Anything but weddings. Or is it?

When I'm asked what kind of photography I do, my stock answer is usually 'anything but weddings' (hence the title of this blog). I say this not out of any flippant snobbery, quite the opposite in fact. Good wedding photography is extremely difficult, requiring huge amounts of patience, planning, diplomacy, nerves of steel and above all a very high level of technical ability. Anyone who thinks a mate who's 'got a good eye' will be as good as employing an experienced and professional wedding photographer will get exactly what they pay for. There are no second chances. It's emotionally charged and it's personal.
And it terrifies me.

Part of the reason for this fear was a wedding I covered early on in my career, for a colleague who'd double booked himself. To compound my newbie nerves I suffered camera glitches, a bitch of a Mother-in-Law who kept barking at me and, to cap it all, the Grandmother had a heart attack in the middle of the speeches!
I swore never again, unless I was absolutely on my uppers.

Maybe my memory is fading with time, but over the last two years I've allowed myself to be bullied, cajoled and even tricked (yes, really!) into shooting the occasional wedding. The latest of which was in Spain last week for a good friend Tara and her beau Jonny (I should clarify that she neither bullied nor tricked me into it, but there was some gentle cajoling - and the location probably helped swing it). I can honestly say I've never sweated so much on a job, and I'm still not sure which factored most, the heat or my nerves. Going through the pictures the next day, I nearly cried with a mixture of exhaustion, relief and maybe a bit of romance at being able to view the day properly, rather than fretting about exposures.
But it was mostly relief.

With a beautiful couple so obviously in love, gorgeous weather and idylic surroundings - the pictures almost took themselves. I hope I've managed to capture more than just a record of who was there and what happened when. I hope I've caught some of the emotion involved, the love, joy and fun of the day.
And hearing the Bride say how happy she was with the results is priceless.

Relieved and as happy with the pictures as I am (and I'm my own harshest critic), my respect for professional wedding photographers has increased tenfold - I still don't think I've completely conquered my fear of weddings and certainly wouldn't want the pressure of doing this every week.
So don't ask me.
Yet.