Cathy and Matt at St Andrew’s Church, Woking.

” Brilliant, if we could give Claire 10 stars out of 5 we would! Claire was impeccably organized in the run up to the day. We really didn’t want the photos to take us away from our guests for too long or for anything to be done just ‘for a photo’… Claire understood this completely, mostly blending in the background taking candid photos. The finished photos look stunning, exactly the style we wanted and everyone we have shown them to has loved them. Booking Claire was one of the best decisions we made in the run up to our wedding, highly recommended!”

Love always wins!

I usually start a blog with how I met a couple or at the beginning of the day, but this blog is a little bit different as I’m going to start at the speeches. This is so from the off you are able to understand the trials that Cathy and Matt overcame to actually make it to their wedding day. All culminating in an emergency trip to a walk-in centre of the morning of the wedding as Matt’s hand had swollen up from a wasp sting. But not just any hand…his left hand. Yep. You could not make it up.

Matt and Cathy were one of my couples that got caught in the Covid trap. Were they allowed to get married on their date or would restrictions change?! A question we were asking up until the wedding day itself pretty much. We had numerous conversations ahead of the wedding which for me was fantastic as they kept me up to date with what was going on. From that point of view, I knew they had numerous versions of their wedding day and it really was down to the wire of which version they would use! It wasn’t until I then listened to their speeches that I understood that even before lock down they had had other obstacles to overcome together. But we were there and the fact that we were celebrating the new Mr and Mrs really was such a celebration.

An emotional church service amongst close family and friends.

So, let’s rewind to my arrival at the church and the warmest reception from friends and family. Not only that but the staff at St Andrews Church in Woking were just fantastic and couldn’t do enough to help or inform me of what the service would look like. They had had to introduce one-way systems etc so logistics in the day played a big part. Kate was possibly the one to the nicest Reverends I’ve had the pleasure of working with at a wedding and was so friendly to me. The service that the she then led was so personal and thoughtful that parts even had me wiping a few tears away behind the lens!

A special mention also has to go out to best man Nick and usher Simmo who from the off were just awesome. At one-point Nick was on his knees sorting out Matt’s shoes because of his swollen hand. Best man points right there!

An emotional church service amongst close family and friends.

Let’s now cut to Cathy’s arrival and her practically jumped out of the car with excitement. She was beaming and looked absolutely amazing. The happiness was almost shooting out of her which made me in turn have the biggest smile on my face along with all of the other guests. She made her entrance with her father by her side walking down the aisle and her face when she saw Matt was one that I won’t forget in a hurry. Emotions were high and we had to have a quick break to pass the tissues round once everyone had been welcomed, even Rev Kate was overcome as she knows Cathy and Matt personally. As hymns couldn’t be sang at the wedding the choir had recorded all of their parts and their videos were projected onto the walls, potentially one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in a church service. Yes, Covid meant that we had a few restrictions but the thought that had gone into accommodating them was second to none and even added to the service.

After they were pronounced husband and wife and they sealed it with a hell of a kiss they full on boogied their way down the aisle to their guests who through the biggest of smiles and numerous elbow bumps gave all of their congratulations.

Beautiful couples shots next to the lake

One thing that Cathy and Matt had said was that they didn’t want to spend loads of time away from their guests with photos, so for a quick 15 minutes we headed to a beautiful lake that was next to the church and captured them in their just married bubble. It is the most magical time and the weather held off just to allow us to get some stunning shots of Cathy and Matt. Thank goodness for the umbrella is all I can say because when it rained-it rained! The new Mr and Mrs then headed off to grab a drink with their guests at a BYO picnic.