Wedding: Lauren & Corey

This is the most difficult blog I have written – I messed up at the one wedding that I really, really, wanted to be perfect. I was actually looking for a table to hide under at the reception and in hindsight I should have taken action.

Corey and I have been working together  years now and when he asked me to photograph his marriage to Lauren I felt excited, happy and daunted all at the same time. Not only is Corey a shit-hot wedding photographer, he’s a good friend and there is always added pressure in situations like these.On the day of the wedding, Saturday just passed, the weather was perfect and the guys appeared ready to roll when I arrived… until Corey tells me that they all have to ‘duck out’ to pick up some cars for the wedding. I’m thinking great – not only am I feeling the pressure, now I’m behind schedule from the get go.

As it turned out, everything was fine, the guys were back in surprisingly quick time and we had a chance to grab a few snaps of Corey and his son Llatyn in somewhat quieter surroundings. I actually started to feel pretty good once I started shooting and was witness to how uncomfortable Corey was in front of the camera instead of behind it. As for Llatyn, what a good looking, well spoken and well mannered page boy – even if his dad dressed him in white ankle socks with his wedding suit.

The noise factor rose once the boys returned and we managed a bunch of photos before I left to see the girls as they made their final preparations for the day.

Lauren left nothing to chance by using Lee-Ann Hanly for her make up and she looked stunning when I arrived at the Star of the Sea Apartments, even though she kept insisting that she was very nervous. It was difficult to tell as she and the girls filled the apartment with laughter as they busily made their finishing touches.

Once dressed and with a little champagne flowing, Lauren and the girls strutted their stuff and it was a simple job of pointing and shooting for me. Time was flying and before long I was at crouched in the aisle of the church not far from Corey and his groomsmen standing to attention as Lauren made her entrance on the arm of her brother Cameron. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house – Lauren simply looked stunning.

The ceremony was a lovely affair with a beautiful reading from little Llatyn and another good friend. I was surprised to hear that both Corey and Lauren recited their vows off by heart – no wonder they were nervous.

Shortly after they were surrounded by their closest family and friends outside the church where there was hugging, kissing, congratulating, back slapping and all round.

Following a fun location shoot it was back to the reception where my dramas began. One thing that Lauren secretly wanted and Corey organised was for me to prepare a slideshow after the speeches to showcase some of the images from the day. This is something that I do regularly and usually without fuss but tonight of all nights my computer wouldn’t ‘talk’ to the projector. So after some fussing around we came up with a solution where we would burn a DVD and run it on the reception centres laptop – what should have been ok.

With time running out we didn’t get a trial run to calibrate the projector which I was assured would be fine. Following the speeches, a fantastic introduction was given for the slideshow as the lights dimmed and… it didn’t work! So after messing about with equipment I wasn’t familiar with, we decided to call it quits as the whole reception was waiting and move onto the cutting of the cake. I wish it ended here.

Following the cake cutting we received the thumbs up that we were good to go and the slideshow was once again introduced. What came up and played was nothing short of an embarrassment – the images were stretched, the colour was terrible, the transitions were jumping and the contrast was so high that poor Lauren’s dress had not one piece of detail. I was praying for a blackout while looking for somewhere to hide!

In hindsight, I should have jumped up and stopped it and still feel sick for putting Lauren and Corey through that. I know it’s no consolation but below are the images the way they were meant to look and I truly hope that I didn’t spoil their night.

Before I finish, I just want to say how touched Jemima, Linda and especially I were at what both Lauren and Corey had to say in their speeches. It truly meant so much to me to be involved in their day and I hope that we all remain in their lives for many years to come.

Congratulations to the two of you and may the wind always be at your back as you travel through life together.

Enjoy your honeymoon and see you both soon.