Just thought I would say a word or 2 about clothing, this is possibly not such an issue with weddings as people tend to go for plain clothes for weddings, but if you are going to have any photography done always try and wear something plain, certainly thin stripes or small checks are a real no no. Take a look at the photograph below which has 4 ladies all in white tops which is fine but the gentleman has a blue stripy top on and at certain sizes of image it looks like the scanning on a TV has gone hay wire (click on the image to get a larger image which demonstrates the point more). If the stripes are bigger this kind of optical illusion tends not to happen. Another thing to think about is colour co-ordination, try to make sure you do not clash with other peoples clothes particularly if you are going to be stood next to them a lot.

photograph that shows what not to wear when being photographed.

Just thought I would write a few hints and tips on planning your wedding from the photographic side of things.

Most people when planning a wedding concentrate on the venue from the point of view of location and cost and rarely think about the photography  that will happen on the day. When selecting a venue things to think about from a photographic point of view are:

• in the event of rain (or other freak weather) where will the photographs be taken, is there an area under cover (does not have to be inside a building, just under cover i.e. an entrance canopy or 3 sided barn) with enough light and space for all the people and the photographer.
• Is there space enough in the gounds for the group photograph
• if there is bright sunshine is there a shaded area for the photographs to be taken in, you need this for 2 reasons, 1/ bright sunlight for people photography does not make for good pictures, so you need shade to remove the bright areas from peoples faces and remove people squinting or sunspots (those bright dots of colour in pictures where you are pointing the camera in the direction of the sun), and 2/ to keep everyone cool on a really hot day.
• Look at the voliage around, is it fairly consistent and not too busy, are there pretty flowers around to be used in the background.
• Is there a building site on the other side of the fence of the property, makes for ugly backgrounds and possibly noise so making it hard to give instructions.
• how far from the bar is the area to be used for photography too far and it will take ages to get the people needed in the picture to the right spot and so the photographs will take ages to complete (if they do get completed).
• how close to the church are the photographs going to be taken, are the bells going to be ringing and so make it difficult to hear people.
• what kind of ground do you need to cross to get to the area to be used, is it a long way for people in high heeled shoes (a complaint I often hear) or across wet ground or soggy grass.

I had the most amazing day out on the August bank holiday weekend at Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex at the medieval festival held there. There were lots of people dressed in clothing of the era re-en-acting life of the medieval times including cooking and living like they did then. There were battle re-en-actments with canon and archers, knights and wenches!!! There was jousting and various archery competitions as well, plus craft stands and stalls selling all sorts of things. A most enjoyable day, so below are a couple of shots from the day of the knights getting ready to go to battle and then on the battle field walking towards their opponents.

photograph of knights waiting to go to battle

photograph of knights walking into battle

If you click on the link below it will take you to the website for the Herstmonceux medieval festival.

www.EnglandsMedievalFestival.com