Old but gold. One of my very first jobs as a horniman museum wedding photographer, actually, I think it was THE first. One I’m glad to say has been followed by many many more, thanks to the team at Suzanne James for constantly singing my praises. It is an absolute gem of a venue and considering it is open to the public, is a very classy place to have your wedding. Rob & Siobhan are wonderful people and taught me a lot about how to love openly. It’s so easy to get pulled into the idea of what a wedding is and forget that although it fits under the banner of all ‘weddings’ that have ever taken place in the history of the world, it is in fact your day, and your space to make your own. The readings and vows epitomised how they embraced the traditions of a wedding but weren’t afraid to be themselves by including readings from Einstein and novels close to their hearts. I think I struggled with that on a personal level, purely because my ideas are ever changing and evolving, but on some level I guess that is the joy of life – it is full of pivotal moments, births, deaths, marriages, loves, losses – the important thing is to remember that we are not defined or remembered solely for those moments, but as a collective life lived. And if we can look back upon it and say, I did it my way, well then we’d be doing more than just getting Frank Sinatra some commission money. I played with my freelensing technique on some of these pictures, it’s always fun to throw something new into the mix to create interesting images. The amazing thing is that the venue closes to the public after 5pm, so as long as the forecast says sunset will be after that time, then you effectively have your own private gardens in the middle of the city to wander around and take amazing portraits in. Even more real weddings to see at the Horniman, check out Natasha & Sam, Charlie & Alex, Nick & Katy and Jen & Kit too.
