You have found Axiom Pictures and contacted me to see if I am available. I will actually ring you. I would love to meet up in person, I'll buy you a coffee! I believe that the sound of our voices is crucial in a relationship. So speaking to you, and very early on is really important. I have the date you want available!

The next step is to arrange a face to face meeting. I suggest somewhere mutually agreeable, such as a cafe that does nice coffee and cakes. We have a lot to talk about. This first meeting might take several hours.

The things we need to discuss, in no particular order are:-

The date, is it a summer wedding or will it be cold?

The time of day, is it all day?

The venue, some venues have great light and are more purposeful than others. Is the venue close by, or do we have to travel?

Are you staying at the venue, dressing there in the morning, or do you have to travel to the wedding venue, from home or a hotel?

And so on and so forth. This is a very long list, which I have written out, so that we don't miss anything

Do you want a dress rehearsal shoot?

Just a few points here. A phone call to make sure everything is going smoothly. To check that none of the arrangements have changed. Or do we need to add anything to the schedule. Also to reassure you, that my end is all OK.

We might also meet for a brief photoshoot as a dress rehearsal. A couple of hours spent photographing the Bride, or indeed the Groom, at this stage can save many hours during the actual ceremony.

We might need to start quite early here. This part of the day makes some of the most important memories.  There are a great many things and a good number of people to photograph during this phase of the day. I like to get shots of the makeup and hair preparation. The dressing and all that goes with it. This includes the bridesmaids and sometimes the groomsmen. 

This meeting is much closer to the actual day of the wedding. Much more information should be available now, such as, how many guests there are. We need to add to the list of specific images we want, such as family shots, bridesmaids etc. The other people that need special attention, such as grandparents

I will have visited the venue and worked a shooting programme, the when and where for each set during the day.

We can plan the dressing, of the bride and groom.

This part can take many hours to shoot, particularly where this is set across different venues. There are often a lot of people to fit in here, such as the bridesmaids and the groomsmen. They all need lovely photos!

Photos to be taken during the journey. Again we have a check list to make sure we have got it all covered.

Every little detail needs to be planned. Some of these specific shoots, take quite a time, so we have to ensure that the timings are correct.

An important point, is people often say that they don't want the formal set shots of the wedding party and family etc. If we take those shots, you have them at any point in the future. If we don't take them, no matter how much you might like them later, they don't exist!

We might need to start quite early here. This part of the day makes some of the most important memories.  There are a great many things and a good number of people to photograph during this phase of the day. I like to get shots of the makeup and hair preparation. The dressing and all that goes with it. This includes the bridesmaids and sometimes the groomsmen. 

Getting to the venue. For some wedding parties, this is a really important part of the day. I have photographed people in tractors, horse and cart, many different sorts of car. People even walk!

Whatever the mode of transport, its an important part of the day. I once had to drive around a city ringroad for 45 minutes getting shots of the wedding party in a van. The couple absolutely love these images, to this day! This horse and cart journey is one of the most romantic journeys, I think I have ever seen. My brother in law driving his rig with my niece looking  amazing. It was perfect!

I like to get photos of every single person attending the wedding. I even like some shots of all the background people. So to achieve this, I like to get to the venue early enough to get some of these photos, and to make sure I am in good time to get the shots of the wedding party arriving at the venue. Then into the place where the actual ceremony will take place. Lots of photos of "walking up the isle" Sometimes in churches, the light during the ceremony is very poor indeed and its very challenging to get phots of this part. Also some vicars and the like can be very negative about this. However some are very proactive. It was at this point at a wedding some time ago, a vicar said "I do the deed, you make the memory". Which is the whole point of me being there in the first place. I only recently discovered why we cannot photograph the signing of the register. Its because of Data protection. There are often several other entries on the same page!

After the ceremony, there are the myriad of images to make, of all the families, the bridal party, and then everybody. These shots make great memories. Almost the last part is the cake cutting, and then finally, and very importantly the first dance. A super emotional part of the day, lots of photos of this!

Then the music starts and its time for me to leave! 

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