It had to happen sooner or later. The weather poured down for Julie and Andy’s wedding at St. Andrews in Temple Grafton and refused to stop when the time came for the groups at the reception in Salford Hall.
So what do I do when it rains? Carry on, have fun and make sure that they still had a stunning collection of photographs to remember their day.
As proof of what can be done I’ve posted more than 5 from this wedding to show how inclement weather certainly does not have to ruin the day.
In the morning the usual preparation and detail photos can still be taken…
But if the rain refuses to stop, then I refuse to stop too. By carefully positioning the groom in the doorway, just out of the rain, not only do I get the best light for a photograph, but also a great casual photo of the groom…
I’ll use the umbrellas as a feature in the photo…
As Julie arrived I continued to capture her great expressions as she entered the church…
The same again as they leave the church…
You may be wondering how can I take photos while it’s raining. Who holds the umbrella for me? Won’t my cameras get wet and stop working? etc. I don’t use an umbrella or worry to much about getting wet as my main concern is to capture the day in the best possible manner, plus the professional cameras I use are weather sealed for times like this so that rain and the elements have no effect on the functions of the camera. (It’s times like this also that shows why hiring a professional photographer with professional grade equipment, who can cope with what ever is thrown at them, is the only sure way of getting a great photographic record of your special day.)
Where practical I’ll try and use outside as much as possible, like I did here. I used the canopy of an overhanging tree to not only protect the groups from the rain, but again to ensure the best lighting.
Of course if the rain is horizontal then no worries, I’ll just do all the photographs indoors…
Along with plenty of story telling images indoors as the bride and groom mingle with their guests.
Here again is another advantage in hiring a professional photographer to photograph your wedding. The photograph above was taken without the use of flash, as not only would it have ruined the whole atmosphere of the photo, but the flash going off would have alerted everyone that I was there and the natural expressions seen here would have been lost, as we all tend to clam up when we know a camera is being pointed as us. You’ll notice that the interior has a lot of dark wood making for a seemingly impossible photograph without flash. The only reason I’m able to get photos like this is again due to my professional equipment. My lenses allow me to photograph in very dim conditions without having to resort to flash. These lenses are not cheap, but only a professional photographer having such equipment can guarantee getting such unobtrusive images. (One guest at another wedding watching me take photographs without flash in a dim reception hall asked me: “Is your camera infrared or what?”)
For the technically minded, some of my lens have a maximum aperture of f1.2 My camera has the ability to photograph up to ISO 3200 with minimum noise. The photograph above was taken at f1.2 with a shutter speed of 1/160 sec at ISO 1600.
So in answer to the question: “what do you do if it rains?” – I just carry on making sure that you get stunning images to remember your day.