Why I Photograph Weddings

The million dollar question, why weddings? Why not cars, live music or travel hot spots. I often find myself asking this question and of course the easy answer is because I love photographing weddings but what does that actually mean. Well it means from the moment I arrive to photograph a happy and sometimes nervous bride I am emotionally involved in capturing your beautiful day and all the little moments that unfold. These are images that will literally last a lifetime, they will be cherished by your children if and when they arrive, reflected upon by your parents and enjoyed possibly laughed at by your friends.

So for me I feel honoured to photograph any wedding and whilst I do have a very relaxed approach to my work I place a huge importance on capturing the moments that matter throughout the day. As a wedding photographer you invite me in to your inner circle of family and friends and for the short amount of time I spend with you all I do my best to get to know you and capture the natural and honest photography that I am known for. The more relaxed you feel around me and indeed the cameras pointing at you the less I will capture people cowering away and being shy but in fact being more aware that I am just like them, another guest, although I don’t get to enjoy the food and drinks.

However there is one more very, very important reason why I find so so much love and compassion for being a wedding photographer, a sad and poignant reason. Life is too short. Sometimes the fairytales can end too soon and loved ones have to live on in the images that I have created. This happened to me earlier on during lockdown and honestly really affected me, as I said I like to really get to know my couples and their families and to see my images being used to keep a memory alive that’s powerful stuff.

So that’s why I decided to photograph weddings because I love my job and life is too short.

Here are a few of my favourite of my favourite images that I have captured predominantly last year because let’s face it, 2020 hasn’t exactly gone to plan!

London Wedding Photography - Mia and Khan- Devonshire Terrace

Honestly I don’t know where to begin when I think about these two beautiful people, Mia and Khan are absolutely meant to be together and the love that they have for each other was so clear to see it was a pleasure to have captured it.

The day started in the sublime Andaz hotel where Mia, her bridesmaids and her parents spent the morning casually getting ready before the boys arrived to have a swift half, put the finishing touches to their outfits and then we all made our way to St Peters Church in Clerkenwell to witness one of the most emotional ceremonies I have photographed all year. I always say to my couples you don’t know how you are going to feel until you are right there in that instant and this was clearly the case with Khan, the moment he knew Mia was at the church and in a matter of minutes they would be husband and wife he was overcome and just went with the feelings he so clearly felt. One very happy married couple made their way to Devonshire terrace where they celebrated in style with a fabulous menu of yummy food and as the speeches began it wasn’t just Khan this time who was unable to control his emotions, some of the most beautiful speeches were shared amongst their friends and family and the tears started to flow. All that was left for these guys to do was share a first dance in front of everyone and sip on the limoncello that had been left on the table… might have been more than a sip!

My absolute faves from this day are just below.

“Oli, the photos are unbelievable and captured the day better than I could have hoped for. You’re an absolute star mate. We’re sitting in a michelin star restaurant in Bath not eating because we are looking at the photos like is this actually real
”

— Mia and Khan