It’s now well documented (well, I wrote it so maybe “well” is a bit of an exaggeration!) that up until a few years ago I didn’t know squat about weddings. I’d barely even been to any and although I saw plenty of pictures from them when Dom returned from a wedding shoot, it was really the photography I was interested in, not the wedding itself. In fact I gradually became a bit of a backseat photography expert!
Now don’t get me wrong, I always firmly believed in marriage and was really pleased when my friends started getting engaged. As I gradually started getting invited to weddings I was really happy for the couples and certainly wanted to be there to share their special day. I just didn’t really understand what went into making a wedding happen and just how much the wedding day means to people.
You know when you hit that stage when suddenly it seems that all of a sudden EVERYONE you know is getting married? Well, in 2010 that was me! All of a sudden I went from having been to one wedding in 25 years to about 20 in 26 years. On the odd occasion Dom was even available to come with me, and at one wedding she even managed to not take pictures! Actually that’s not true, she wasn’t MEANT to take pictures but at some time I looked down to pick up a cupcake or something and by the time I looked back Dom had accidentally become the official photographer… but that’s another story.
Despite attending about a million weddings in a very short space of time it was only when it came to be my turn to propose (ok, arguably about 5 years after it became my turn when I finally actually got round to it) it was the first time I’d really thought about weddings themselves. I planned the proposal carefully and, though in classic Matt & Dom style nothing went to plan I had at least put genuine wedding-related thought into it Anyway from that moment everything changed.
Not only did our own wedding planning begin about 2 hours after the proposal (much to my stunned silence) but this little wedding diary we started as a bit of fun turned into the monster that Bride Vs Groom has become! I now write about weddings on an almost daily basis (usually at about 2am), I spend my spare time looking at wedding photographs and reading other blogs and searching for the best original ideas from wedding businesses to share with our readers. Weddings had taken on a whole new significance!
Just when I thought I’d hit wedding saturation point an opportunity presented itself. A conversation or 10 between myself and Dominique’s brother Alex turned into into a plan to start a little business making videos. A further series of conversations with Dom and her other brother Liam about the inquiries they’d been having about wedding videos resulted in the creation of York Place Films, the sister company to York Place Studios specialising in wedding cinematography. Just in case I wasn’t thinking about weddings enough whilst planning one, talking with Dom about them, being a guest at them, driving Dom and Liam to and from them and writing about them I now film weddings too and spend weeks editing footage of them.
But here’s the rub… I actually love it! I may complain when I’ve just finished a blog post and Dom tells me I have to make some invitations or go and look at slightly different shades of napkins, but overall I actually love weddings… who knew! Helping someone to plan the happiest day of their lives and then seeing the payoff when the Bride and Groom’s faces light up magically on camera really is incredible. The wedding industry is a lovely community to be in because at the end of the day everyone’s aim is to make someone else happy, and I get to work with the smiliest people in the world! I only hope I can make our wedding day as perfect for Dom as all the other weddings I see on a daily basis… it’s no easy act to follow!
So for anyone just starting out with planning their wedding beware: it might just take over your life! But if you sense the wedding bug creeping up behind you, embrace it. It’s a happy little critter after all.
