Janneke and I travelled to the beautiful south west of England a few Saturdays ago to shoot Fi and Ali’s wedding.
I hadn’t taken account of the beginning of school half-term we were in, what could be best described as, busy traffic for our whole journey. Although the drifting melodies of Magic FM were keeping our mood in chipper form, our timing was looking precarious. Ten minutes away and Janneke called a local cab company to be ready to collect us as soon as we arrived at the hotel in Clifton and, as we pulled up to find some parking, there it was; our cab awaiting us. Perfect work, if a little tight on time! So, avoiding the polite offer of a tour of the hotel from our new hostess, we headed off into town having dumped our cases.
The drive from Clifton, down in to the centre of Bristol is an interesting drive, showing off the mixture of large suburban villas constructed from heavy Bath stone and modern inserts. We noticed the amount of large churches on our journey and wondered whether these were a product of the slave-trade magnates’ ironic benevolence to the local community.
The couple’s wedding was held in the city-centre registry office; a majestic building of autumnal colours and stained glass. The Lantern Room itself, where the ceremony was to take place was perfect for the event. With its high ceilings, large paintings and the glazed lantern above, here was a place to remember.
The ceremony went off without a glitch; well, apart from Ali substituting the odd wrong word here or there. Thankfully, the registrar put him right and the guests could rest eady that the wedding was, in fact, legal.
The bride looked stunning and the groom; dapper and very well turned-out. 
The wedding party exited the building into the busy local, craft market creating many a wondering and impressed gaze from passers-by and, while the guests climbed aboard a specially-hired red Routemaster bus, the bride, groom and I went for a stroll down to an area known for its creative graffiti art. Here I took some lovely shots of the couple against the varied and colourful background. Oddly enough, some of the shots came out better when I corrected the graffiti background to black and white. However wonderful a backdrop may be, sometimes you have to take the decision to tone it down and give prominence to your subject. In this case my subject was, undoubtedly, Fi and Ali and I didn’t want a compositional fight between them and the graffiti! And so the following shots came about.
The wedding party, having clambered aboard the Routemaster, set off for Tyntesfield for the reception. At times, with a bus-load of revellers, it seemed as if it would have been quicker to have dismounted and walk but the “old girl” struggled up the hills with mighty endurance.
I kept snapping on the bus, during the walk to the reception hall and during the evening and hope to have captured the spritit of the celebration as the sun set and the fairy lights glowed.
The dancing was complimented by guest DJs and live music …
… and some splendid cakes…
