Supplier Feature; The Best Job in the World

Thank you to Alison at Daisy Cupcakes for this amazing insight into "the best job in the world".

Yes, you read right – I have the best job in the world! I am a Registrar, and it is my privilege and my pleasure to spend my days marrying people and I LOVE IT!

I love it because it’s obviously such a wonderful thing to be able to do for a couple, being present on such a happy day and making their dream come true. But I also love it because I absolutely adore seeing the beautiful dresses, flowers, shoes and jewellery and smelling all the fabulous fragrance in the room!

My work is not full time, I am what is called a peripatetic Registrar so I am not based in an office. So how does it all work?

The Superintendent Registrar co-ordinates all the wedding bookings and prepares a staffing schedule usually three months in advance, so all the weddings I am due to attend are then put in my diary. As a peripatetic Registrar, I play a dual role – sometimes I am the Deputy Superintendent Registrar who takes the ceremony and sometimes I am the Deputy Registrar who does all the paperwork at the wedding and makes the entry in the Marriage Register.  There are always two Registrars at a civil wedding to cover both roles.

On the day of the wedding, we arrive at the wedding at least half an hour before it is due to begin and we are shown to our interview room. We always meet first with the photographers and videographers to ensure they know the photography policy and when they can take photos, and we also see any musicians to make sure they know when to stop and start for the ceremony.

And then it’s time to prepare to interview the lovely bride and groom to check all the details are correct.  First the groom, so that he can then go to the ceremony room and make sure all the guests are getting seated, and then the beautiful bride. This interview time is very precious, it gives us as Registrars, an opportunity to understand exactly the ‘feel’ of the wedding, and it gives the bride and groom a tiny bit of quiet time before the ceremony. We explain what is going to happen to settle their nerves and check that we have got everything right, so that the ceremony is perfect.

I love the atmosphere when walking into the ceremony room! Everyone looks fabulous, there is a lovely smell in the air, happy music is playing and the level of anticipation is sky high! I ask everyone to turn off mobile phones (!) and remind the guests not to take photographs until the end of the ceremony and then IT’S TIME!

‘Would you all please stand to receive the bridal party’

And now the bride makes the entrance she has been rehearsing for a lifetime – it’s magnificent to watch, and I feel so lucky to be there at that moment. And 20 minutes later -

‘Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to present to you for the very first time, the brand new Mr and Mrs .......'

Supplier Feature; Military Weddings Press Release

                            

Military Wedding Discount Launches across the UK and USA

Military Wedding Discounts is a great new website that has been designed to help members of the armed forces in both the UK and the USA save money when planning their wedding.

www.robgrimesphotography.co.uk

Emma and Terri decided to set up Military Wedding Discounts in order to help troops save money on their big day and to also help raise money for two charities Help 4 Heroes based in the UK and Operation Gratitude based in the USA.

www.robgrimesphotography.co.uk

All categories are covered from dresses and suits to catering and cake and from stag and hen do ideas to photographers and jewellery.  The website offers suppliers both in the UK and USA who are offering special rates to the military personal and 50% of all advertising fees are donated to the charities.

www.robgrimesphotography.co.uk

Emma Said: ‘supporting a military charity is something we both wanted to do for a long time and have combined it with our love of weddings. We are also looking into organising fundraising events of our own to help raise more money for both the UK charity Help4Heroes and USA charity Operation Gratitude’

www.robgrimesphotography.co.uk

There is also a section on ‘Real Military Weddings’ where brides and grooms or photographers can submit their wedding to be featured on the website. If you are a wedding supplier who would like to advertise with Military Wedding Discounts or are interested in becoming a sponsor, please see the ‘Advertise With Us’ page for further info.

For more information check it out at www.militaryweddingdiscounts.com

Real Weddings; Glen and Wonky

A big thank you to Libra Photographics for sharing this beautiful wedding. 

Glen and Wonky (aka Veronica) had a different wedding thanks to the stunning location of the brides parents, their garden backs onto the beautiful Poole harbour. Veronica's Dad also owned a Morris Minor and an Austin 7 (complete with winding handle) these were the wedding cars for the day.

After a fun filled preparation in the morning with the bridesmaids doing a fine job of lacing up the dress and stopping any chance of the bride breathing for the rest of the day, everyone jumped into their cars and rolled on down to the Church in Poole, apart from granddad who's car wouldn't start so I picked him up on the way (photographer/recovery vehicle).

After the church we headed to a view point over the harbour for a few photos and I have to say that Dad was a great sport when I asked him to drive up to the cliff edge in his Austin 7 mounting a couple of curbs with those spoked wheels whist I preyed that my idea did not damage his treasured possession. The photos sure were worth it so a big thank you to him!

Then back to the house where Veronicas brother, a marquee company owner, had put up the biggest marquee I have ever done a wedding in. It had decking, lounge, bar, chillout area, dining room and a dance floor, where he's had to avoid trees and rosebushes he made a feature of them in the actual marquee. A true artist!  

Although this was an extremely sunny day it was also a blustery one, 80% of the attendees to this wedding we water sports fanatics from competitive sailers including the groom to kite surfers, you could see the torture sitting looking out to sea with perfect conditions, this did not stop them having any fun when the party got started which is where I left them to enjoy without my camera seeing it all.

I hope you all enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed taking them.

More information on Libra photographics is below:

I graduated with a BA(hons) degree in photography 1997, and worked in photography ever since. I started Libra Photographics in 2000 with medium format film gear going digital in 2004. I do miss the days of film but digital has bought a whole lot of extras with it. I am a bit of a control freak so it is nice to be in control from start to finish.

Based in Poole Dorset my local area is Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon and Somerset. But I travel farther if asked, I have even shot weddings in the Lake District on a paddle steamer! 

I have now split my company in two as I believe my weddings and my portraiture have evolved differently, I have weddings at www.libraphotographics.co.uk and portraiture at www.eamesphotographer.com. I find this has free'd me up to pursue a lot more creativity in both.