Allister Freeman Photography Blog

Hampton Court Palace Wedding Photography

2012-05-24T07:06:46Z

Venue: Hampton Court Palace

I got to know Shabana and Mo during their pre wedding shoot on the river path running alongside Hampton Court Palace. We produced some of the nicest pre wedding photographs of the year so far and chatted about the fast approaching wedding at Hampton Court Palace. We were fortunate enough to have a guided tour around the various rooms, corridors, stairwells and gardens by Laura - the incredibly organised organiser! Laura made sure the wedding day ran incredibly smoothly and I can't thank her enough for the help and guidance in amongst the organised chaos that comes so naturally with an Asian wedding. Fun but hectic!

When the day arrived the weather was touch and go but fortunately we had a spell of great light for our walk around the palace. The wedding ceremony ran perfectly and the afternoon and evening reception had more of a drinks party atmosphere - with Shabana giving a heartfelt speech to Mo and the guests, this was in addition to some close friends travelling from Australia to give an inspired Salsa dance performance.

The whole day had a great vibe, not least because Mo and Shabana are such calm, amicable people.

I was accompanied by one of my long term students during this Hampton Court Palace wedding and here are just a few of my very favourites from the day.

Pre Wedding Shoot in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire

2012-05-21T12:07:52Z

I really like the simplicity of these images produced during a 45 minute shoot around the stunning Savernake Forest just outside the Wiltshire town of Marlborough and minutes from our home. This time of the year I couldn't think of a nicer rural environment for such a shoot - which is essentially just a walk with very candid photographic coverage.

More often than not we meet couples at or near their wedding venue, I happen to do a lot of these shoots in and around London and Bath and will have more on the blog over the next week or so.

I'm documenting Ross and Louise's wedding at the Royal Society of Arts in London this coming August.

Below are just a few of my favourites from the shoot.

Notley Abbey Wedding Photography

2012-05-18T11:05:44Z

Ceremony: St Nicholas Church

Reception: Notley Abbey

I documented Thomas and Alex's stunning wedding in Buckinghamshire last month alongside Alexis who has recently enrolled on my Long Term Mentoring Programme.

The couple's elegant traditional church service took place at St Nicholas Church in Barrack Hill and their wedding reception was held at Notley Abbey, just minutes from the church and part of the Bijou chain of wedding venues.

The whole affair ran perfectly, we were even treated with some pretty spectacular weather. Notely Abbey was the perfect venue for Alex and Thomas too - it's incredibly classy yet remains relaxed enough for guests to still completely unwind and enjoy the day.

I also got to work with the talented Jenna of Lucky Sixpence Events, if you're in the early stages of planning your day I can highly recommend her.

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Documentary Wedding Photography Buckinghamshire

2012-05-15T20:49:24Z

James and Melissa's documentary wedding photography started at their home in Berkshire and I stayed for just a short while before heading into London for their religious wedding ceremony.

After the ceremony, which had quite a few interesting elements to cover, we headed over to Buckinghamshire for the wedding reception at Bradenham Manor - a grand red brick building once belonging to the Earl of Warick, it's also quite a nice venue for documentary wedding photography as the ground floor consists of several large rooms and communal areas and offers a little bit variety in terms of light and space.

It was a particularly enjoyable wedding to document and really came alive when the music started, the Dutch contingent made sure of that!

Here are just a few of my very favourites from the day.

Hampshire Documentary Wedding Photography

2012-05-10T12:36:11Z

Ceremony: St Stephens Sparsholt

Reception: Lainston House

We've been very busy over the last couple of weeks documenting a variety of weddings and events across the country - dealing with an assortment of faiths, cultures and varying degrees of exhaustion!

This variety really keeps us on our toes, for instance last Sunday we documented an insane 14 hour Chinese wedding at Greenwich College in London and yet I spent just a few hours documenting Michelle and Nick's charming little English wedding in the Hampshire countryside. But it's up there with my very favourites.

Their traditional church marriage was conducted at St Stephens in Sparsholt by a particularly quirky vicar, this was swiftly followed by a very relaxed and fun wedding wedding reception at Lainston House, just a few minutes drive from the church.

We were incredibly fortunate with the weather, in fact I remember it being almost too sunny at certain moments of the coverage, a far cry from what we've all been dealing with over the last couple of weeks!

Here are just a few of my very favourite documentary wedding photopgraphs from this small wedding in Hampshire.

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Hampton Manor Wedding Photography

2012-05-03T13:26:11Z

Holly and Donatien's wedding has been one of the more lively events I've been commissioned for recently, particularly during the evening with some spectacularly fast-paced moves being unveiled on the dance floor, mostly from Don!

A lot of this liveliness came down to the French contingent - a large number of Don's family came over to celebrate the couple's day in style and needless to say, there were plenty of larger than life characters for me to photograph.

For my particular style of documentary or reportage wedding photography, Hampton Manor is an ideal venue, I've lost count of how many favourites I have in this set and a lot of this success is down to the venue's layout lending itself to the more 'layered' image. The staff also do an exceptional job of keeping the day running perfectly but without altering the party atmosphere - so a big recommendation for Hampton Manor if you're in the early stages of planning your wedding in the Midlands.

Here are my very favourites from this fun little wedding at Hampton Manor in the West Midlands.

Cripps Barn, Gloucestershire Wedding Photography

2012-04-27T12:12:25Z

Reception: Cripps Barn, Bibury

Despite the extremely heavy showers scattered throughout this gorgeous wedding in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, Chris and Sarah's warm and charming little wedding was a great success.

Cripps Barn is such a laid back yet perfectly run venue, it's pretty good for wet weather weddings too, I can now testify. It also lends itself to relatively low light, reportage style wedding phototography, so inevitably lots of candid portraiture was created throughout the wedding day.

The one sticking point for all involved was the unfortunate situation that Chris found himself in - for several stressful days leading up to the wedding the couple battled to get the parents of the groom flown in from India and yet unfortunately, and totally unexpectedly, it wasn't to be. Therefore the next best thing was arranged - the entire day via live iPad and iPhone video feeds and calls. It was sad and at times a little distressing for Sarah and Chris but I think they made the best of a bad situation and their positivity was clearly infectious as the entire day had a great vibe.

Here are just a few of my favourites from this small wedding in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds.

Wellington Barn Wedding Photography

2012-04-19T11:01:37Z

Ceremony: St Mary The Virgin

Reception: Wellington Barn

The type of venues I work at ranges quite dramatically and Wellington Barn, on the outskirts of the small Wiltshire town of Calne, is probably one of the smallest and isolated of the lot. Situated in the middle of a stunning valley it is quite simply a barn tailored to accomodate weddings. This simplicity is what I like most about the place, next week I'll be shooting at Hampton Court Palace - a venue that couldn't be more different however, that's not to say that the wedding will be any more rewarding to document and the images more interesting than this one. I'm often chatting to couples getting married in smaller venues and one of their main concerns is this very thing.

So, in order to give couples a very clear idea of the sort of product they'll end up with after we've documented their small wedding (between 30 and 60 guests), I've included a few more images than usual. I hope to show readers just how much can be achieved whilst documenting a small wedding. I see so many photographers posting only their very best images on their blog, which is fine but isn't this what a portfolio is for? If posts were more true to life and documented the entirety of the wedding and the consistency of the 'product', as well as how the different lighting conditions and environments are dealt with, they would be so much more relevent. Why not give couples a very clear indication of what they will receive?

Here is my selection, I had a photographer from my long term mentoring programme working with me during the event and I couldn't be happier with their performance, especially seeing as it was their first wedding alongside me.

We started our documentary wedding photography coverage around thirty minutes prior to the ceremony at St Mary The Virgin - just a tractor ride from Wellington Barn. I'd never met Tim and Saiko before as they'd booked me from abroad, so it was really good to finally meet this sincere couple.

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Reportage Wedding Photography in Bristol

2012-04-14T08:46:52Z

Ceremony: Cathedral Church St Peters St Paul

Reception: Thornbury Castle

I documented Anne Marie and Andrew's intimate little wedding in and around the city of Bristol on a particularly rainy afternoon! However, despite the temperamental weather it was a very satisfying day for documentary wedding photography, I also got to work in perhaps one of the most spacious churches in the area, Cathedral Church St Peters St Paul is quite simply enormous, fortunately Father Chris was completely happy with me moving carefully throughout the proceedings in order to create a bit of variation, he's also the first Father to request my business cards! After their catholic service, we headed over to Thornbury Castle for a charming candelit wedding reception.

With the help of Ian Jeffrey, a talented Welsh photographer and friend of a groom I photographed early last year at The Matara Centre, I documented Anne Marie and Andrew's wedding day.

After researching photographers across the country, Allister was the informed choice. My Husband and I are not good with the posing aspect of photography and needed to heavily rely on Allister to capture the priceless moments of our wedding day. Allister has an amazing ability to blend in and we were largely unaware of his presence. Allister is at his best when left to capture the natural reportage photographs and it's these that we shall treasure most. We wish him continued success and are forever indebted to him for documenting our wedding with such emotion.

Anne Marie and Andrew Bostock

Here are just a few of my favourites from this little wedding.

Documentary Wedding Photography in Somerset

2012-03-30T13:27:48Z

Venue: Taunton School, Somerset

Stuart and Claire, together with their closest family and friends, have been charming to work with. Documenting this incredibly authentic and family-orientated wedding in Somerset is up there with my very favourites of the year.

These modest, more subtle weddings are so nice to look back on on, they're always highly personal and touching with an emphasis on the people rather than the detail! Something that doesn't happen at enough weddings in my opinion. I fully appreciate the need to have nice detail however what will be more important to couples in 30 to 40 years time, perfectly pretty pictures of flowers and place settings or a poignant series of portraits, often featuring late relatives and close friends? I know which I'd prefer.

Claire and Stuart's wedding ceremony and reception took place at Taunton School in Somerset, this traditional boarding school is steeped in history and has been hosting weddings for the last ten years.

Here are my favourite reportage wedding photographs from this simple, elegant and honest little wedding.