Authorship Code

Wednesday 21 August 2013

The Prickly Bottom Wedding


Jacqui and I shot Martin and Leah's wedding back in May 2012. In July 2013, Martin was Best Man at another wedding we were shooting. Inevitably we talked about our recollections of Martin and Leah's wedding...they differed somewhat.

I remembered that Jacqui had a bad back and could not ride in the golf buggy that was to take us to the portrait shoot location so I had to shoot it on my own (ably assisted by my number one lighting man, my number one son).

What Martin remembered was that in order to get the shot pictured above, I dropped down onto my haunches rather quickly and got what felt like a million of the prickliest prickly prickles in my bottom as I became impaled on a prickle bush. Martin and Leah were in stitches and my son was almost crying with laughter at the pain I was in. Eventually though, once the pain subsided, I re-took the shot ....carefully! 


Of course Martin and Leah's wedding was about a lot more than Jacqui's bad back and my prickly bottom. It was about the fabulous ceremony in St Paul's, Sarisbury Green near Fareham Hampshire.


It was both a touching and light-hearted ceremony which perfectly fitted the bride and groom's characters and it was a prelude to a very playful day.


Some smart Alec had painted HE-LP on Martin's shoes for all the guests to read as he knelt down to pray.


The vicar read their characters beautifully and led a lovely ceremony punctuated with light hearted moments.


After the ceremony we went outside for some portraits and group shots...


Then on to the reception at East Horton Golf Club, Hampshire. Their table naming theme was famous golf courses.


They even had an extra wedding cake with Martin and his friends playing golf.


Apparently it depicted Martin and his friends looking for "Martin's lost balls in the bushes"...allegedly a common occurrence.


The weather was a bit stormy so we shot a few dramatic portraits.


The mood was a bit "Wuthering Heights" and they both got so into the mood I half expected Leah to pitifully cry, "Heathcliff".


Then it was off to the little wooden hut (the one with the painfully prickly bush) for a different style of portrait and their expressions were wonderfully romantic...and completely un-directed from me but fitted beautifully with the stormy and dramatic portraits we shot earlier.


And our other abiding memory of the day? The Best Man, in his speech, was saying how much fun he and Martin used to have round Martin's Mum's house when they were in the same school football team together.


He explained how Martin's Mum was the perfect host for any teenage boy:

She had a welcoming smile, plenty of food...and a great rack! 

...one of the funniest lines I can remember and it brought the house down....and if memory serves me correctly, Martin's Mum buried her face in her napkin with embarrassment...for seemingly the next five minutes.

A fabulously playful wedding...even if we do remember it slightly differently.

LESSONS LEARNED: low camera angles can be painful...and Martin's Mum's got a great rack!


Steve

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