I first met Andy and Kate as result of an introduction from a mutual contact, wedding and event planner Ginny at Weddings at Lake Garda. A couple of years ago I photographed a wedding in the Castello at Lonato, over looking Lake Garda and worked alongside Ginny. It was a lovely wedding and Ginny subsequently recommended me as a photographer to Andy and Kate for their wedding at the stunning Sculpture Gallery at Woburn.

 This is one location in the UK where I have always wanted to photograph a wedding so I was delighted when Andy and Kate chose me to cover their day. I often hold pre-wedding photography shoots at the actual wedding venue – it gives couples a chance to get comfortable with me and also with the venue. Quite often it is at a different time of year to when their wedding will be and is a great opportunity for an intimate and probably rare moment of time together in what is usually a hectic schedule in the run up to the big day. 

Woburn is truly a beautiful wedding venue and on a very cold but bright day we met for their pre-wedding shoot. The stark winter beauty of the grounds of the park at Woburn provided a great backdrop for the shoot and the light was just right particularly as I work predominantly with available natural light rather than relying on the use of flash

Blessed with a natural ease in front of the camera Andy and Kate made my job very easy, walking and sharing a few happy moments together as we made our way around the grounds. I particularly like the relaxed feel of the images taken on the bridge and black and white still remains my favourite medium for images – ever the photojournalist!

So if you are planning your own engagement or pre-wedding shoot here are a few tips:

I would normally recommend doing the pre-wedding photography shoot 6 to 8 weeks prior to the big day, this then gives time to edit and process the images whilst also giving you time to review and feed back. It also allows for rescheduling if the weather is bad.

For me the essence of the shoot is for a couple to relax, enjoy and get some advice from me on the basics how to stand and generally how to be relaxed enough to interact with each other naturally – I find this part usually helps couples come the day, if they can remember any of it!!.

Trust your wedding photographer to know the best locations to shoot – a good wedding photographer will know when and where the best light, best backdrops etc are.

Don’t let the fact that they may have not photographed at your venue before deter you from booking a favourite photographer – a good photographer always researches the venue before your day if that is the case and will know how to get the best from it!

If you have your own itinerary that you want to do let your wedding photographer know in plenty of time so that they can advise you on whether it will work.

Make the most of your pre-wedding photography shoot from a style perspective – it’s a great excuse to dress up!

It is of course very important to feel comfortable but there are a few tips that I normally give anyway as follows:

1. Decide as a couple what type of image you want to portray – for example pared down glamour or urban chic as a prelude to your wedding or something more country casual.
2. Coordinating with/complementing each others ‘look’ will give the shoot a more elegant feel (even if your style is more outgoing and quirky normally and you want to ‘strike a pose’ in the style of Vivien Westwood so long as the pair of you do it, it can work!)
3. If you are wearing a shirt I advise avoiding checks unless contained under a plain sweater and I would advise making sure it is ironed properly
4. If you are wearing make up it doesn’t need to be heavy but I advise brides that a slightly enhanced version of your normal look is a good idea – not a good idea to try anything new for pre wedding or wedding day!