I photographed Kate and Will's wedding in December 2013, it was one of my last 2 weddings for this year and one which I was massively looking forward to shooting.

The day started off at the incredible Lyde Court in Herefordshire, where Kate and her bridesmaids were getting ready, then moved onto a wonderful service at Belmont Abbey.

The Abbey was a wedding photographer's dream to photograph...

-This post is part 3 | Part One | Part Two-

The next wedding of the year after Lucy and David’s was Kevin and Karen's. They had found me through their daughter who had seen my advert on gumtree, after going down to Caerleon to meet them they were happy to book. 

Their wedding was a really beautiful day...

-This post is part 2, check out part 1-

So I had shot two weddings and learnt a heck of a lot in a very short amount of time, a trial by fire sort of thing, I had started to refine my gear and shooting style as well as learning the non-photographic skills that are needed, such as managing people.

It was at this time I read about a man called...

Here is a brief breakdown of the kind of gear I use at weddings, and a bit about why I choose to use what I use. 

I like to keep my kit light and simple, some photographers are happy to carry round cases of gear but for me less gear means more focus on the photos, as well as being able to blend in that much easier.

So that is the whole lot, minus a few...

I'll warn you now, this post goes on a bit, but it's kind of interesting and there are loads of pictures.

This is a post about my first year as a documentary wedding photographer and a bit about before, where I came from and how I got into photography in the first place, which involves a trip to Iceland and about 3,000 terrible photos.

I'll also explain how I've built my photography business...