Nadine & Lucien's Wedding

A great opportunity presented itself to me last year in the form of my first official paid wedding gig, and the fact that the couple was good friends of my brother's was a bonus. As a photographer who's just really getting the hang of things in the technical aspect of photography, I will admit that I was completely terrified for many months before the wedding. It quickly changed into excitement after I met up with them for their pre-wedding / engagement shoot - turns out Nadine & Lucien are such a lovely, easy-going couple and a complete dream to work with and after their session I was even more passionate about my hobby.

In the months leading up to their wedding day I spent many hours in preparation: I bought myself a better flash and loads of rechargeable batteries, a second battery for my camera and even experimented with a DIY bounce card. I watched quite a couple of CreativeLive photography workshops in the evenings and read up on flash photography since I knew I would have to use it a lot during the reception. I even prepared myself for possible rain... While I'm happy I did all this in advance, and I'm 100% sure it all helped me in the end, nothing could have prepared me for the weather that was their wedding day.

When I arrived to Galagos Estate the weather was fine. It had rained a bit during the night, but while it was cloudy, it seemed perfect to me. While they did predict some rain during the day, no-one thought it would be much of a problem. The bride and groom had the option of an outdoor ceremony and the luxury of choosing whether to go with the outdoor location or not later that morning. 

They opted for the indoor location after all, just to be safe and thank goodness they did. All through bridal prep and some bridal portrait shots the weather held beautifully, but oh my did all that change very quickly in the middle of the ceremony. It grew incredibly dark outside, i do not exaggerate, with a howling wind and rain pouring down by the bucket-load. 

We had to go with plan B for the confetti/bubbles after the ceremony, as well as the family photos since the storm hasn't let up in the least. The part I was completely unprepared for was the couple portraits we needed to shoot between the ceremony and the reception. You see, in my mind I prepared for a little bit of rain and some daylight still seeping through the clouds at least. I actually located several locations in the estate's gorgeous gardens where an umbrella picture would be stunningly beautiful, but this storm didn't allow us to venture out into the gardens at all. 

Instead the hostess suggested we make use of the chapel and a certain red wall not too far away as an indoor location. I was so grateful for the variety of indoor locations the venue offered. We had to rush a bit to get to the reception because the guests where standing out in the cold, although sheltered from the rain, but in the end I am pleased with the results and so happy to have gotten a few rain shots when it started to lift. In my life I could never imagine a couple being so easy going in this weather - weather that would have most brides in tears. Nadine and Lucien went with it, not letting a little bit of cold and rain spoil their beautiful day and might I say, even had a bit of fun with it! :)

This wedding taught me so much about wedding photography in general and being prepared for the worst case scenario and I am so grateful to Nadine and Lucien for allowing me to capture their beautiful day to the best of my abilities. The faith they had in me all this time astounds me and I couldn't have asked for better first clients. May the two of you be blessed in your life together!

All pictures were taken by myself - please do not reproduce, copy or use the images in any way without my written permission. Copyright © 2013 Anneli Strecker.