Nicola and Luke, 4 August 2018

I don’t photograph many weddings these days, out of design rather than necessity. Instead I’m selective, I work with people I like or have an affinity with, and as a result am able to bring a fresh eye to each one.

Nicola and Luke’s was a special one. As one of my sister’s best friends at school, I have seen Nicola grow up from a cheeky 11 year old through the awkward teenage years, and now, meeting her again 10 years on, into a radiant, bubbly young lady with a handsome man by her side. And last week they tied the knot with my sister as a bridesmaid.

It’s always different photographing someone who you have a history with. When I used to photograph over 15 weddings a year, I started to become immune to the emotions, one of the reasons I stopped. But being selective allows me to focus on ones that have meaning, re-tune in to the emotions and then capture them. I was genuinely excited for them as they giggled their way through the morning (when they could as well have been the excitable school girls that I remember so well), felt a little pang of nervousness before they walked down the aisle, and slightly embarrassingly cried proper tears when Nicola’s Grandpa read his heartfelt reading.

So all in all, it was a real pleasure to photograph your special day, Nicola and Luke – to get to know you both as fully grown adults and to walk alongside you and capture all the laughter, pride and tears (good ones) at every stage.

Of course the danger of photographing weddings for people you know is that you can’t mess it up, so fingers crossed you like them… and I hope they show your day for the beautifully happy day that it was.

All my love, Lisa xx