Focus On… the Moments That Really Make a Wedding

Focus on… fam­i­lies. by Sam Clay­ton Pho­tog­ra­phy. Being mar­ried is about fam­ily — your par­ents and friends, your chil­dren and all the love that sur­rounds you as a couple.

Focus on… lov­ing looks. by Phil Drinkwa­ter Pho­tog­ra­phy. Know­ing you’re made for each other, cap­tur­ing the pure love and turn­ing it into mem­o­ries you will never, ever for­get. A lov­ing look cap­tured for eternity.

Focus on… time­less brides. by Mar­tin Hill Pho­tog­ra­phy. Beauty is all about con­fi­dence and style, a glow­ing hap­pi­ness and the radi­ance of being in love. It’s not fash­ion, trends or details which make the per­fect wed­ding day.

Focus on… time­less cou­ples. by Neale James Pho­tog­ra­phy. I adore this image: the bride’s ele­gance and style; the groom’s look of ado­ra­tion. This is what your wed­ding day will be about. This is what you’ll remem­ber for years to come.

Focus on… sun­shine and smiles. by Simon Bif­fen Pho­tog­ra­phy. Beau­ti­ful images make per­fect mem­o­ries. This is one of the best. I can’t resist a radi­ant, sunny wed­ding pho­to­graph — so evoca­tive and romantic.

Focus on… wed­ding speeches. by Aaron Col­lett Pho­tog­ra­phy. Cou­ples tell me time and again that their favourite mem­ory is their wed­ding speeches. This is one of the very best I’ve ever seen.

Focus on… aisle moments: before the cer­e­mony. by Mar­tin Ham­ble­ton Pho­tog­ra­phy. The moments before the wed­ding itself are gone in an instant — but they’re so charged with emo­tion for you both.

Focus on… hap­pi­ness. by Phil Drinkwa­ter Pho­tog­ra­phy. A gasp of laugh­ter, a beam­ing smile, a bliss­ful grin — these are the images which will remind you of the atmos­phere and of how you felt on your wed­ding day.

Focus on… wed­ding guests. by Shut­ter­leaf Pho­tog­ra­phy. You spend hours and hours cre­at­ing the per­fect day for your wed­ding guests — and in the end it all comes down to love. One of my favourite images.

Focus on… friend­ship. by Simon Hud­speth Pho­tog­ra­phy. Shar­ing your love with the spe­cial peo­ple in your lives is some­thing you’ll always remember.

Focus on… for­ever mem­o­ries. by Mis­ter Phill. The lit­tle sto­ries which unfold on your wed­ding day will cre­ate their own mem­o­ries — for every­one you love.

Focus on… fam­i­lies. by Vick­er­staff Pho­tog­ra­phy. Love and mem­o­ries com­bine to shape your lives and those of the peo­ple around you. A sen­si­tive and obser­vant wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher is essen­tial if you want to cap­ture moments you will trea­sure for the rest of your lives.

Focus on… Eng­lish wed­ding venues by Vick­er­staff Pho­tog­ra­phy. We’re lucky to have some of the most charm­ing, mag­nif­i­cent, quirky and his­toric wed­ding venues in the world.

Focus on… emo­tional grooms. by Light­works Pho­tog­ra­phy. I love see­ing men with a tear in their eye, or a ner­vous expres­sion which turns into absolute bliss as soon as the ‘mar­riage bit’ is done. Walk­ing back down the aisle as Mr and Mrs is a pre­cious memory.

Focus on aisle moments… by Ed Clay­ton Pho­tog­ra­phy. As much plan­ning as you can put into the seat­ing plan, acces­sories and tim­ings, some things will hap­pen spon­ta­neously. These moments are the ones you’ll remem­ber — and here’s a last image to show you what wed­dings are really all about!

Mag­a­zines and wed­ding blogs focus on wed­ding details and ideas, we all know that. It’s great, don’t get me wrong! I love fab­u­lous sta­tionery design, quirky hand­crafted lace acces­sories and a bit of vin­tage sparkle. But don’t let your­self get swept away by details — they explain why wed­ding blogs and mag­a­zines are so pop­u­lar, but they’re not the most impor­tant thing.

Focus on… what’s really impor­tant about wed­dings — com­ing soon.

The over­all focus of the wed­ding media is now on details. It seems to me that the bal­ance is wrong — mag­a­zines and blogs should take respon­si­bil­ity for a lit­tle more per­spec­tive, and focus on marriage.

Pho­tog­ra­phers, brides and grooms often com­ment on blogs’ obses­sion with details. I’ve heard so many times that blogs should fea­ture more ‘nor­mal’ wed­dings. I guess that means the ideas we show should be acces­si­ble, and less of a fea­ture than the story of the wed­ding itself. Real wed­dings are about mag­i­cal moments, about mar­riage and love.

For me the best thing about being a wed­ding blog­ger is the wed­ding reports I receive from my cou­ples. You talk about your wed­ding day high­lights and mem­o­rable moments — and the best bits are always focused around love, fam­ily and friends: speeches, eyes meet­ing at the altar, and those pre­cious moments spent alone dur­ing the day.

Over the com­ing weeks I want to rein­force the fact that wed­dings are all about love, moments and mem­o­ries. Details can be impor­tant, yes. But let’s shift the bal­ance a lit­tle — blogs focus too much on details. It’s time to focus on:

• lov­ing looks
• aisle moments
• sun­shine and smiles
• hap­pi­ness
• wed­ding speeches
• emo­tional grooms
• time­less brides
• for­ever memories
• Eng­lish wed­ding venues
• first dances
• friend­ship
• fam­i­lies

I’ve been col­lect­ing images which really cap­ture the beauty of every­thing in this list. There are some amaz­ing blog posts com­ing up with incred­i­ble wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy to give Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog some per­spec­tive over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy read­ing them as much as I’ve enjoyed writ­ing them for you.

Claire xxx

With thanks for the excep­tional images shown today to these lovely people:

• Ed Clay­ton Photography
• Sam Clay­ton Photography
• Phil Drinkwa­ter Photography
• Mar­tin Hill Photography
• Neale James Photography
• Simon Bif­fen Photography
• Aaron Col­lett Photography
• Mar­tin Ham­ble­ton Wed­ding Photographer
• Shut­ter­leaf Photography
• Simon Hud­speth Photography
• Mis­ter Phill
• Vick­er­staff Photography
• Light­works Photography

there are more to come!