I’ve been brave. I went across the bridge…you know the one, where they make you pay to go into Wales….shock horror. I left the comfort of Gloucestershire last weekend and headed to the hills in the picturesque area of Usk, near Newport, South Wales. You can probably guess from the name ‘Heulwen’ she’s a Welsh girl and has a beautiful accent to go with it. In fact, she’s a beautiful lady, and as pointed out in the speeches, Ross is punching well above his weight!
Ross & Heulwen both live in London and only very recently contacted me about being their wedding photographer. In fact I reckon it was about 3 weeks before the big day Heulwen finally firmed things up…..followed a few weeks later with some paperwork. It was at this point I guessed they weren’t going to be the kind of wedding couple who have scrap books of ideas or itineraries to cover every minute of the day. A quick chat on the phone put Heulwen at ease in making the right decision about her wedding photographer….(yep, that’s me that is) as apparently I’m laid back & friendly and so would fit in well on the wedding day.
As soon as I arrived for wedding preps it was clear a relaxed day was going to unfold. Heulwen and her friends were still eating lunch……”we’ll do some make-up and get our dresses on shortly I suppose”. Make-up formed a large part of the getting ready, in fact slipping into her Jenny Packham wedding dress barely took two minutes. Leaving it a little late I then dashed off to the outdoor wedding ceremony…..at Heulwen’s parents home, which tbh, was pretty well hidden so me & my taxi guests (it was one of those wedding where you all just chip in and help) got a little frantic, but thankfully arrived at around 3:05, safe in the knowledge that Heulwen would be unlikely to get here for the 3:00pm wedding ceremony! In fact, half the guests were also still arriving…..hey, who’d have guessed!
Anyhow, to cut a long story short, this was a fab day out in South Wales, the weather was perfect (as you’d hope when having an outdoor wedding with no other alternatives!). You’ll see from the photos that kids were also a large part of this wedding day, with Ross & Heulwen having an 8 month (is that right) daughter themselves.
“ohh go on then, pour me some champagne”
As mentioned there was a lot of time spent putting make-up on….I guess that’s what happens when you have double the amount of eyes of a normal bride! ;-)
Okay, busted, I’ve used this composition before (see pic 2 further up!). Colour this time and not a baby in sight – that’s different therefore right?
“yeah, open that one too, we’ll drink it as well”
A or B? Sometimes I just can’t decide?
I have no idea what this was all about, but felt it necessary to A) take the photo, the B) blog it. What is she doing…some kinda Ninja iphone trick?
Ross. The man of many gestures.
I think he’s pulled at the wedding.
Ross & Heulwen had this outdoor wedding in their parents garden. They had already ‘oficially’ married earlier in the week, so this was more a humanist outdoor wedding ceremony – without the legalities of needing to stand under a fixed structure for it to count. (What a stupid rule that is anyhow!)
Hang on…….is she flirting with a different kiddie now? Don’t worry about a wedding ceremony going on either, you just play around in the aisle!
I’m thinking this was a pretty close up shot he got from that spot?
And you thought you were invited as a guest.
What a great expression. This works so well as she’s the only lady in this line up of 3 men, plus has the fantastic polka bot dress on to make her stand out.
Yep, I’d wanna run through that arch too if I was a kid.
Ahh the classic toe touching…there’s something mildly therapeutic about rubbing a babies feet.
Love it! If only she’d had her hand on his bum this would be an 11/10 photo.
Which is the real Heulwen? Let me tell you – the one on the right.
Ladies :-)
Having suddenly been informed dinner was in fact starting at 5:30pm not 6:00pm as I’d thought, it was a very speedy couple portrait session.
Check out the kid here smiling too. Love that little addition to the photo.
After seeing this photo later on my computer, I realised it would have been a good idea to move the table name out the way before speeches started – doh! (Or perhaps moved a pace to my right before taking the photo) Ahh well, live and learn. For the record, Ross does in fact have a mouth and was of course smiling profusely during the father of the brides speech.
Ohh look at that, the table name tried to strike again, just this time I had the last laugh.
Sweet.
If you have enjoyed these photos and are looking for a wedding photographer in South Wales, drop me a line, I’d love to chat and see about photographing your wedding too.