“So I’m gonna be 100% honest with you I’m kind of at a Leslie Knope level for planning right now. I’ve been made aware that my boyfriend will be proposing on our holiday in June…I want to book as soon as it’s socially acceptable”.

Ladies and gents, this is an insight into Lara. In fact, this is lifted, verbatim, from the initial enquiry I received from her last summer. She was so excited to get married to Nathan that she contacted me before he’d even proposed! After a bit of back and forth, during which I discovered how bloody sweet they are to each other, I knew that I was hands down the right person to photograph their wedding. Some time around Stranger Things 4 they got booked in and we were off!

Before the Wedding

One of my mottos in this business is that couples get out what they put in. Wedding photography isn’t just a case of me pointing a camera at a couple and instantly getting the right photos - it’s a collaborative process. Lara and Nathan absolutely got the brief here. They put so much care and attention into every detail of their wedding, and really thought about what they wanted their photos to look like.

A year before the wedding, we met up in a country park somewhere in Staffordshire for a preshoot. Lara and Nathan both wore Hawaiian shirts, and they’d even brought dried petals to throw about in the woods, and the sweetness continued. They walked like t-rexes, they covered their heads in their shirts, had sweet hugs and made each other laugh - all the fun and laughter a preshoot should involve.

The Wedding Day

And wow. The careful planning, the details, the day itself was all so perfectly planned. Lara arrived at the church in a vintage VW bus with her mum and dad. The ceremony was packed with personal meaning for them, as Lara was recently baptised by the person performing the ceremony. Even thought it’s been one of those English summer months that feels like it’s been chucking it down for about ten years, this was a day of colour and love and joy. Even the bouncy castle got used. And one thing in particular will remain with me always, I think.

Throughout the day, I kept noticing the positive energy that just burst from Lara like she was a bubble machine filled with joy. When someone came near her she gave them her full attention. A tactile person, she just kept hugging people all day, and giving little hand holds when that wasn’t possible. And compliments were never far from her list (she noticed that my hair is ‘so shiny’, which just made me beam!). Her dad mentioned this in his speech, that this generosity of spirit makes her unique, and utterly lovely to be around.

I meet a lot of people in this job. People pulling towards a common goal, people under pressure, trying to have fun and make the day as enjoyable as they dare to imagine, and I’d be properly dead inside if I wasn’t moved by it. And on Lara and Nathan’s day, I was particularly moved by how generous she was, despite all the stress and pressure. It’s my own personal lesson, and I’m really thankful for that.

Anyway, that’s enough armchair philosophy from me. Let’s crack on.

The Team

Venue: The Hurt Arms, Ambergate; Crich Baptist Church

Clothes: EverPretty, Fort Menswear (Ripley), Ivory White (Duffield)

Floristry: Tracy Green Floristry

Cake: Peak Patisserie

Cupcakes: Blooming Cakes

Make Up: Lauren at the Pamper Hut, Alfreton

Photos: Me, of course!

The Wedding Photos