I was walking my little whippet dog in the duck park on Monday, it is a beautiful municipal park and also is the home to Gedling Borough Council’s main offices, including the registrars office. I mention the registrars office because my next stranger Rachel was making use of the Registrar’s office.
As we walked along the path by the “old council house” I noticed some activity in the car park.
“Is that a wedding ? A bride ?” I asked Ruby (yes I talk to my dog)
“Shall we go and investigate?”
So we walked across to the car park and saw a small wedding party getting out of a wedding car.
“Are you getting married?” I asked. A bit of a stupid question as what else would a young lady dressed in a white wedding dress and carrying a bouquet of flowers be doing !!!!
“Yes” was the response !
“What time to you get married?”
“3 O’ clock”
“Ahh what time is it now?”
“Five past three” joked the man in the group. The bride did a bit of a startled look and everyone laughed
“You are lucky that you got your wedding in just before lockdown” (Weddings will no longer be allowed from Thursday).
I then introduced myself as an amateur photographer and told them about my street strangers project and asked if I could take a photo. The bride Rachel agreed straight away and asked where did I want her to stand. I directed her to the edge of the free car park spot , telling her to stay clear of the grass as it was damp and muddy.
I noticed a photographer, a lady in a mask, with a DSLR. I apologised to her for interrupting her photoshoot and told her I would only be a few moments.
I then heard a voice “Do you want me in the shot ?”
“I’m Dawn, the mother of the bride”
“Yes that would be nice to have you both together”
So Dawn joined her daughter as I rattled off a few shot’s, that looked good.
I then asked if I could shoot Rachel on her own. It was a car park behind the offices, so there wasn’t too many places to go and remember I am interrupting the wedding prep , so I shot Rachel where we stood, asking her to look over her shoulder towards the light peeking through the trees.
The background is the wedding car, so it does tell the story.
I thanked Rachel and wished her all the best for her wedding day and future life. I nodded in thanks to the photographer.
Dawn asked me if I had a website. I gave her a contact card and told her I would email her some photos if she contacted me.
That’s it, stranger meeting over. I shot this with a vintage Pentax M SMC 50mm f1.7 lens on my Sony A7.
Wow Phil you do have lots of chutzpah.....a delightful thing to do but it takes some guts to do that when the official photographer is standing there....it’s a wonder he didn’t hire you on the spot!
It would be funny if the bride preferred your photos to his!
Lovely photo it is too!
Ha ha, so she really was late then!! You really do have a lot of courage, Phil, and it is a beautiful shot.
I can't bear being late for anything, so when I got married I made sure I was at the church five minutes before the service was due to start. But the lady at the church who acted as registrar for the legal bit stopped me at the door and kept an eye on her watch. She said "it is traditional for brides to be late" and made me wait in the lobby area until it was 11.02. It nearly killed me to not be on time LOL!!
What an amazing story! You are lucky the lady photographer allowed you to interfere with her work - maybe she was not a professional one. Your photo of Rachel is perfect and I'm sure it will be Rachel's preference in the end.
It would be funny if the bride preferred your photos to his!
Lovely photo it is too!
I can't bear being late for anything, so when I got married I made sure I was at the church five minutes before the service was due to start. But the lady at the church who acted as registrar for the legal bit stopped me at the door and kept an eye on her watch. She said "it is traditional for brides to be late" and made me wait in the lobby area until it was 11.02. It nearly killed me to not be on time LOL!!
Well done you!