A wet wedding in Kent – Lucy & Lee

Wet wedding

A wet wedding in West Farleigh in Kent on Saturday for Lucy & Lee, after the day, had started promisingly with blue skies. The heavy downpour* that greeted us all at the end of the wedding ceremony certainly killed the village cricket match taking place in an adjoining field but didn’t dent the day too much. But check out Lucy’s expression as she leaves the church and sees the torrential rain hammering the Garden of England!

Before the water, and when the sky was still blue, Lucy got ready at her parents’ home, just down the road from the country church. The reception was to be here too, in a marquee in the garden. It was going to a be a short trip back from the church on a Routemaster bus for the wedding guests, but as you’ll see below, not an entirely dry one. There was the matter of a temporary fast-moving stream across the driveway to negotiate, such was the volume of rainwater falling. But back to the wedding ceremony first, where Lee was marrying Lewis!!

Twice the vicar managed a slip of the tongue and called Lucy… Lewis. It got some laughs.

Lucy and Lee had been guests at Zoe and Andy’s wedding at Buckhurst Park, that I covered on the same weekend last year – a day that was markedly warmer and sunnier. Is this current weather a foretaste of the coming summer? But we did get some sun towards the end of the day on Saturday, just before the speeches began, and a chance for some portraits of L & L.

Here are a few images from the day…

* It’s situations like this, why I use only the top professional cameras and lenses. As Nikon says about the D3S, it’s “Nikon’s rugged, durable and precise magnesium alloy construction protects the incomparable technologies of the D3S and it’s ability to perform in demanding real-world conditions. An amazingly strong-yet-lightweight magnesium alloy is used for the body, exterior cover, chassis and mirror box to assure superb, reliable performance and longer life.” 

But also the fast, pro-spec lenses I use are weather sealed. These are built for photojournalists, as photojournalism doesn’t stop when the conditions deteriorate, you need equipment that will keep on working. Consumer digital cameras are not built for these sort of conditions. Admittedly I was absolutely soaked, ( no umbrella when you’re shooting ), I looked even more dishevelled than usual for the rest of the day. And yes, wearing a wet shirt for hours is not fun or warm. I don’t think my fingers warmed up until after the speeches. I had to keep swapping which finger operated the shutter button. But the only casualty was a £35 Giottos LCD screen protector, as the cameras and lenses didn’t miss a beat and let me capture the wettest part of the day.

A wet wedding doesn’t mean no photos!

( A small thank you to one of the best videographers I have worked alongside, David Payne of Rideout films. He kept out of my way and unlike many others, wasn’t constantly stopping the day for cheesy set up shots and believe me, many that claim to be ‘documentary videographers’ aren’t. If you can persuade him out of Essex ;-), he’s the guy to hire )