Wedding / The Nursery – Kent / Gemma & Rich

Gemma & Richard

Wedding Photography at THE NURSERY, BREDHURST, KENT

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know that Gemma is the Make-Up Artist I’m always praising! We met a few years ago on a photoshoot for a client and sparked a friendship and working relationship which has brought us much success in our makeover style portrait sessions (more of this next year when I open my studio! Eek!). I was so excited when Gemma announced that she was getting married and asked me to be her photographer! It’s such an honour to be asked to capture such a big day in people’s lives and when it’s a friend, there’s the added bonus of already being comfortable around them and knowing that you’ll see some familiar faces on the day, so I was onboard from the get-go!

However, I was worried too. I was due to shoot a wedding two days before in Italy. A huge risk, but Gemma was my friend and she and I both really wanted me to be there, so we decided to take the chance. Gulp. Lots and lots of planning. This is what happened:

At 8pm the day before Gemma’s wedding, my assistant and I were sitting in Verona airport in Italy discussing the wedding we’d shot the day before at Lake Garda, whilst waiting to board our flight back to London. The flight had already been rescheduled from earlier in the day so we were a little bit anxious but otherwise well-prepared. I had recharged all my batteries in Italy and had bought extra memory cards to ensure we were all set up and ready for the next day. I even had a bag of spare clothes in the car in London just in case my cases went astray and I had to go straight from the airport – but that wouldn’t happen, right?

Flight delayed. OMG. I contacted my previously arranged back-up photographer (Jason Dodd – he’s great) and told him to be on standby. Panic setting in.

Now, you probably know that I hate flying even at the best of times, but by now I was super stressed. It didn’t help when the Captain himself announced at midnight that the delay was due to having several of their aircraft taken out of service that evening due to technical faults. I shook so much, I think the woman next to me thought I was pretty cold… or weird.

Thankfully, we finally managed to get home and even get some sleep before heading to Gemma and Richard’s wonderful wedding a few hours later. What a relief! I was so happy to be able to capture their big day, complete with 700 bridesmaids and a randomly passing horse. Thank you Universe, I owe you one!