Malisha and Howard had their wedding reception at Painshill Park in Surrey and were looking for a Surrey wedding photographer that had photographed at Painshill before.
Painshill Park stretches along the banks of the winding on land that has a number of natural hills and valleys. The central feature is a serpentine lake. The park is home to many follies built by the owner in the 18th century, many of which have been restored. The key with the wedding photography is to utilise the location and the follies but not let the photo shoot aspect of the photography take over the day. It is possible to hire a buggy at Painshill but we chose to walk as sometimes it is the walking shots that link the places together that are the most memorable and a buggy can be a bit disruptive. I chose locations that were close together and tried to utilise features that I hadn’t seen from other photographers. The gothic temple at Painshill is a natural starting point but on the way we stopped at a simple fence for some natural photographs. It is easy to get carried away by a location and ignore the simple classic shots. At the temple we shot inside the temple and then I went down the hill and shot the temple from the slope. My favourite shots are the use of the grotto background with Malisha and Howard standing on an old tree stump. I used a wide angle lens and then went further back for a shot to with my zoom to compress the perspective. We did a few shots on the Chinese Bridge and then returned via the Abbey folly for some shots by the serpentine and the vineyard. All these shots took around 40 minutes which is longer than I normally take but there is a lot of walking involved and we had planned that time into the day.
On returning to the wall gardens I shot candids of the friends and then it was time for the meal followed by a number of speeches. After the speeches we did the group shots. In a summer wedding it is nice sometimes not to have a regimented plan and follow couple shots with groups. The light can be easier to photograph groups in the early evening and people are more relaxed.
Wedding photography at Painshill Park is always fun and I look forward to returning to the venue and trying new things.
