Canterbury Wedding Photographer at ABode - Kent for Des & Debbie

"We're looking for a wedding photographer for November 5th at the Abode Hotel and Restaurant in Canterbury, would you be free? We're a bit concerned about what sort of photos would be available, we're an older couple".

This was the first contact from Debbie, the 'older' bride-to-be. We read on to find out that she wasn't actually 110 years old - so we wouldn't have to worry about mobility... Debbie's wedding wasn't far away and on further discussion we found out just how much she was trying to organise in a short space of time, it was for 5th November, 2011...

Abode Canterbury, a superb venue in the middle of Canterbury Gareth met up with Debbie, at the Abode wedding venue around a month before the big day. Regardless of the timeline it is so important that we meet our prospective bride and grooms before the day. Meeting your wedding photographer for the first time on the day is really not what you are going to be wanting to do, as they might turn up with a cowboy hat, a horse called Dobin and a lasso.

Abode Canterbury, a superb venue in the middle of Canterbury

Gareth met up with Debbie, at the Abode wedding venue around a month before the big day. Regardless of the timeline it is so important that we meet our prospective bride and grooms before the day. Meeting your wedding photographer for the first time on the day is really not what you are going to be wanting to do, as they might turn up with a cowboy hat, a horse called Dobin and a lasso.

It was really important to meet Debbie, to give her some more reassurance that she need not worry about the photography (she had plenty on her plate; Des and her were about to exchange on a property as well!) they would both look gorgeous and Michelle and I would take care of everything, be organised but not bossy, and do everything we could to help make the day run as smooth as possible.

Having been a little down on herself, (age, seriously guys, it matters not - beauty is in the eye of the beholder and also the photographer, so we know what we are talking about) Gareth found himself sat with a beautiful bride to be with gorgeous auburn hair. A bit stressed but still excited about the wedding, Debbie and Gareth talked through the options and Gareth quickly got a feel what what Debbie was looking for; unobtrusive photography with plenty of shots of the guests and some portraits with plenty of atmosphere.

The whole wedding was to be at Abode with Debbie and Des staying off-site the night before. 

So the big day arrived and Michelle went off to Whitstable to be with the girls and Gareth joined Des and the rest of the party at the bar at Abode Canterbury, hmmm, Gareth always gets the bar! The day was to be all about close friends and family and so Debbie was staying at their Whitstable flat with her best friend, Bernie. Sometimes, all you need is one, and the two of them shared a morning of laughter, champagne and memories as Debbie prepared to meet Des at Abode.

Having compared notes after the wedding we can easily say both were as nervous as each other and just as emotional. It's such a pleasure to see two people so meant to be together.

In the meantime, Gareth was at Abode with Des taking pictures of the guests arriving and some of the County Room before it would fill with the wedding party. The County Room has a wonderful domed ceiling with a centrally set chandalier dispersing light to each corner of the room.

 It's a very intimate setting and a good fit for 100-or-so guests. We only had a few 'must have' shots and one of them was of the three sons together, so quick five minute shoot in the Cathedral Lounge produce a portrait with lovely tones and soft natural light.

Debbie arrived at Abode and disappeared up to the Cathedral Lounge to prepare to join the rest of the wedding party for the ceremony in the County Room. She was joined by her father, Bernie and the bridesmaids and the Abode wedding planner, Natasha. We took some nice informal candids and a group shot of them all.

We decided not to stage a shot coming down the stairs and instead kept the reportage style running with some shots through the balustrade.

The hallway that connects the hotel to the County room is lit by evenly spaced spotlights and so it's important to get your timing right as the wedding party pass under them. As Debbie approached the entrance to the County Room, Gareth moved to the front of the County room behind the registrar to capture Des as Debbie walked down the aisle whilst Michelle remained at the entrance.

The ceremony was intimate, personal and plenty of tissues were handed out to Debbie and Des.

We managed plenty of shots of the congregation and at the end of the ceremony just managed to fit  everyone into a group shot within the same room. With the signing the register shot in the bag we both moved to the rear of the room ready for Debbie and Des to walk back up the aisle for those shots or happiness, joy and of course, relief!

Michelle, ready for the walk back down the aisle.

By now it had started raining a little, having been overcast most of the morning. Gareth had arrived at Abode early and so had time to walk over to the Franciscan gardens (the location for the portraits) to check on the ground underfoot. It was firm, but a little damp. Good job we had brought three umbrellas and a pair of bright pink Hunter wellies, which Gareth was particularly disappointed not to get in the shots somewhere ;)

We already had the shots in mind that we wanted to produce for Debbie and Des and with the rain falling, preparation was key. Debbie had mentioned she liked some of the stone walled backgrounds from our previous wedding shoot in Brixham, Torquay. Canterbury isn't short of it's own stone walls and the Franciscan gardens has an amazing one running along the river from the Greyfriars Chapel, so this was where we set the shoot up.

With the rain falling, we used a large black umbrella and lit it from behind with one of the Nikon speed lights triggered via a radio trigger on the hotshoe of the body.

This had the pleasing effect of backlighting Debbie and Des and bringing out some detail in the wall. A second speed light was also off-camera and to the left at around head height for fill light. Gareth, was on the opposite side of the river wedged between two large shrubs in the flowerbeds to make sure we got the right composition.

As we moved around further up towards the chapel, the wall and brickwork becomes slightly more tumbledown and so we used this to frame a few shots and place the foreground out of focus, following a composition line to Debbie and Des.

As with the seated shots, we set up a tripod mounted speedlight behind them both for a backlight - this also had the effect of freezing some of the rain drops - with the second acting as the key.

We'd been asked to shoot up to the start of the wedding breakfast, so once back to Abode we continued with the candids and some requested shots of the close family.

By the time we got back the Cathedral Lounge was of course full of the wedding guests, so we made some space and used the available natural light with assistance from a little on camera fill flash.

We finished off our shoot of the day with a couple of shots of the happy couple coming down the stairs from the Cathedral Lounge back to the County Room for the wedding breakfast.

Once everyone was seated, we left with a final shot of the happy couple.

About us
We Are Hector are East Kent commercial and wedding photographers covering the whole of the South East. We specialise in; advertising photography, pr photography, editorial photography, food photography, retail photography, interior photography, property photography as well as extensive event photography, conference photography, awards photography and exhibition photography experience. Email Gareth; gareth@wearehector.com for further information and quotations.

p.s. Check out our new photography package for East Kent businesses, here