England Goalkeeper Joe Hart marries Kimberly Crew

Last year I was called by a wedding planner who was arranging a wedding in Florence and wanted to know my availability.

After some discussion I was booked and asked to sign an NDA. When I found out who the groom was I knew that I had to keep this a secret for the next year, and especially from my football mad son Max, which I'm glad to say I did, only telling Max on the day of the wedding that I was photographing the England Goalkeeper Joe Hart.

As I boarded the plane for Florence I was excited and extremely nervous, some greats of the modern game were attending, and I had the responsibility of shooting one of the highest profile weddings in my 12 year career.

I arrived in Florence on Thursday and met with Kimberly and Joe. Both were very generous with their time and we discussed their requirements for the day. However my overriding feeling was that they wanted me to do what I do, enjoy their day and be part of it.

Of course we also had to deal with the paparazzi, particularly one guy who appeared to camp outside the hotel for all 3 days trying to get his 1 shot, although his job was made extremely difficult by the excellent security team that was to hand.

On the day of the wedding Joe sneaked out the back of his hotel with my second photographer Kabz to take some pictures on one of Florence's amazing bridges and then subsequently got chased by the paparazzi all the way back.Kimberly's getting ready was a bit more relaxed and one we were inside the wedding venue Castello di Vincigliata a normal wedding could continue.

I feel very privileged to have been the photographer at this wedding, the couple and their families made us feel so welcome, and for someone who is so famous within the world of football Joe was so down to earth and friendly, everything and more that I had been told he was.With surprise guests attending the reception, an open air dance floor, fireworks and some very suspect dancing the evening entertainment went on long into the night and when we finally left at 3.00am, the footballers were still on the dance floor.

Many thanks to Kabz, who assisted me, luckily he knows nothing about football, so they were all just guests to him. We had long days and nights and he was a real help.

Lastly thanks to Kimberly and Joe and their families for making us feel so at ease, and to Joe for making Max grin from ear to ear by signing his Exeter City top.

Only 1 image will be shown from this wedding, and I think it really sums up the happiness of the day.

David has recently been voted one of the best wedding photographers in the UK for 2020