Elopement weddings

When I spoke to Sam and Alice about their wedding day, I was so excited as I knew this wasn’t your standard “all bells and whistles” wedding, they were eloping! They had told me the story of how they met each other at university over nine years ago at East Sussex university in Lewes. Alice had explained to me that they just wanted to marry each other on their own and surprise both of their families. Followed by this she asked me if I would be a witness and if I could bring an assistant to be the other witness. I mean… I felt honoured to say the least. I replied with a very short and sweet “OH MY GOD! YES!!”

They booked a very small and quirky air B&B in the High Street of Lewes Called The Old Forge. This amazing little place was a hidden gem with a lot of character and a rustic feel to it and matched the personalities of this beautiful couple perfectly.

I walked in to some folk music playing in the background, Sam sitting on the sofa and Alice getting her hair curled by the MUA/hair stylist gazing out the window. Straight away I was loving the vibe. I very quickly unzipped my case to get the cameras out. I started my day with the rings, shoes and dress. Alice had a 1960’s style dress and some really modern glittered shoes to mix it up a little. Sam complimented her with a linen 3 piece suit and brown brouges. Alice’s choice of flowers were dried to match the theme of the day.

Before we left the B&B I thought we should get some portraits shots to take their minds off things as I could see the nerves starting to kick in. I used soft natural light from the window and a wide lens to incorporate some of the details of this room.

We walked down the cobbled streets of Lewes on the way to the Registry Office getting some couple portraits on the way. I knew I had a lot of time to get some more shots after the ceremony but I am an opportunist and wanted to get as much as I could for these two. I loved the fact that both of them were up for any pose or composition I suggested.

When we arrived at the Registry Office, we was greeted by a lovely lady that took us through to the ceremony room. As there was only four of us in total, my assistant was in charge of the music through the ceremony which Sam had prepared on his phone. Usually during the ceremony I capture some reactions of maybe, a mother in law or someone close to the bride or groom but this one was all about the two of them. I could see during the ceremony that they were b0th besotted by one another and I didn’t anticipate taking as many photos as I did.

It’s a strange feeling signing that legal document because the responsibility and feeling I have when photographing a wedding was nothing compared to that signature.

After all the legal stuff was out the way, Sam said to me “Now its all down to you to show how happy and in love we are” I replied with '“that’s not going to be a problem”. Straight from the off there was no pause, I was constantly throwing ideas at them. It was a very bright and sunny day but managed with setting up some off camera flash to reduce the shadows. On average I usually get around 30 minutes for my couple portraits, I had 1 hour 30 mins to be as creative as I could. So we explored to see what we could find.

We explored in and around the Registry Office. We got some really cool images there but I knew that they both wanted to go to the university where they met each other for the first time 9 years ago. This was not a place that was going to be easy to photograph at. I thought there was going to be students everywhere. Luckily being bank holiday weekend a lot of them were away.

Walking through the grounds of the campus, Alice and Sam were reminiscing. Pointing at buildings and telling me some of their stories and what had happened there. We strolled passed a big blossom tree and I said to them I want to try and take a confetti shot. I picked some of the petals off the flowers and approached two students to ask if they could help me with this photo. They agreed to help. I don’t think it can get much more spontaneous than that.

I think this was one of my favourite weddings because it was so different. I delivered the gallery to them and they were amazed by what we had created. They said the love shined through in every photo. To be honest, I can’t ask for much more than for my clients to be happy with the service and product I offer.

Thanks for your time on reading this. I hope I did it justice for you too. Until the next time…

Eddy Fisher