When we asked Simon to spend his October holidays in Scotland so he could photograph our wedding, we realised that was quite a big ask. Simon, of course, was delighted at the idea of forcing his family to spend a weekend in a Holiday Inn and very gamely said yes.
And then came along our good friend ‘The Global Pandemic’, and we had a less relaxing run up to our wedding than we had intended. But despite no longer being able to travel with his family, having so few guests to photograph, worrying about social distancing and masks and travel restrictions, Simon remained positive, and lovely and was eternally amenable to our ever changing plans.
After being such a easy decision to choose him as our photographer – have you seen his lovely photos?! – we had to decide, very last minute, whether to have him as one of our extremely limited guest list. It was a tough decision. We weren’t sure if it would be strange to have a photographer around when we were such a small group. We weren’t allowed many of the ‘normal’ wedding things so we wondered if there would be enough to photograph, or if the photos would look a bit ‘sad’ compared to the ones we’d imagined. And of course, we had to have one less guest than we could have done otherwise.
Needless to say, we asked him to come and it was the best decision that we made.
Not only was Simon himself a lovely addition to the day – he had everyone relaxed and laughing, and in no time felt like one of the family- but he judged the day perfectly. There was no moment when his presence felt at all intrusive, yet he managed to capture every detail. He even gave a Royal Ballet worthy performance with a light wand to get our great night-time shots!
In the wrong hands, the pictures of our wedding could easily have been of a drastically diminished guest list and a torrential storm with 53mph wind. What Simon has given us is an album full of joy and laughter and of us having a glorious time with our family and closest friends. We have so many pictures that we can’t stop looking at, and we have a perfect record of our day to share with those who couldn’t be there in person.
Thank-you Simon. We’re sorry you didn’t get your dream weekend at the Holiday Inn, but we really do LOVE our photos.