St Mary's Lighthouse Wedding - Louise and Ryan (aka the one with all the Converse)

I've had number of my brides over the past few months commenting about my love of shoes!  I've got to admit, I do like shoes and when it comes to weddings I love seeing things a little different or eye catching.  When I arrived at Louise's mum's house on her wedding morning I was in for a treat.

One of my closest friends in the wedding industry, Donna from The Timeless Table, coined a phrase about me which has stuck and is what I have become affectionately known as in the industry:  The Converse behind the Camera.  I've become known for my love of Converse trainers and for wearing them while working.  I've even had people come up to me at wedding fayres and say "You're the Converse behind the Camera".  

So when I asked Louise to get her shoes so I could get shots of them she said "You're going to love these".  Pure white Converse!  AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Over at Ryan's parent's house, the were nerves....a lot of nerves.  Throughout the planning process Ryan has had this very quiet air of calmness about him.  However that morning, the quietness was replaced by pure silence broken only by the odd nervous chuckle and questions about the day.

At the church in Forest Hall, the vicar was merrily going about his business.  This was a man who loved his job and he had a keen interest in photography.  A very chatty man, he was keen to ensure I had a good vantage point so I could "get the brides reactions".

Ryan was too nervous to turn around a look at Louise walking down the aisle.  However he stared into the lens to try and see Louise's reflection

The moment the call went out for some washing up liquid!

The ceremony was filled with laughter including Louise getting a fit of the giggles part way through.  Those regular readers of my blog will know about my love of music and listening out for the quirky song choices at weddings.  When signing the register the sound system opened up and a live concert audience could be heard.  I'm actually sad enough to have recognised the piece of music purely from the audience noise before any chords had been struck up..... Dire Straits "Local Hero".....a song that always sends shivers down my spine and always reminded me of Newcastle when I was away living in the South East.  But the best was yet to come.

With the ceremony over, there was silence as Louise and Ryan hovered by the alter waiting for the sound system to kick in again.  And then it started... *dum dum dum. du dumdumdum dudum* Any takers??  Yup....Queen's Another One Bites the Dust!  Big thumbs up from the photographer.....who incidentally is a massive Queen fan and plays drums in a Queen tribute band!

With the weather closing in a spots of rain starting to fall we headed to St Mary's Island for bridal photos where tourists and passers by offered their congratulations.  There were a few eyebrows raised as Louise hitched her dress up to show off her Converse and then started running around on the sand chasing Ryan.   

Louise and Ryan's reception was held at The Lindisfarne Club in Wallsend which was decorated with balloons and lit with the most elaborate set of disco lighting I've come across in 9 years of covering weddings.  The UV lighting offered up an interesting outlook to the wedding!!!!

It has to be said though, the music at the reception was outstanding!  A full on cheesfest!  I sat on the stage watching the evening's festivities singing along to David Essex, The Real Thing and other top party tunes!  I honestly did not want to leave!!  

And one last thing to close off Louise and Ryan's wedding post:

You didn't think I was going to miss out on the fun....The Converse Behind the Camera, in front of the camera

Newcastle Wedding - Lyndsey and Nick's Funky Urban Wedding

I've alway said I don't want to be typecast as delivering only one style of wedding photography.  I like mixing it up between classical and contemporary, vintage (sorry!) and funky.  But it is the latter which I seem to be getting a very good reputation for.  Fun and Funky as some people have called it.  Over the past few months I've raised some eyebrows with a slightly different slant on the norm and in some cases chucked the rule book so far out the window it can't be seen.

But at the end of the day what is important is that a) I'm having fun doing what I'm doing and b) I deliver what the customer wants and they love what I do for them.

So when Lyndsey and Nick said they wanted something a little bit different, something a bit funky I got my thinking hat on.  Their pre wedding photoshoot was done in the rusty old victorian swimming pool at Tynemouth.  They wanted something vivid, when they said they wanted something similar for their wedding I happened to mention a wall of graffiti I knew.  They were hooked.  I mentioned my plans to a couple of folks and to say eyebrows were raised.....

Anyway, both Lyndsey and Nick said they wanted to have fun and thats certainly what they had on their big day!  We were worried about the potential for rain...the weather forecast was not good, however the day before that changed to no rain, just the potential for strong winds!  To be honest, when the day arrived it wasn't too bad.  Near perfect for a photographer.

Lyndsey and the bridesmaids were getting ready at Lyndsey's mums house, where everyone were commenting that Lyndsey was just far too relaxed for someone about to get married.  She did seem as cool as a cucumber! 

At the church, a nervous Nick, and an even more nervous best man were sorting out orders of service.  As Lyndsey arrived the tension seemed to increase massively.  As she walked down the aisle the emotion of the day hit Nick as he looked up the aisle at his bride walking towards him.  Her dress looked stunning as she walked down the aisle, the sun picking out the floral detail of her dress.

The ceremony itself was quite a lighthearted event.  Plenty of laughs, a few tears and a bit of a mix up with counting fingers when exchanging rings.  I have also never seen words to hymns being beamed up onto the front of a church before either.  I couldn't understand why nobody had hymn books and were all staring up when singing the first Hymn, Amazing Grace, until I turned to see the words, beamed huge on the wall above the alter.  Who says religion doesn't move with the times?!

After the service and the gathering of families in the church garden, Lyndsey, Nick and myself headed off to Gateshead for a bit of fun with the camera.  When we reached the graffiti they gasped.  Nick kept saying "I love it!", like a kid opening his best present ever on Christmas morning!  The graffiti was a complete polar opposite to Lyndsey's dress but it worked.  I picked one particular mural which had plenty of colour.  Lyndsey fell in love with a piece of graffiti of an old grammerphone, so we did a few shots there.  The main problem was the wind.  It was whipping down the Tyne.  I could have stayed in Gateshead a lot longer but I didn't want to run the risk of ruining dresses and hair styles in the wind.

The reception was held at the new Holiday Inn in Jesmond, formally the Imperial Swallow.  Following a glass of champagne and the meal, everyone sat back to listen to the speeches.  One story involving a game of Articulate sticks out.........but I'll save the blushes of the individual involved.  I'm never going to look at Winston Churchill in the same way!

Nick and Lyndsey - have a fantastic time in Las Vegas!  It was a pleasure capturing your day, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity of using one of my favourite locations on Tyneside as a backdrop to your photos.  

Wedding Service - St Anthony of Padua's, Newcastle upon Tyne
Reception - Holiday Inn Newcastle Jesmond
Dress - Ronald Joyce from Brides Dream, Newcastle upon Tyne
Flowers - The Garden Shop, Whitley Bay