Martin and Moira’s Wedding

This first image perfectly captures what Martin and Moira’s wedding day was all about last Thursday. Just two short days after the pre-shoot Julie and I were with the happy couple to photograph the event.

However, the first image while beautiful, is rather getting ahead of ourselves. This was the most personal and thoughtful of ceremonies. Julie  was instantly taken with this signpost to the day’s big event.

Meanwhile I said a quick hi to the bride and the girls as they prepared for the ceremony. Mum might have been the centre of attention today, but mums are never fully off duty! Here she is attending to Meave’s hair.

Julie captured what I am informed is the true centre of the day, the shoes of course. I understand that Moira became gripped by some kind of diamante sickness. She did the shoes herself which is laudable, but the shirt is one of Martin’s finest, which she pinched to feed her addiction; it is cute though!

Moira’s feathery hair decoration was lovely.

What I haven’t mentioned yet, is that the whole event was held in Moira’s house, with a marquee in the garden. This wedding was personal in every possible way with Martin and Moira’s two families coming together in a perfect celebration. I just loved the little touches and decorations in the garden.

Within the marquee, everything is ready.

No rest for mum however, Nairne now receiving some hair-care!

It may have been personal and “garden” scale, but the little details were beautiful. Julie captured this.

Sadly Moira and Martin’s fathers have passed away, but the decanter and cricket ball were touching reminders of them. Julie got this dreamy look by shooting through the windows of the marquee.

She then focused more directly on the table all ready for the registrar’s arrival. Again, in addition to the mementoes of their fathers, there are other little personal and playful touches like the candleholders matching the colours of the girls’ dresses; more of these to follow of course.

At one level it was very professional of Julie to capture the beautiful shoes again, on another, well she has a lot of shoes, I’m just saying…

Meave is all ready here and sporting her more comfortable hair decoration before switching to her flowery circlet for the ceremony.

Some more hair care for Nairne. I just love her eyes in this picture. There is an opening behind me in this image with a conservatory letting in lots of soft light and it has really picked out Nairne’s eyes perfectly.

This flame-haired young beauty is Genevieve, Martin’s youngest daughter. The green dress is a beautiful choice, isn’t it?

Meave’s dress is just as boldly coloured and helps make the colour themes for the day.

Finally, I see mum getting looked after a bit by her girls; all dressed and ready and the ceremony now imminent. Doesn’t Moira look beautiful!

By now Martin’s family have arrived. This is his daughter Victoria with a stunning dress on show.

And one of gran, with Meave again sporting the less-comfy-but-seriously-gorgeous-flower-circlet. The moment must be approaching…

Everyone all ready now in the garden, what a setting!

One of Ric here looking striking with the Marquee behind.

And one of my personal favourites of Meave with such a great expression and such lovely eyes.

Finally we have the Groom waiting with son Patrick. The lovely local registrar Elaine waiting also. Could that be just a hint of concern on Martin’s face.

But no worries, the arrival of Nairne and Gen announce the arrival of our bride from the house. How lovely is that purple dress on Nairne?

But what is this, to my surprise they have returned. Presumably with the welcome news that Martin is indeed waiting and ready. Again, what gorgeous colours and what a smile from Gen!

A first glimpse of Moira.

And now Moira and Meave make their entrance.

Martin and Moira’s expressions say it all here.

The family watching as the ceremony begins. Nairne’s cheeky glance is just lovely in this image.

Here she is just having finished a reading as part of the ceremony. The reading was as you might have expected personal and touching in the extreme.

The marriage proper begins now under Elaine’s guidance.

And if ever tears were beautiful to see… Julie tells me she struggled not to join in at this point.

They were of course shared tears.

With this ring…

and with this kiss…

The family celebrate in traditional fashion.

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Jagger!

And so to the traditional formal pictures. I’ll just let these speak for themselves. We had great fun with a lovely laughter filled family doing these. They even pulled a surprise on us by having Julie and I with the Bride and Groom in  a picture taken by the family. You can imagine the “but I have no makeup on” moment. Julie was taken by surprise too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was again a lovely gesture to the fathers who would have surely enjoyed this wonderful event.

Julie worked her magic on this one to turn important artefacts into a hopefully treasured image.

The party really began after the ceremony, and Moira and Martin made sure everyone had a drink to celebrate before joining us for some more garden pictures.

Of course that is when we took the lovely kiss image that I teased you with at the beginning of the post.

A few more of the newlyweds looking so happy together. Photography is easy when a couple are as relaxed and together as Martin and Moira are.

 

Martin particularly liked the bunting on the hedge, so my 70-200 f2.8 got a brief outing to catch the line of the bunting taking us to the happy couple.

A similar picture here with an aged photo treatment. I am particularly fond of this one.

You really just cant stop them. I might have suggested “a little kiss” but what they heard was pretty much what they wanted to hear…

The smiles say it all here.

Sometimes you just steal a shot because someone is looking good. Marriage to Moira is clearly suiting Martin from the start!

Here is a shot of Martin’s family, snatched before we took our leave.

And one last one of Moira’s daughters

As we packed and went, the family had retreated from the drizzle into the marquee for some family pictures; I couldn’t resist catching one last celebratory moment through the plastic window.

We would like to offer our huge congratulations to Martin and Moira, and to wish them all the best for a happy future. We really enjoyed meeting you, and appreciated your families being so welcoming to us on such an intimate and personal wedding day.

I would also like to thank my girlfriend and so-called-second shooter for the day Julie, who is blossoming into a talented photographer herself; I particularly appreciate her artistic eye for filling in the details and arrangements that make an album really special. Watch out for her own photoblog shortly.