I’ve photographed a few weddings before, but this one was different. The others have all been for friends. This one was for a friend of a friend, someone I’d never met before. In the end I don’t think that made any difference, but I was much more conscious that I mustn’t get in the way.

Overall it was probably the best of those that I’ve done, though not without a few “misses.” I was badly placed when the bride first arrived and only got a few unusable extreme close-ups of her and the bridesmaids. The registry office was very bright so it was difficult to get a good “angle” without also getting in the way. And when I wasn’t in the way the backgrounds were fussy or included people I didn’t necessarily want to include.

Once outside the registry office itself, where I could choose where the light came from and where there was more space, everything went to plan. I picked “machine-gun mode” when the bride and groom first went outside, capturing their expressions as they were bombarded with confetti. All the “formal” family and friends shots went quickly and effectively. I managed to get at least once picture of each where no-one was blinking or looking the wrong way.

It was a beautiful day, windy but not cold, which I think helped a lot. Last time I was keen to finish quickly, before everyone froze to death.

I’m getting better at the post-processing, too. I had some of my favourite images up on Flickr after less than an hour. Applications like Aperture really make event photography so much easier.

It was fun going in and shooting just the wedding. I’m not sure I’d want to do this for a living (or even for money necessarily) but I thought it worked out well. I hope the bride and groom like them too.