My initial meeting with Andy and Clare was at the beautiful Barnett Hill Hotel, where they will be getting married. And it was at that meeting that I suggested they have a pre-wedding photo session; it is a helpful way for us to get to know each other a little more and for you to feel more comfortable in front of the camera. We discussed possible venues for the shoot and came up with a plan. As a wedding photographer based on the borders of Surrey, Hampshire & Berkshire, I get to see lots of different places. But this spot is right on my back door step. We decided that the Swinley woods would be a good location for their pre-wedding photo shoot because they really wanted to include another family member in their photos – the beautiful Malla, their little cocker spaniel. Of course being a fellow cocker spaniel owner I was more than happy to oblige. And actually it was a good decision all-round; Malla got to be photographed and importantly to her; she had a wonderful long walk in a place full of new smells. And because there is such a variety of different areas in these woods, I was able to capture lots of shots with a number of backgrounds. The woods are being forested so there are huge piles of sawn logs, several old gates (and a kissing gate), fallen trees to climb and Rapley lake. It is a great place to photograph – one of my favourites.
I haven’t mentioned but we did this session nearly a month ago and we were lucky with the weather despite it being mid February – no rain, just overcast skies and even a little bit of sunshine towards the end of our walk. Usually I say that a pre-wedding shoot will last about an hour, but somehow I overran massively and we ended up being more like two hours!
Thank you for an enjoyable morning. I’m very much looking forward to photographing your wedding – it’s really not long now…
Here are just some of their images
