Behind The Camera: An Insight Into The Photographer

This week I found myself going for my daily walk down to the beach that is no more than a few miles away from my home. As I cast my eye across the bay, taking in the fresh air and the rare winter sunshine, it made me think about the past year and how it has changed my business. I realised that so much has changed in recent months, in all aspects of my life, but something that remains consistent is my desire to continue building my wedding photography business with a special focus on capturing natural, candid weddings.

With this is in mind, I want to delve deeper into who I am as a photographer, my background, and more importantly, what I can offer you as my client. As my website suggests, my name is Alexander, or Alex as I am more commonly known, and I grew up in Bridgend, gaining a photographic degree from Cardiff Metropolitan University.

I’ve been described as relaxed and calm, with a real eye for detail. I love photography and creating new, exciting photographs. I am a real stickler for not wanting to create the same old photographs as everyone else. I am a strong believer in formulating a relationship with clients because it helps to capture natural and relaxed photographs.

During your wedding day you can expect to see me exploring the surrounding areas and being adventurous with locations and various photography ideas. This process allows me to create unique photography and not the same old stuff that you see everywhere else.

I love working with clients that are happy to come with me and explore the grounds of the wedding venue as well as the outside of it. Different locations and alternative settings guarantee that your photographs are going to be unique and memorable. I mean, who wants the same as everybody else?

If you have spent hours flicking through bridal magazines and are fed up with looking at different couples, looking the same as each other in every photograph then I think it is worth you having a chat with us.

For more information about how we can capture your special day, as well as our availability, head over to our contact page. Hurry though, spaces are filling up fast for the remainder of this year and next.

10 Things You Forget When Planning A Wedding

Planning a wedding – whether big or small – can be extremely overwhelming, especially when the both of you are juggling full time jobs and if you have any little ones running around. Some might argue that organising a wedding is the same as having a full-time job due to the shear volume of items that need to be covered off.

It will come as no surprise that there is a lot of things that get overlooked and some which are never even thought of. I am a wedding photographer in South Wales and have seen first-hand the effects of poor planning. Here is a list of the ‘10 Things You Forget When Planning A Wedding’ to help you organise your special day.

1. Sunset Moments

Often considered as the ‘golden hour’ for photographs, your wedding photographer may want to drag you outside to savour the moment and capture a few more moments of the bride, groom, and other members of the wedding party. Find out what time the sun sets at your venue and make sure you are available.

2. Bad Weather

Thanks to our unpredictable weather patterns in the British Isles, it is advised that you think about the worst-case scenarios. Make sure you have a contingency plan arranged with the wedding venue in case of severe cold fronts, rain, or even blistering heatwaves. Couples can be guilty of spending too much time worrying about what the wedding venue looks like and not planning for what will happen if the weather changes.

3. Bridal Party

The bridal party usually get ready with the bride but will need to be at the wedding venue before the bride arrives. Make sure to book a minibus, car, or coach to take them to the venue with plenty of time to spare.

4. Extra Seats

Add extra seats to your ceremony room as people will often not sit next to each other and leave gaps. If this is the case, then you will find that you will quickly run out of chairs. Ask your wedding co-ordinator to advise you on how many extra chairs they typically provide.

5. Guest Count

This might be a silly one, but you won’t believe how many bride and grooms forget to include themselves in the final guest count which means someone will go without a meal. It is also worth asking your vendors, like the wedding photographer, if they require a meal on the day.

6. Wedding Signs

I have seen couples spend weeks picking out hand-crafted, beautifully detailed invitations but then forget about the other wedding signs. These can be made yourself or picked up fairly cheap online, think about a table plan, gift table sign and even a welcome sign. Although small in the greater scheme of things, these things add a personal touch to your venue.

7. Vendor Overtime

Your wedding vendors will be on hand to capture moments and entertain guests during the day but will often leave after the first dance. Discuss with them prior to the date if they would be willing to stay on for an extra few hour’s and what their hourly rate would be. A large portion of your guests might attend only for the evening in which case it is worth booking a wedding photographer for a few hours more.

8. Next Day

If your wedding venue doubles up as a hotel and you plan to stay the night, then make sure you pack a change of clothes and a toothbrush for the following morning. You don’t want to be arriving at breakfast in your dinner suit from the day before. Speak with the venue and they will be happy to take your items at the beginning of your wedding day and put it in your room ready for later on.

9. Personal Items

You would be surprised to find out how many couples don’t plan what is to happen at the end of the day. Personal items, décor and wedding gifts are often left behind because no provisions have been made. Designate a helper, or perhaps two, to clear the room at the end of the day of all personal defects.

10. Drink Water

A bride and groom will be dragged every which way during their special day and will often overlook the fact that they need to eat and drink water. Speak to your wedding co-ordinator and ask if they can leave some bottles of water under the top table for the both of you to drink during the day.

Conclusion

It is so important to plan your wedding with plenty of time and have a contingency in case the dreaded happens. Think about the finer details and the things that people don’t tell you about. Leave enough time (and budget) to make the changes that you need.

What to do if your Wedding has been postponed?

Your wedding day is booked! Deposits are paid. Arrangements have been made. Then Covid-19 comes along and decides to force you to postpone or even cancel your wedding.

 Of course, the restrictions are necessary for everyone’s health and to slow the spread of the virus. 

What to do if your wedding has been postponed due to coronavirus?

First, speak to your venue. 

 They will be understanding, you won’t be the only one needing to discuss your options because of Covid-19. You obviously love the Wedding Venue you have chosen, so ‘Plan A’ would be to get on the phone to rearrange for another date.

 If your Wedding has been postponed because of Covid-19, this may mean that Wedding suppliers such as DJ, caterers, entertainment, videographer and Wedding Photographer might not be available on the new Wedding date.

 If any service you have organised can’t make your new Wedding date, ask them for recommendations to other providers in their industry. They may have worked with them previously and be able to organise the new booking for you. They may even organise a discount!

 We want to help as much as possible therefore, please contact Alexander Lewis Photography today as we have dates available for 2020 and 2021.

 If you are looking for or are in need of an experienced Wedding Photographer in South Wales , use our contact page to get in touch for an informal chat.

Get in touch today!

New House Country Hotel Wedding in Thornhill

Nicola & David got married on a beautiful day in June at the stunning New House Country Hotel wedding venue in Thornhill, Cardiff.

Thank you both so much for choosing me to photograph your wedding and letting me be part of your special wedding day!

I am delighted to be considered as the Cardiff wedding photographer you decided to choose.

Wedding Venue - New House Country Hotel

5 Wedding Planning Questions Answered by a Wedding Venue.

Bryngarw House wedding venue answered 5 wedding questions for us to help new brides and grooms with your wedding planning. 

1. How early can a couple book your venue before their wedding date? and what's the latest you would recommend leaving it until they book?

This is completely dependent on the couple, and how organised they are. We have couples book their wedding with us between 5 months before the big day and up to two years, it mainly depends on budget, preference and organisational skills!

2. What's the number one thing you see couples stressed about and what advice would you give surrounding that?

Chasing up RSVP’s and menu choices! We always recommend sending out invitations 6 months prior to the big day, this gives plenty of time to chase up final guest numbers and menu choices along with any dietary requirements, in turn leaving plenty of time to create and finalise table plans and finer details of the day with us.

3. What percentage of a package price is required as a deposit?

To secure a date at Bryngarw House, a deposit of £1500 is required with no further payments due until 30 days before the wedding. This is because final numbers and any other additions aren’t finalised until 8 weeks before the big day.

4. How much is an average wedding venue price?

 This purely depends on the venue, however our all inclusive packages here start from approximately £8,000.

5. What is your main advice/tip to couples looking to book a wedding venue? 

 I have always recommended seeing a selection of venue types; a barn, a country manor house, a hotel, a castle. This will help narrow down the search and cancel out some venue types. Couples are guaranteed to base their decision on a feeling rather than a logical decision; they will walk into a venue and just know it’s ‘the one’. Once the venue is found, all other plans will follow and fall into place.

Wedding Photographer South Wales

Wedding Photographer South Wales

Gethin & Kate

Being a wedding photographer is a fantastic job, meeting lovely new people, visiting beautiful venues, photographing all kinds of weddings. Gethin and Kate’s wedding reception was held in a beautiful marquee in a small village in South Wales called Llangan. 

 What a beautiful wedding!

Highfields Church, Cardiff, South Wales Wedding Photography

Jared & Lydia  

This summer we had the pleasure of photographing a lovely Christian wedding. At a beautiful Evangelical church in Cardiff, it made for a fantastic wedding to photograph. Jared and Lydia along with their friends and family were all the nicest of people which made it such a pleasure to photograph this wedding. 

Wedding photography is such a fantastic industry to work in and when you work with a couple like Jared & Lydia it becomes so effortless to create beautiful wedding photographs.  

Wedding Photography at Ocean View, Gower, Swansea.

Kirsty & Steve

What a beautiful wedding! From start to finish, it was stunning, magical and full of perfect photographic moments. Kirsty and Steve could not have picked a better day for it with temperatures over 25 degrees. Not making my job particularly easy, however it did make for some beautiful photography.

The bond between this couple is so amazing and that shined through in the planning behind the wedding as everything was so perfect on the day. The beautiful couple shots we captured of Kirsty and Steve were so effortless due to their bond with each other and the beautiful Ocean View venue.

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