A very local wedding this time; Moorland in Bridgwater. With childhood memories of growing up in Moorland, and with covid restrictions forcing a small wedding, Moorland Church and the nearby Moorland village hall was the perfect place for Ian and Becky to have their wedding.
After a beautiful day photographing their wedding, I interviewed them about their special day. Scroll down for photos, questions and answers.
How did you both meet?
Becky: We met online, which we’ve been told by some of the older generation, is acceptable nowadays.
Ross: I do hear that more and more these days actually. So you are one of the success stories.
Ian: We are yes, they are good for increasing the number of people you meet.
B: We would never have chanced upon each other because we were from different towns.
I: We were about 30 miles away from each other when we first started talking to one another.
B: Neither of us had a car and it was a 2 1/2 hour train journey.
R: Oh wow, that’s dedication.
I: Yeah the problem is it didn’t have a direct line, so it was zig zagged.
B: Be on a train for 10 minutes, sit at a railway station for 40 minutes, be on another train for 10 minutes, sit at another railway station.
I: A total of three trains; we spent more time on platforms.
R: When you were waiting on those platforms you are wasting precious date time!
I: Yeah, the train journeys were a pain in the arse.
What was in your mind when you were looking for a photographer?
I: I mean someone obviously who could take good photos, but also a personable person because we are not particularly keen on photos. Someone who would help us relax. We were looking for a documentary style, someone who was well versed in that style, and also we asked around different people down in Somerset to see if anybody knew anyone, so we were also looking for personal recommendations.
B: Yes because your mum knew a lady…
I: …Sharon…
B: …who did Photography and she just reached out and said who is local and who do you recommend. When you get a recommendation from another photographer you know that’s fairly solid, it’s not just some bloke going “yeah my mate’s got a camera.” Someone who knows what they’re doing.
I: Yeah, it was a good first step. Obviously we looked at other peoples websites as well.
B: We looked through a few portfolios of wedding shots.
I: I think we combined everything together, and we got a recommendation from Sharon. We had a look at your website which had some great photos on it.
I: We talked to another set of photographers and they didn’t come across as well. There was nothing necessarily wrong with them.
B: They were really lovely.
I: Yeah, we just preferred you.
B: Yeah I think they were much more excited about weddings in general. They were very, very excited and we are quite possibly a bit more reserved about it.
R: So you thought it might be a bit of a mismatch of tone did you?
B: Possibly, and you know we compared the photos and thought about it quite hard, and obviously ended up choosing yourself. They were lovely people…..
I: ….yeah we didn’t talk to them and sort of go “oh my God we can’t have them.”
If you could pinpoint one thing, what was it that convinced you to book me?
B: Probably gut instinct after the phone call really.
I: Yeah I was going to say the phone call was probably the moment that sealed it. When you talk to someone and you feel like you can talk to them, and you don’t feel uncomfortable talking to them about stuff then really, that’s what we were looking for.
B: People did comment on the day about how lovely you were to have around. I know my mum and dad, they had on their wedding day quite a negative experience with their photographer. They said what a good job they thought you’d done and were complimentary about the photos.
R: How far back are we talking here with your mum and dad?
B: I think 1988.
R: Wow and they remembered that, that’s interesting.
B: They said that they wanted more of a documentary style, a bit like we did, but the photographer wasn’t having any of it. They said they wanted photos of the guests, they wanted to remember who was there.
I: A photographer who will actually listen to what you want is quite important.
R: It just goes to show what a lasting impression the photographer had on your parents. To be fair to the photographer your parents had, things would have been a lot different back then because they would have been using film and back then you didn’t know what the results would look like until later. If someone blinked in a photo, well tough! So there was a lot more pressure to get it right first time. That was probably why there was less flexibility.
B: When they were talking about their experience of it they very much said, they felt that what we got was very much what they would have wanted.
R: I think even if they had had a different wedding photographer, it would’ve been a lot harder in those days to get anything close. Things change, things progress, but I guess you are fortunate to be living in the time that you are.
B: I showed the photos to my grandad, obviously his experience going back some years: “oh, there are an awful lot of photos!”
Describe how I took photos on the day
I: Without being rude, it was in the background a lot of the time, very unobtrusive. That’s really what it was, unless obviously you wanted to be noticed, to sort something out or get an angle or whatever. Really, we didn’t register you there.
B: For the more formal photos, you were very clear with the direction and what you wanted which was good. You interacted very well with the guests. You were able to get them to adjust their position, but when you were just taking photos around, people weren’t sort of “Oh my goodness there’s a camera!” Which was pretty much exactly what we asked for.
I: Yeah, it was exactly what we wanted.
R: It’s not at all rude to say you didn’t really notice me or I was very unobtrusive because that is often the thing that a lot a of people want, that’s just kind of how I work, so I’m glad that that was your experience.
Who wear the flowers by?
B: The lady who grew the flowers, who did the formal arrangements, the bouquets and the buttonholes, corsages, was a company called The Somerset Cut Flower Garden. A lady called Karen.
She was amazing. When we started planning, Ian’s mum wanted to be involved with flowers as well, so we got some buckets of cut flowers and then Ian’s mum did the arrangements on the tables and in the church.
I: Yep, all the Kilner jars.
B: She did a fantastic job, they looked amazing. And the florist did the bouquets and things; I think they were a bit more high-pressure.
I: Everything from them was nice all the flowers were nice; they were what we wanted.
B: They were beautiful. She was very efficient and very good at what she did.
How did Covid affect your plans if at all?
I: We planned around Covid from the start. It’s difficult to say Covid affected our plans, it was more guided them really. It did make things a little bit difficult because we didn’t know if we were gonna have 15 or 30 people. We had to make a list, basically in order of priority of who we wanted to be there at the different tiers. We did that very early on.
The plan was always we were going to get married, unless it was literally illegal to get married! Simply because that was the important thing and we split it because we were having the proper reception with everybody in May. But the idea for the August one was that it was going to go ahead regardless.
I think all the Covid did was allow us to have a small ceremony where probably we would prefer a small ceremony anyway.
B: it was a bit of a headache with the logistics as we went through a phase I think around January or February time where we didn’t know if we were going to be able to give everyone a sit down meal. If having 15 people sit down in the same room from different households was going to be legal. So it meant a lot of the planning got done with a plan B, C and D that had to be ready to go.
I: Yeah, it meant that we couldn’t get things in quickly, we had to sort of keep everything juggled until a couple of months before then, then suddenly decided that it was looking like it was going to be alright, so we just went for it.
R: Yeah because the government were a bit wishy-washy weren’t they and they weren’t really very sure what they were doing.
B: The rules kept changing, and even silly things like whether or not the vicar counted as one of the head count at the wedding, whether or not under fives counted, changed. And if you weren’t reading the small print, if you just read the okay we’re “allowed 30 people,” well if five are the florist, the photographer, the vicar and the best man’s two kids, that’s 25 people as opposed to 30. It was a headache.
What’s the story with your very unique rings?
I: They don’t have much of a story really, they are sand cast rings from a reasonably posh jeweller in Cornwall.
We got engaged just at the start of the pandemic, but obviously it has been planned for a while. Engagement rings are something that are reasonably easy to get right but also easy to get wrong, in that, someone like Becky, if I gave her an engagement ring to get married, she would like it almost regardless unless it was completely horrific.
B: Becky laughs
R: Maybe if it was out of a Kinda egg.
B: Becky laughs
I: Possibly. But you know, just because you haven’t got it wrong it doesn’t mean you have got it right. So I sat her down and basically we went through different types of things that Becky liked.
The actual wedding bands, they come from the same place, they are cast in the same way as the engagement ring with the same metals. They match; that was obviously done deliberately.
B: I really like them because they are very, very simple. Because they are sand cast they are completely unique, so no-one will ever have quite the exact same ring, but also they are not flashy or in your face.
R: Yes, it is the story behind them that is important to you rather than how much they are worth or how bling they are.
B: Part of the reason why you had a bit of a nightmare with the engagement ring was that I don’t really wear jewellery pretty much ever.
I: Yeah it was difficult to work out what you like.
Why the locations for your wedding, what’s the story?
I: The church is my local church growing up, I grew up there from birth to 18 when I left the university. So literally at my parents house, they hadn’t moved since I was born, so it was always my local church. I think when we were looking (because Becky has obviously seen it), when we were looking at a small location due to covid, it came up as a potential location because it fits with what you like. Obviously I was very happy to get married in my childhood church because it has a meaning to me. I think that was it really, it fitted with what Becky wanted and I was happy with it as a location as it was important to me. The interior of the church has changed quite a lot because it has been flooded a couple of times.
What individual things to each of you bring to the wedding day planning?
I: I’ll answer on behalf of Becky; she did most of it. My role was essentially to, when asked if there was anything I particularly wanted, to say “no.”
B: Becky reacts
I: Every time I would get asked “is there anything you particularly want?” I would say “no” and would answer somewhat flippantly, “all I want to do is just to get married to you.” And that would happen basically every time until I realised, or until Becky told me, that basically I wasn’t being very helpful. I was just going “I don’t mind so we can have what you want.” Whereas Becky was wanting some actual input, and I think after I realised that I did try and help out with stuff. We went through things together. Predominantly you drove it, I was there as decision maker at times about certain things, but mostly you did it.
B: Part of the difficulty was that neither of us had grown up with a very clear vision of the wedding day. I know some girls that were quite stereotypical and would have a scrapbook before they had even met the guy. Like, these are the flowers we are going to have, this is where it’s going to be…. We were both quite relaxed about it really. We actually concerned our parents about how relaxed we were about it at some points. We are not the most demanding, well hopefully from your experience as well, not necessarily the most demanding in terms of specific things. We knew that we wanted to get married and everything else was…..
I: ….in the way, an obstacle to be overcome.
B: Well everything else was just extra. As long as we got to exchange the vowels at the altar and it was all legal, In some ways we would have been quite happy with that. Everything else was just nice to have.
R: I’ve been to lots of weddings obviously, seen all different styles. I’ve enjoyed just about every wedding I’ve been to, they’ve all been different and I’ve enjoyed them for different reasons. The impression I got at your wedding, the one thing that came across to me about your wedding (It’s not unique, because I’ve seen this at other weddings too), is that it seemed to be all about the people. I didn’t get at all at any time a feeling that you were trying to impress anyone. Like “oh look we have got this at our wedding, oh we have got that, we are doing this amazing thing.” It just seemed to me, you know, two people in love who just wanted to have a really lovely day together and wanted to share it with their friends and family.
B: The people were there because we loved them and hopefully because they wanted to be part of our day.
R: Yeah, they are not just going for a nice party, they are going because they actually want to see you get married and celebrate with you.
Who was the cake by?
B: The cake was by a company that is not local to Somerset. A company called Bay Tree Cakes. They are up near us because it was very, very difficult to find a nut free bakery, because one of our guests had a very severe nut allergy. So when we were looking at the catering, we only had I think 27 on the day total and we had about eight different allergies and tolerances that we had to work around.
I: Yeah, the primary method of selection for the cake bake was that she agreed to all of the allergen list.
B: And she was able to produce a very, very good cake.
I: The cake was amazing.
B: She was really lovely the whole way through; we had lots of chats. We had vegans, a gluten intolerance and a nut allergy. So we ended up with the “cake cake” and then gluten free and vegan cupcakes if you couldn’t partake in the main cake.
I: We drove the cake down from Leicestershire in the boot of our car.
B: Very strict care instructions.
R: And along with all the allergies to gluten and nuts, of course everyone had an allergy to Covid too, so you had quite a lot to deal with!
Have you got anything to say about the men’s attire?
I: It wasn’t anything particularly emotional for me, it was just a suit. I did buy it. Someone did ask me where I got it and I told them the very glamorous answer which is Next. I didn’t get the full ensemble from Next, but the jacket and the trousers and they looked nice.
B: It was important to you wasn’t it that you got something you could wear again.
I: Yeah
B: Try and be a little bit more sustainable. Wedding dresses are not particularly reusable in the same way.
I: You would hope not!
B: Becky laughs. It might get a second use in May, but we’ll see how it goes.
Who was the wedding dress by?
B: The wedding dress is a Justin Alexander dress and the dress shop was Anna McDonald and she’s in Oxfordshire.
R: And so what was your experience, your process choosing the dress and how helpful they were?
B: The shop weere lovely. We started looking at getting married and cementing our plans in about January 2021 which was the start of the lockdown that was meant to end in February and then didn’t lift until April. So I got to April having never tried on any wedding dress in any wedding shop. I didn’t think I was going to be actually able to go at all, which I didn’t think initially would be a big deal because I am a bit of a tomboy really. Mostly sort of hoodies and baggy jeans.
R: You certainly didn’t look like a tomboy in your wedding dress.
B: You suddenly go, “what do you mean I won’t be able to go dress shopping with my mum?” suddenly you realise actually those moments are quite important really.
We had a really lovely experience in the shop. They’d sold my bridesmaid her wedding dress two years earlier so they were kind of a known quantity. I knew that they had a very good range of dresses, and a range of designers. They were brilliant; I was able to go with my mum in the end which was really lovely. We spent the best part of three hours just trying on dresses until we settled on one.
It was very odd because we were just there in a face mask until I tried it on. Then I was getting my alterations done and I had to take my face mask off. I then saw it for the first time without a face mask and I went “whoa.”
What do you think was your favourite part of your wedding day?
I: Exchanging of the vows I think.
B: People kept asking me if I was nervous. The only thing that I was vaguely nervous about was that I was going to get tongue-tied.
I: Yeah that was my fear as well.
Are there any funny stories from the wedding day?
B: We discovered that one of the previous vicars at that church had moved down to Nottingham and had been the vicar that married my mum and dad in their church…
I: So if we had been earlier we’d have been married by the same vicar.
B: Also, the car that we had was made in the same here my grandad was born.
R: Did you say that your grandad was 90 or something?
B: Erm he’s 96 I think.
B: But I don’t think we had anything else, perhaps because we didn’t have a big disco type thing with any dad dancing or anything like that, it was just a really lovely evening really.
What did you do the next day?
I: The next day we woke up and had breakfast and then later went over to my parents for lunch. We arrived at 11:30 am. They were clearing up the village hall so we hung around and talked to people. Everybody was stuffing balloons into their car boots in order to take them home. My parents didn’t want to keep all of them so they were trying to give them away to people. We had lunch at my parents and the rest of the day was getting home via Reading, as Becky had to drop off some library books used for her PHD.
In hindsight, if you could change one thing about your wedding day, what would it be?
I: When we went back for the garden photos, becky wanted to make sure that more people realised they were allowed to come back as well. We got those photos with the Jenga which were lovely photos, but we sort of imagined everyone being in them rather than just us. And I think everyone thought “oh they are having their photos taken, so we better stay away.”
I: The way we envisaged it, was as the photos of the two of us ended, everyone was in the garden. But we obviously hadn’t made that clear to them or they were too busy talking to one another or too busy eating cake!
We’re struggling to think of any negatives; the weather was lovely, the suppliers were great, the food was great, everything was good.
Have you got any honeymoon plans at all?
I: We had a honeymoon planned that we originally discussed, she wanted to go to New Zealand.
R: Oh yes, good choice!
I: Obviously this was pre-Covid. We’ve been talking recently about going away for a week in the UK. I wouldn’t say it’s a honeymoon as such, it’s just a holiday.
Did you get any feedback on the photography from the wedding guests?
I: The people that we showed the pictures to were very happy.
B: People have said they thought all the suppliers we had were amazing. Mum and dad have commented on how professional you were to work with on the day. I think you made a lasting impression on little Theo. He was shouting “cheese” at full volume.
I: Everyone that we’ve shown the photos to so far, which is a reasonable number of people, has said that they are great.