Submitted by Darren on
Derby Wedding Photography Warwickshire
There are many reasons to be cheerful on this glorious spring day – the sun is out, the crocuses are blooming, the birds are singing – and the end of covid restrictions is in sight!
I know many couples who have been anxiously awaiting the roadmap out of lockdown to see if the weddings they’ve planned might be able to go ahead, and in what form. When we heard last week that (fingers crossed) from the 12th of April, fifteen people will be allowed to attend a wedding, and from 17th May, a wedding can have up to thirty guests, many people (myself included) were jumping for joy!
But many people are still left in a sticky situation – they’ve already postponed their wedding once, maybe twice, maybe more, and now are wondering – should we get married in April or May, with a reduced guest list, or should we wait even longer until a time when everyone we love can celebrate with us? After the year we’ve had, the desire to bring all our friends and family together in celebration is stronger than ever for many of us.
So here’s a thought – why not have both?
I want to tell you today about a wedding I photographed 4 years ago BC (Before Covid), and I hope it inspires those couples trying to make some difficult decisions about their weddings.
Tom and Chantelle were getting married in Derby, only a short hop from Warwickshire. They’d had loads of ideas about how they wanted their wedding to look, what venues they might like to use, and what vibe they were trying to create – and in the end, amongst all that choice, they decided to do it all. They opted to have a small, intimate wedding ceremony on a Friday, with a huge party to follow on the Saturday. I admit I thought it was a little odd at the time – why stretch the wedding out? – but by the time I was driving home on that Friday evening I was totally convinced it was a genius idea!
The Friday wedding had about fifteen guests – siblings, parents, and some close friends. Tom and Chantelle wanted to enjoy spending some time with these special people, and having a small ceremony let them do that without the frantic rushing around that can sometimes be a part of a huge wedding celebration.
It was really lovely – in a group that size, everyone knew each other (or at least they did by the end of the day) and got to spend some real quality time with the happy couple. There were speeches, and a lovely meal at a local restaurant, but a lot of the formality was removed from the day, and the guests felt really relaxed; everyone swapped seats between courses, laughed, and enjoyed being together.
At about 7pm the bride and groom left to spend the night together in a gorgeous hotel, where they had time to talk and reflect on the day, and really enjoy the private, special feeling of being newlyweds.
Saturday, however, was all about the party. Tom and Chantelle were already married – so no stress about buttonholes or speeches or getting everyone bundled in the car on time. It was all about celebrating with friends without the formalities and with none of the nerves of the day before. And let me tell you – the party went OFF!
Tom and Chantelle really found the perfect balance with their two wedding days. It’s something I would encourage anyone to think about doing, and now especially, it could be a really good model for couples getting married this spring.
By splitting the wedding into two events – an intimate ceremony and a fantastic knees-up – you can have the best of both worlds, be covid safe, avoid yet another rebooking headache, and see (maybe even hug!) all of the people who are important to you.
And let’s face it, after the year we’ve had, the more reasons to celebrate, the better.
Derby Cheap Wedding Photography -
All couples have a set budget, but I was appreciative that couples still want o capture their memories by a quality photographer. Some couples would much rather have a good set of images covering a shorter period of time than a full days coverage with photos they perhaps woudl not of loved. In my opnion this option is Defiantly the best, I here plenty couples tell me they hate their wedding photos and wish they had spent more on a wedding photographer. Obviously not everyone can do this, so a great compromise is to redunce the hours but get the photographer you want to capture your day. My priority for the day was to maximise the four hours I had been given to ensure that I documented the essence of this happy occasion
