Photographing My First Covid Wedding – Nadia and Toms Surrey Wedding

Post lockdown restricted COVID wedding

After four and a half months of no weddings, I was itching to get back out and start photographing weddings again. I had been busy with lots of admin and helping my couples move their weddings to new dates but it was great when Nadia confirmed they were going ahead. This would be my first COVID wedding with social distancing restrictions.

I had met Nadia and Tom last year as Nadia was a bridesmaid for one of my 2019 brides, it is always nice to see familiar faces at weddings and a real compliment that they wanted me to photograph their day.

Face Sheilds, Masks, and Hand Sanitiser

I wasn’t too sure what to expect photographing a COVID wedding with the various restrictions in place, I knew it would be a lot smaller than I was used to.. I set off for Surrey with my face shield, masks, and hand sanitiser so I would be ready for any eventuality. The strangest part of the day was the ceremony as I was not allowed into the ceremony room apart from right at the end for a few photographs and I had to wear a mask for this. Fortunately, it was a hot day and they did allow the windows to be open so in true paparazzi style I managed to lean across the flower beds outside and with a long lens, I managed to photograph the ceremony.

The day started with some details and bridal preparation photographs, which all took place outside, we followed this with some formal bridal portraits and a reveal shot before heading off to Weybridge for the ceremony.

A Ceremony but Not How I Remember Them

During the ceremony, only the parents were allowed to be present, even Nadia’s brother had to wait outside, but unbeknown to Nadia and Tom some of their family came over to congratulate them outside which was a really nice moment to capture.

After a few photographs at Weybridge Register Office, we headed back to Nadia’s parent’s house which was set in beautiful grounds – perfect for a wedding. It was surrounded by colourful gardens and even had a wildflower meadow making it a photographer’s dream location. Due to the restrictions, they could only have 30 guests, but this did not take away the magic of their day.

Keeping Everyone Safe

Obviously, I was ensuring social distancing to keep everyone safe, but other than that this part of the day ran as expected. It was a scorching hot day, but with just the right amount of cloud cover to give us some good quality light and with some nice texture in the sky. In fact, the conditions were close to perfect from a photography point of view and allowed for some great photographs.

As the sun was starting to drop below the horizon we got some amazing silhouette and starburst shots followed by some beautiful off-camera flash photographs in the wildflower meadow. I showed the couple a few shots on the back of the camera and before I knew it all the guests wanted a sunset shot so I had a line of couples queuing up to be photographed!

Confetti Cannons Make for Great Wedding Photographs

Nadia’s mum had told me earlier in the day that she had purchased some confetti cannons, I suggested we used them at dusk as I could backlight the scene to really bring the confetti to life, this worked perfectly and really added something the photographs. I have photographed the confetti shot at night at a few weddings now and it has proved to be a very popular photograph.

Fireworks

Nadia and Tom had mentioned that they wanted some firework photographs when they originally booked me so I stayed on until it was dark enough to do these, I used a balance of ambient and off-camera flash to light the couple. With firework photographs, it is all about getting the balance between catching the fireworks and lighting the couple perfectly. The fireworks lasted for a few minutes this gave me ample opportunity to get several different photographs.

This was such a fun wedding and it was so nice to be back doing what I love, I have a few more small COVID weddings remaining this year and I am looking forward to the next one.

Essex Wedding Photographer

Although I am an Essex wedding photographer I happily travel all over the UK and beyond to photograph my couple’s weddings. If you are looking for Essex wedding photography, Surrey wedding photography or wherever you are please get in touch to find out if I have your date available. For more information please click here.