Wedding Day – Emma and Bianca – Travelling Light
Wedding Day – Emma and Bianca – Travelling Light
Brighton Town Hall and Hotel du Vin
April 2014
Emma and Bianca’s wedding took place on a bright, sunny spring day in Brighton. It was a midweek wedding, and I always enjoy doing these. I don't feel that a weekday wedding should be treated any differently to a weekend ceremony, and this includes photography. The wedding group was relatively small and I was only needed for a few hours. This again is something I'm very happy to do. All weddings, great and small, are emotional occasions which deserve to be properly photographed.
I was needed at three locations: Bianca's home for her final preparations, Brighton Town Hall for the wedding ceremony and at the Hotel du Vin in Ship Street for the drinks reception. Now, moving across a bustling city like Brighton is never easy. For me part of wedding photography is risk management and planning properly, so that I am where I'm supposed to be when I have to be there. As it was a relatively short booking for me I decided to use public transport, train and bus, to arrive. That meant packing my bag very carefully to make sure I had everything I needed for three hours, without weighing myself down with clutter.
After taking some documentary images and posed portraits at their home I actually made the journey to the Town Hall in a taxi with Bianca and her best man, David. It occurred to me that this was the first time I had ever arrived with the bride. At least I didn't have to worry about racing her to the venue, and I was able to take some reportage images of the journey itself.
The ceremony took place in the small registry office at Brighton Town Hall, which opens out into a room containing some regency style chairs and mirrors. Fantastic for posing in!
As the wedding group was small we were able to be far more spontaneous and flexible than usual. We strolled through the Lanes, taking a very distinctive group portrait on the way,
before deciding on a whim to visit the beach
before going on to the the Hotel du Vin.
It's a place that I think is truly evocative of Brighton: a sense of history with a contemporary twist.
It suited this Brighton wedding down to the ground. And I had a very enjoyable stroll back to the train station, feeling very happy with the day.