Wedding Photography At The Tuns Pub In Staple Near Canterbury, Kent

This I Saturday I shot my 2nd wedding of the year at the Tuns in Staple, Canterbury, beautiful old brick pub with plenty of character inside and out.
I arrived at the venue at 11am and after a brief wonder around the grounds, went straight up to see Sam, the bride. She was in the middle of her make-up session and was in a very good mood! The sun was shining (never a certainty in Britain in March!) and it was shaping up to be a lovely day. Ordinarily I’d have been there for all of the preparation from about 10am but Sam didn’t want too much of this photographed.
The room was nicely lit by a decent sized window, so I asked if they could complete the make-up with Sam at a 45 degree angle to the window, thus lighting about 75% of her face (which makes for lovely getting ready shots). I used my Canon 5DII and Sigma 50mm 1.4 prime to get some nice wide aperture detail shots knowing I would most likely convert these to black and white later, though I would also leave some in colour as the make-up artist has very striking red hair! The light was fantastic and I got some lovely shots.
Once Sam was finished I shot her bridesmaid having her make-up done and also snapped Sam chatting and having a glass of champagne.
I next turned my attention to the details, such as the flowers and shoes. These details look great in the wedding album. Sam had a very vibrant pair of deep blue high heels, different to the norm and I was keen to do them justice. Since the venue had some lovely old mossy walls, I knew they would compliment them well. I took the shoes outside and, using my 45mm tilt shift I got some lovely shots. Returning to the room I showed Sam this picture – I find that showing the bride a lovely photo early in the day instils a lot of confidence in you!
At this point the guys arrived so I left Sam and went to meet Craig, the groom. He is a lovely guy and was feeling good, if a little nervous! I share a joke with him; try to make him relax before we do any shots. I always like to get a few shots of the guys before the ceremony simply because it’s one less thing to worry about after the ceremony! For this shot I used my 45mm tilt shift lens, I got them all to sit on a wall and kept only there heads and torsos in focus. The resulting shot looked exactly how I ad wanted it to!
With time ticking on I now go back to the bride and stay with her until she’s in her dress and ready to go!
To take a look at the photos from the day, visit Kent wedding photography