St Joseph’s Church Guildford wedding | Emma and Mark
Emma and Mark’s wedding was nice and local for me – just up the road in Guildford. I first met them at the Surrey Wedding Show at the Mandolay Hotel last February, and that’s where they got ready and the reception was held.
As usual I started with some photos of Emma’s preparations with her bridesmaids. Check out those amazing Converse trainers blinged up with Swarovski crystals!
A fun change from high heels and definitely more comfortable for the girls to wear during a long busy day.
While Emma was getting into her dress I made a quick detour to the bar to catch up with Mark and some of the guests, then went back upstairs to photograph the final stages as chief bridesmaid (and also chief cake-maker) Kate and the other bridesmaids did up the laces on Emma’s amazing dress.
St Joseph’s Church Guildford wedding ceremony
Once the preliminaries had been photographed I took a short walk to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Eastgate Gardens. I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of Mark with his best man and groomsmen before Emma arrived and the wedding started.
The ceremony was ably officiated by Father Martin Edwards from Emma and Mark’s home parish of St Mary Magdalen Wandsworth, with the kind permission of Father Roy Waters of St. Joseph’s who took care of the all important marriage registration paperwork!
After the ceremony and Mass, I had planned to do the group photos in the gardens around the corner from the church, but as it was starting to rain we all went back to the hotel. We did the group photos at the front of the hotel a little later.
Wedding reception at the Mandolay Hotel
The Mandolay has a very big ballroom (which can be divided into two if necessary). On this occasion they made use of the full space, which allowed the dance floor to be set up in advance. This is easier than staff having to move tables out of the way and reset the room for the evening.
I set up my 200 W/s Godox flash to light up the room for the speeches and my other flashguns on tall stands to light the dance-floor.
After the speeches, I took Emma and Mark outside to do some nighttime portraits with the illuminated facade of the hotel and the G Live events venue across the street. Although it was dark there was still enough blue evening light in the sky to contrast nicely with the yellow of the streetlamps and lights on the buildings.
And then it was party time! With a big Irish contingent there was lots of dancing and laughter! I really enjoyed photographing Emma and Mark’s wedding and hope you will enjoy looking at their photos. Scroll down to the bottom if you’d like to see a highlights slideshow set to music.
And here’s the highlights slideshow on YouTube:
Many congratulations to Emma and Mark! If you’re planning a similar wedding in Surrey, please do get in touch to find out how I can help.
