South Wales wedding photographer – Swansea & Cardiff wedding & portrait photographer

 

It was my pleasure to capture the story of Leigh and Caroline’s wedding last Saturday in Swansea, South Wales, UK.

The story of the day began in Felindre on the outskirts of Swansea, with Caroline’s preparations at her parent’s home. Caroline got ready with her two bridesmaids, parents and family.

I then made a short trip from the house into the nearby village to reach Nebo Chapel, perched up on a hill. The rain was still very heavy with little signs of the much forecast dryer weather arriving. (A factor which remained for the whole day.)

After the bridesmaids had arrived with Caroline’s Mum, it wasn’t long before Caroline arrived with her Dad. Umbrellas and brisk walking were the order of the day as everyone headed for the chapel. I always enjoy photographing weddings in traditional Welsh chapels, as the light is usually better than in darker churches, and the upper tier always provides for some great ‘aerial’ perspective shots of the service.

After a lovely service the rain was still coming down but this didn’t put guests off from waiting outside to congratulate Caroline and Leigh. The decision was made to keep to our plan, so I headed off in the direction of the Neath Abbey ruins, followed by Leigh and Caroline in their beautiful wedding car.

On arrival at Neath Abbey…yes you guessed it, the rain was still falling, although more lightly than earlier, and a brave Caroline and Leigh decided that it wasn’t going to put them off from taking a  tour of the abbey ruins and amazing grounds.

One of my favourite places to photograph a couple on their own, either on their wedding day, or as a location-based pre-wedding shoot, Neath Abbey ruins provides countless opportunities for amazing images, with a huge number of fantastic backgrounds.

We were even allowed to enter the ‘Crypt’, which is usually off-limits to members of the public. It provided respite from the rain, but also the amazing dark and moody images that I love from this room.

We spent no more than 25 minutes in total at the abbey, and although it was raining throughout and incredibly wet underfoot, Caroline and Leigh were completely relaxed and very obviously enjoying themselves, as is visible from the many images of them genuinely laughing together!

This set of images is a great example of what can be achieved on a wet wedding day, if the bride and groom decide not to let the rain ‘ruin’ their special day, and have chosen an experienced and professional photographer to get the job done creatively in the wet.

It was only a short 10 minute drive from the Neath Abbey ruins to the nearby Towers Hotel and Spa, in Jersey Marine overlooking the Swansea coast for the reception.

On arrival at the Towers Hotel, we were greeted by guests outside (yes in the light rain,) so after checking with Caroline and Leigh, invited everyone else outside for 15 minutes of group and family shots in the wet! Again something that many couples would have substituted for the easier option of photographing people inside, but I’m sure a decision that Leigh and Caroline will look back on positively when they see the resulting images.

With the group shots photographed smoothly and efficiently, and with guests saying they were ‘having fun’ and ‘enjoying themselves,’ (a big thank you to everyone who made these outside photos possible for Leigh and Caroline in quite miserable conditions,) we headed inside to the dry.

Caroline and Leigh were announced in for their wedding breakfast, which was followed by cake-cutting and speeches.

If you know this lovely couple, please leave them a personal message below, especially if you would like to be notified when all of the images from their special day will be available to view from this page, on their return from honeymoon. Please also feel free to click the ‘Like’ button below if you’re a Facebook user, to share these images with friends.