Submitted by Darren on
Award Winning Wedding Photography Warwickshire
Another year over and oh my word. What. A. Year,
I don’t want to dwell too much on the struggles that we’ve faced this year, as I think we could all do with a break from that. Fortunately, one of the fantastic things about my job is that it’s all about happy moments that I get to witness and capture. And even in this year, there were lots of really special moments of joy and love that I want to share with you, as they were definitely some of the highlights of my 2020.
At the beginning of the year I had a jam-packed schedule planned, with 52 weddings in my calendar, including gorgeous venues all around the UK and overseas, including Mexico, the Caribbean, Greece and Cyprus. In the end, I managed to shoot 5 full-day weddings and 2 micro weddings in between my very busy schedule of staying at home and occasionally going for a walk.
The first wedding of my year was on the 3rd January and I was super excited to start my busy year so early on. On the day itself the bride and groom were lucky to have beautiful weather, one of those perfect gorgeous winter days where everything seems fresh and clear. It feels about a decade ago. Over the next month or two, I shot weddings at Clearwell Castle and Warwick House – both incredible venues and gorgeous days. We couldn’t appreciate at the time just how lucky these couples were to be able to get all their friends and family together with them to celebrate.
The first half-day wedding I shot was in London, just as the pandemic started to affect our lives. A few guests couldn’t attend because they were isolating but the true impact hadn’t hit yet and there was much celebrating and laughter. The champagne served at the reception was Corona brand, which made us all giggle. The following day the PM stopped weddings and I realized how different my year was going to look…
The next few weddings I was a part of all worked around the ever-changing restrictions. Each of them felt really special as they’d happened against the odds, and after lots of ups and downs and last-minute changes.
In August at Swallow’s Nest Barn the staff had done an amazing job of keeping everybody safe and worked really hard within the restrictions to make everything feel as normal as possible – so the vibe at the wedding was absolutely electric! You could really tell that everyone had been cooped up inside for a long while and was gagging to get out and celebrate and socialize together. The guests were buzzing to have a drink with loved ones and be celebrating such a happy occasion in the midst of all the strangeness and isolation the year had brought so far.
In September I was due to be helicoptered in to a wedding with the groom (it’s a hard job but someone’s got to do it) – but instead of sharing the ultimate James Bond moment, things were scaled back to a more covid-friendly level and I had a great time shooting a gorgeous local glamping wedding for a very happy couple who were delighted to be tying the knot amidst the madness.
I learned that another great thing about a small 30-guest wedding is that everybody is involved. At Ian and Rebecca’s wedding at Warwick House, every guest really felt like an important part of the day, and the bride and groom got to appreciate every single person who was there sharing the happiness with them.
…and then guest lists were restricted to 15. Helen and Tom got married at St Mary’s Church in Warwick in October. There had been many changes to their plans by this point, but that had really distilled for the bride and groom what was important – not the party or the boozing, just the love! Helen and Tom’s wedding was a beautiful intimate ceremony and a great way for me to round off my – very different – year of wedding photography.
But with a smaller wedding season came new opportunities.
I had the chance to do loads of family shoots, which I am really passionate about. Normally my busy wedding schedule means I don’t get to devote as much time to these more low-key shoots, but I absolutely love to do them and to have a chance to capture some moments in a young family’s life that I know they’ll treasure forever. I got to do this in the spring and summer for the first time, and we had some gorgeous weather that made the outdoor shoots really fun.
I was also really proud to be able to bring documentary style photography to the corporate world with the branding and commercial work I’ve done this year – no more stale and staged pictures, just vibrant images that tell a story about local, passionate people running businesses in this most challenging of climates. It’s been a great new challenge for me to bring my style from weddings to workplaces but I’m so pleased I had the chance.
So there we have it; 2020. I want to end this blog with a big THANK YOU – like many of us this year, I might have lost work but I picked up family, school, and commercial bookings, and lots of those were from you guys spreading the good word about my pictures. So a really heartfelt thank you to anyone who tagged me on social media, fired off a quick message, or put me in touch with someone needing some gorgeous images.
So cheers to 2020 and let’s hope there’s plenty of joyful moments in store in 2021.
Award Winning Wedding Photography West Midlands - Find my favourite photos from 2020 below.
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