The 2023 Wedding Season is another busy one. I want to start off the 2023 Wedding blog with this wedding I photographed on the 5th of April. I’m still turning up at places I haven’t photographed before, so this also shows you the types of things I do when I’m facing a new venue.
When people book churches they tend to not think of there being issues having a photographer there. Very few people realise that the rules of the Reverend/Vicar/Father can range from ‘Go anywhere and do anything’ to ‘If you move from this one spot at the back of the church, I will stop the ceremony and not start until you’ve gone’.
I knew that the Paignton Parish Church is more towards the latter end. I never want to offend or upset, so I reached out to Father Knox a few weeks before the ceremony and asked to meet up so I can understand what the rules were.
Father Knox was really nice and gave me his time to guide me through his rules. This made it easier not to offend him. Some of his rules were; no flash photography, all cameras must be completely silent, and I was not allowed to move from the only spot I was allowed to photograph from. He did take the time to make sure I knew where people were coming in etc and I was grateful for that.
Because of my position, I couldn’t get a clear shot of the bridal party coming down the Aisle, I couldn’t get a clear photo of the ring exchange, and I couldn’t get a good shot of the first kiss. Because I had met with Father Knox beforehand, I was able to tell the couple the limitations and they were happy with that.
If you’re getting married in a church and photography / videography is important, you must find out what are your church’s views on having photographers there.
Let’s look at some photos…
After the ceremony, confetti, and formals, we headed to the Humber Barn in Teignmouth for the Wedding reception. This is a lovely bright, airy room with lots of glass letting in a lot of natural light.
The tables were well spaced out and the bar had a lot of choices. The food came from Fired Up Pizza, a Paignton-based company that dished up dozens of amazing pizzas!
The only sad thing about the day was it rained for most of it. The joys and gamble of an April Wedding. We all still had a lot of fun and managed to get some really nice photos throughout the day.
If you like my style of wedding photography let’s chat!
