Shendish Manor Wedding Photographer | Kajel + Matt
Shendish Manor Wedding Photographer David Pullum showcases the wedding of Kajel and Matt
How I love a Hindu wedding, the colours, the ceremony, the photographic opportunities, all a complete dream for a wedding photographer. I also have a bit of a hand thing going on too. I love hands that come into the picture, as they provide direction for the photograph, as well as frame. sometimes they also create some great frames. In general hands are important in life, when we speak we generally use our hands and so in a photograph they also provide great tools to express body language. Believe me I look at enough photographs both documentary and wedding wise and I'm really shocked at the lack of use of hands. There is nothing worse than looking at a bridal portrait where the groom has his hands in his pockets, or even worse they are back to back or looking away from each other. These may well be photographic trends, but in years to come a classic wedding portraits should in my view show the couple 3 things
How happy we were
How young we were
How in love were were and still are
That can only be achieved if there is connection between the couple in real life and most importantly in the photograph.Kajel and Matt certainly had the first, both of them were so relaxed, happy and obviously in love, it made the couple portraits a dream to shoot and their wedding a pleasure to photograph.
Grooms arrival
Matt a more than keen cyclist and triathlete arrived on his road bike, which a week before he had been riding with his brother in law when there was an accident. Unluckily for his brother in law, but luckily for Matt , his brother in law broke his arm. Matt rode the bike to meet the dhol drummer and the grooms arrival ceremony began. The bride's' family welcomed the groom into their family with a blessing and the wedding ceremony officially started.
Wedding ceremony
Colours + tradition + a bit of skill = great wedding photographs. During a Hindu wedding ceremony there are so many photographic moments that present themselves, and if you know what you are looking for and where to stand then some really beautiful timeless images can be taken. When the bride walks into the ceremony the groom is shielded from her and only when the bride is sat down is the sheet lowered. I love this moment , the anticipation and the beauty of the Sony A9's eye autofucise really helps to nail these images. I love the look on Kajel's face, its priceless.
Couple Shoot
Unlike most of my weddings an Asian wedding allows for a much longer portrait session. Kajel and Matt had 2 ceremonies on their wedding day, the traditional Hindu ceremony and the legalisation of their marriage with a civil ceremony. This meant that I had about 45 minutes with them in their Hindu wedding outfits and 30 minutes with their Civil ceremony outfits. Normally I get about 15-25 minutes in total. The extra time allowed me to use the lovely light we had and play with it more than I normally would.
Evening Reception
The two best men did so well with their speeches, both funny, one musical speech and the other a tribute to Matt's various looks over the years. Matt's speech was very emotional, bring tears and laughter alike to the top table.These wedding images are just Kajel and Matt's preview images. Normally after a wedding I try to produce anywhere between 20-50 preview photographs for them to view before I present them with the full set. I think its important to give them a feeling of their day as soon as possible so that they have something good to look at instead of all the iphone and ipad photographs that swamp their inbox.
Kajel and Matt
Two of the loveliest people I have met and had the pleasure to photograph. Unusually for me I had not met either of them before the wedding and yet by the end of the day it felt like I had known them for a lot longer than just a day. Both of them are a real testament to their families and I loved having honour to be their wedding photographer.
