Wedding in Dover and Great Mongeham

I had the pleasure of being Sarah and Gary's wedding photographer on Saturday at the Buckland Church of St Andrew, Dover and Pixhill Cottage, Great Mongeham. Wedding photographers across the UK must have been cursing as the British summer delivered heavy rain and high winds. I was very impressed with Sarah and Gary's stoicism though - they said it was a pity that the weather wasn't better just once and then got on with their day. That's the spirit!

The Church was the darkest location I've ever photographed in - the shot above was taken with an 85mm f/1.2 L lens at 1/100s, f/2.0, ISO 3200. The light levels must have been particularly low due to the overcast day but even so, I wonder how photographers without the best kit would handle this venue. It was lit by fluorescent lamps so after adjusting the white balance I also adjusted the tint (magenta-green shift) in Lightroom. The vicar was quite stern and forbid me from moving during the ceremony (I did a bit) and it was impossible to get unencumbered shots of the couple face on, due to metal latticework, but I managed to get some great shots. This I think is the essence of wedding photography. All the odds might be stacked against you but you have to do your very best nonetheless. No throwing up your hands in despair!

We then moved directly to the reception which, fortunately, was held in a large, bright, beautifully-decorated marquee - a much better location. The trick with marquees is to add positive exposure compensation to account for the brightly lit white canvas in the background - the closer you get, and the more of it that fills the frame, the more you compensate. I used between +2/3 and +2 stops when not using fill-flash.

Check out more of my photography here: wedding photography in Kent