. In total I walked no more than 150 metres between the various locations, this beats my usual round trip of 50-100 miles per wedding! Before I get too smug, I should point out that I did get a good soaking as I captured the guests dashing off to the reception under a sea of umbrellas!
St Mary’s Church Wedding Ceremony – Chesham
Sue and Chris were married at St. Mary’s Church in Chesham. This just happened to be the rainiest day in September, and boy did the heavens throw everything at us! Luckily, this didn’t dampen the spirits of their guests on the day. We all got a little soggy as we dashed around with brollies when needed, yet no one seemed to mind the conditions. The non-stop rain was quite the experience, but a least it was warm all day!
This large church was packed to the rafters as this popular couple took their marriage vows, the beautiful ceremony was a joy to witness.
Since the church is right next door to my studio, I know a little bit about the history. The church is built on the site of a Bronze Age circle of puddingstones. The church is architecturally a mixture of English Gothic styles, it was built in the wake of the 12th Century civil wars. The church spire stills reaches higher than any other building in the town, this is an amazing testament to the worshipers from 850 years ago. Over the years the building has been remodelled and strengthened a few times, most notably by George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. The church served what was the largest parish in Buckinghamshire.
The Chesham Marquee Wedding Reception
No one was rushing to venture outside after the ceremony, even though we only had a short stroll to the marquee reception next door at the newlweds home. Then no sooner than the first group made their dash through the rain, everyone else soon followed whilst jumping over the various puddles!
Sue and Chris’s gorgeous marquee wedding reception was everyone’s reward for braving the rain, and what a welcome they received! The interiors were divine, and there was plenty of champagne doing the rounds too.
Whilst family and friends sheltered from the elements and partied in the marquee, we could all still admire Sue and Chris’s stunning garden and flower borders through the open sides. I loved how they incorporated their pretty garden fish pond and some of the beautiful flower borders inside the marquee, the visual effect was breathtaking!
This was a lively gathering of friends and family, the sound of laughter was continuous all day as the guests partied away!
My Favourite Pictures From The Day
This was such a relaxed wedding, my brief was to be for ‘mostly reportage photographs’ please. So without hesitation, and with so many fun loving people to photograph, these candid moments were definitely my favourites moments from the day. The image above really captures the moment, and tells the story of Sue and Chris’s special day so perfectly!
I also adored Sue’s bold and colourful colour scheme for the day, everywhere you looked there was vibrancy! From the various floral displays, to the bunting everywhere inside the marquee, through to the epic wedding cake. So inevitably for this complete colour junkie, I particularly enjoyed capturing all the various detail images. There were too many favourites of mine to mention, but you can see these below on the gallery.
Kind Words
Dear Mark,
Thank you for these excellent photographs of our wedding day. The formal and informal mixture of photos at St Marys Church, Chesham and at our reception in the marquee in our garden nearby had us reminiscing already. Your roving camera had captured some wonderful scenes and groupings of guests we had missed.
It was rainiest day in September but you had prepared for that. We were also impressed with your planning and specialist “inside knowledge” of what usually works; we had a preliminary meeting with you and we then met at the church and our home two days beforehand to consider your suggestions and options. Your good humour with our guests on the day was much appreciated; you had the right skills for organising, when necessary, guests at a gathering and otherwise being unobtrusive.
Kind regards,
Sue & Chris
