Thanks to a recommendation from the wife of a photographer I work with I got the job of shooting Lynne and Nick’s wedding at Sheffield Town Hall. The weather had been particularly bad in the day’s before the ceremony and we decided not to meet at the brides house as it was a long way down Abbeydale road south and could have caused us problems. Instead I met Lynne in a hotel room at St Paul’s Hotel right in the city centre. We did a load of shots of Lynne and her brides maid getting ready in a room with some great curtains for a backdrop and a good view of the peace gardens from the window. Lynne was a natural in front of the camera as she had done some modelling and so was not afraid of the camera.

The guests had gathered in the bar area of the hotel and once Lynne had made her entrance we all headed over to the Town Hall for the ceremony. Sheffield Town Hall has a great entrance and staircase which provide a classy and grand background for bride and groom and group shots. It’s a bit dark inside but with the wonders of modern technology and some photography knowledge this can be overcome.

The rooms in which the ceremony takes place are not spectacular but are fine for the purpose and not too poorly lit which is my main concern. After the ceremony we headed back to St Pauls to the bar where I let everyone relax whilst I took some candid shots before taking Lynne and Nick to the winter gardens to do their posed shots. We later invited the whole congregation to come into the winter gardens for a group shot.

The guests then headed to the London Club on Surrey Street for some food. I took some photos here until the food was served all using available light as the lighting in there was very atmospheric. In order to do this I had to set the camera to a very high ISO and a very low aperture. This does produce a grainy image but is worth it for the effect achieved.

I returned home as I was not scheduled to return until the evening. In this time I was able to backup and have a quick look through the photos. It is incredibly important to back up your photos as technology can fail and leave you with nothing but a headache. I have two external hard drives and so have wedding photos in three places.

In the evening I headed down to The Chimney House which is near the Kelham Island and Fat Cat pubs (two of Sheffield’s fine ale pubs) for the evening’s entertainment. There was a superb buffed spread some lovely live singing from three pretty ladies. Lynne was interested in doing some slightly different shots here and so we used the downstairs room to do some model style shots of her in a chair. We later went outside (it was freezing) and did some shots of both Lynne and Nick posing with cigarettes in front of some milling machinery with very dramatic lighting. These were in the style of shabby chic. Much more like fashion than tradition wedding shots.

My best wishes to Lynne and Nick.