It took a while, but here it is… The beautiful wedding of Carla & Nick at our favourite venue, the ever-welcoming Knowle Country House, Higham, Kent!

We actually shot this wedding way back at the end of September 2014. Carla & Nick took a long while (a record breaking long while in fact!) to decide on a sound track for the Highlights Video. I’m told by Carla, that Nick was the one to finally decide on Ronan Keating – This I Promise You… Certainly a fitting song for a wedding. Job well done Nick!

Although I’m writing this post several months after the wedding, the day remains remarkably clear in my mind. It was a gloriously sunny day, blue skies and not a breathe of wind. Believe it or not, wind does actually effect the balance system we use to create our “floating / gliding” shots. The lesser the wind, the less weight we need to balance the camera and thus the easier it is on my arms ;) … I’d only just got back from a short holiday in Greece so it was lovely to be greeted back in the UK with weather on par with the Med!

As soon as we arrived, Carrie and I set to work collecting “setting the scene” shots. Clips you typically see at the start of any our videos. The venue itself, flowers, shoes, details etc.

Nick & his Groomsmen were already at the Knowle, so we managed to capture a few sneaky shots by emerging from behind one of the Knowles garden passages using the Glidecam. Sounds dodgy I know, but it looks quite effective in video ;) … “Revels” are a key aspect of our work and I’ve always got one eye out look for objects and scenes I can hijack to create something new and unique.

Carla had yet to arrive at the Knowle as she’d decided to be made up at a salon rather than having it done on site at the venue. Luckily for me her florist, Helen Louise Jury from Floral Dreamz had dropped of her flowers so I wasn’t short of material to film.

Whilst shooting details in the Bridal Suite, we soon bumped into James from Funky Pixel, one of our favourite Kent based photographers. Along with his Nikon DSLR’s, we noticed he was also working an iPhone… Hyperlapse for Instagram had just been released for iPhone and being the forward-thinking businessman that he is, James wanted to be one of the first, if not the first to experiment with it in weddings. I’ll add his result to the bottom of the post, so keep your eye out!

A cool, calm and collected Carla soon arrived and we set to work shooting the girls performing there final preparations, leaving of course whenever the girls needed privacy. We know weddings are stressful enough and the last thing we want to do is add to that. We try to be as discrete as possible and disappear at the drop of a hat.

We’re often told after the weddings by the Bride & Groom that they hardly noticed we were there. In fact, I think this comment by Kim Blowers sums up exactly what I’m trying to say! “So professional and amazing on the day, like a sweeping breeze that you don’t even realise is flying around you capturing moments”.

With the ceremony fast approaching, I sent Carrie off to capture guest arrivals whilst I stayed with a slightly emotional Carla as her Dad arrived. I always try to capture the walk from either the transport or in this case the bridal suite through to the ceremony. It can be a slightly risky business, as I have to ensure I’m in front of the bridal party to shoot their arrival on the second camera strategically placed by Carrie at the ceremony. To cover us for this possibility of this or anything else going wrong, we always have a third automatic camera setup for backup and alternate shots for the full length (or summary) video.

As with the Knowle, the majority of venues are accommodating and as usual, I was able to jump in front and position myself under the Gazebo ready to shoot Carla and her bridal party walking up the aisle.

The ceremony went flawlessly and new Mr & Mrs Morris were soon ready to depart the Gazebo. A shot that’s guaranteed to be spectacular at any Knowle wedding is the bride & groom walking down the aisle whilst being showered by confetti. This is when knowing the photographer really comes into its own. James & I were able to quickly organise the shot, walking backwards, side by side as Nick & Carla made their way down the aisle. The result? Lots of faces, lots of smiles & lots of confetti!!!

Whilst Carla & Nick were congratulated by their guests and served canopies, Carrie & I went over to the banqueting room to set up the three cameras ready for speeches. Carla had also requested GuestCam – so the next job was to hunt down a power source for the video station preferably close to the bar ;) …

Speeches, toasts, chats, laughter and smiles all flew by under the cool direction of Toastmaster Jim Cattermole, leading us smoothly onto the first dance. Luckily for Carrie, James assistant Rob was willing to play lighthouse so she managed to duck out of following me round the dancefloor holding a light above her head! The Knowles, garden room always makes for good night shooting. It has great lighting and isn’t overly big, so guests were nicely spaced around the dancefloor as Cara & Nick shared their first dance.

I think that just about brings us to a close… A huge congratulations to Carla & Nick on their marriage and well to Carla for pulling of one hugely successful wedding. All the best, Ryan & Carrie.