Small Intimate Wedding at Oakley Court

I love my job as a storytelling wedding photographer especially when I get to shoot a small intimate wedding. The gift of being able to capture a couples special day through my eyes and transform what I see into a form of art is very special to me. You never quite know what to expect of each wedding though. Often times I don’t even meet my couples before they book me, so I always hope that they understand from my website what it is that I do on the wedding day. I’m discreet and as unobtrusive as possible, but I’m still there. I also don’t shoot that many short hours weddings as most couples want to capture the standard bridal preparation to first dance of the wedding day. But, when a couple gets in touch, I’m always willing to sit and listen to their plans and what they want from the day.

Andy contacted me only a few weeks before the wedding date in March. Their wedding day was the day before I was due to go skiing, so I was in two minds whether to book the wedding or not, as I had to pack etc. But the more I chatted to Andy, the more I liked the sound of their wedding plans. They were having a small intimate wedding at Oakley Court, a beautiful wedding venue in Berkshire on the banks of the Thames. I’d shot there before and loved the intimate feel of the venue. Lovely wood panelling and a very relaxed elegant feel to the building. As Nicky and Andy weren’t planning on having a traditional first dance, their wedding day would actually be quiet short – for me shooting. So we settled on a 5 hour booking, to cover the bridal prep, where Andy and Nicky would both be getting ready together, which I loved, then shooting the drinks reception, some group shots and to end the story, the speeches. The result, a lovely set of wedding photos of their special day. Capturing some fabulous moments for them both.

Some of my favourite images are the speeches, which were shot in a very dark oak panelled room only lit by a couple of lamps and some many candles on the table. I don’t like to use flash at weddings as it kills the natural lighting and mood in my humble opinion, so I just shot available light. To give some background to the speeches, Andy handed his speech to his wife Nicky and asked her to read it out instead of him. This was genius, as it was magical listening to him speaking but through her voice. In particular the kind words he had put in the speech about Nicky’s mum were very touching indeed – which resulted in a lovely set of pictures telling that part of the story. This is what unobtrusive, storytelling, documentary wedding photography is all about. Moving silently around a room, capturing beautiful moments of people’s wedding day so that they can look back on those moments for years to come.

A huge than you to both Nicky and Andy for allowing me to capture their day.

Paul