The Daffodil Cheltenham, The Great Gatsby Wedding - Eloise & Rich

The Daffodil Wedding Photography

If you’ve lived in Cheltenham for any length of time, and you’ve decided to go out for dinner somewhere a little bit special, The Daffodil will almost certainly be on your short list. So the prospect of shooting Eloise & Rich’s wedding reception there was really exciting!

There is no common rule for the type of couples I work with. They vary from not really knowing what they want, but like my work, to having loads of ideas for their images, and Eloise was certainly more towards the latter. Throughout the year we have had plenty of regular contact and it’s been great sharing ideas and hearing about the planning for the day as it evolved, even helping with some fine tuning on how to maximise the efficiencies of us getting some specific photos.

One of the requests was instead of Bridal prep, was to have groom prep! I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch. Rich and his best men reminded me very much of me and my mates, and within seconds I’d chatted to one of them in just his underpants and been offered a beer! This was going to be a good day

Thanks to the geography, once the guys took the camper to the church I was able to whizz over to where Eloise was and get some bridal prep too which was a bonus.

Thanks to the geography, once the guys took the camper to the church I was able to whizz over to where Eloise was and get some bridal prep too which was a bonus.
The ceremony itself took place at St Peters Church Leckhampton. A beautiful church with great access for a photographer, helped further by the wonderful Jo Pestells who held the ceremony and gave me no limitations on where and when I can shoot, meaning Eloise and Rich have some fantastic ceremony shots. It sounds like a simple thing, but you’d be amazed how often us photographers are issued restrictive rules to abide by, compromising what the couple get.

The plan next was to head up to Leckhampton hill for 15 mins on the way to The Daffodil to get some nice shots with the camper and scenery. There was a sunny break in the clouds so surely this would be perfect!

Until we got to the agreed meet point to find thick fog!! A photography nightmare, as if you can’t see your subject it’s you can’t really photograph it! However a key skill in being a photographer is to not fall apart when the going gets tough, and to be able to think on your feet. We didn’t get the full range of shot’s I had in mind, but with a little creativity we got some that are even better than we would have got on a clear day.

As you’d imagine, The Daffodil is the perfect setting for a Great Gatsby themed wedding. A slightly challenging environment due to the low lighting levels photographers curse, but thankfully I use two of the best performing low light cameras money can buy with the Sony A7S & Sony A99ii, meaning I could avoid flash for the entire drinks reception. This is so important as you are trying to snap people enjoying themselves unaware, and a big flash going off in the early stages of the day won’t help that.

The speeches produced some of the biggest laughs of my year. The best men not holding back making Rich sweat, but also producing a cracking interactive game for all the guests to join in with!

9Katie & Phil Sept 1st 2017 - Lee Hawley Photography-451
As we got into the evening the party really got underway, with a sparkler tunnel, cake and even a surprise Flapper Dance by all the girls who went on the hen party!

Thank you to Eloise & Rich. It was such a fun day, and is always so rewarding working with people so enthusiastic about their photographs. Their review on my facebook is so lovely, it is always reassuring that the feeling I have with my couples that it’s like working with friends, is felt by the couples too. It’s so central to my approach and it’s great to hear.

Testimonials

Down to Earth, Amazing Photographer!

the daffodil cheltenham wedding photographer lee hawley photography cheltenham creative candid natural vw camper

We are definitely not a couple who like having our photo taken, and generally if we do, we pull faces… so when we were looking for a wedding photographer we really wanted someone who understood that we did not want the traditional and didn’t really want to feel like we were posing for photos. So we found Lee… we met him at a Wedding Fayre and liked his hat (and photos) so got talking to him. Straight away we liked him, the stuffy wedding vibe put me off alot of the wedding fayre(!) but Lee was ‘normal’ and said he would be able to do what we wanted and seemed to like what we suggested. He was so easy to communicate with, speedy emails, it was like talking to a friend. On the day he was so spot on, everyone commented how lovely he was and how you didn’t even realise he was there. The Groomsmen really enjoyed the morning with Lee- apparently he needs to be there every time they meet up now! We have some amazingly stunning shots of the wedding that I never dreamed we would have. We had a lot of fun with Lee and will use him in the future whenever we need photos! Very much recommend anyone to have a chat with Lee if you are looking for a down to earth, amazing photographer!

Eloise & Rich

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Photography As Unique As You Are

This is not formal wedding photography

I tell your wedding story naturally and creatively. No awkward poses, no saying cheese. My goal is for you to feel like you have a friend as your photographer, and by doing that I capture you at your most you.

I truly invest in my couples, spending time to understand what makes you tick. Even if you don’t really know what you want, in a brief chat over coffee I will understand how best to approach your day, resulting in you being relaxed and able to enjoy your wedding and resulting in a set of images tailored to you.

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Posted by Lee Hawley