Karen and I had talked on and off for a while about a photo shoot that would draw some inspiration from the 1970's, particularly as back in 2020 (when we did this shoot) it was the festivals 50th birthday! Obviously coronavirus happened though so it put an enormous amount of spanners in the works with various different life things, including of course photo shoots. Karen got in touch with me and let me know that she had a new venue in mind for our shoot, and with the now recent world events we wanted to show how small wedding can definitely still be beautiful.
Karen designed and made an absolutely fantastic dress, and from there I have to say she took the wheel with this one, I was happy to come along and purely photograph what she and all the other amazing suppliers had come up with. Our beautiful venue, The George Hotel In Yarmouth, just oozed with modern elegance, and my brain just started exploding with ideas for shots. Normally I’m more keen to have natural candid moments, but with this shoot it seemed to work better with the venue to have more poses with strong confident expressions from the models, almost like the models (who are also a couple in real life) were royalty. When the venue is so stunning, the models look fabulous and the suppliers do great work, it's nothing but a joy! Wedding Dress and Veil: Karen Dornellie Photography: Holly Cade Photography Make Up: Isle of Wight Make up and Face Paint Hair: Charlotte Back of Scotts Hair Salon Styling: The Events Co Cake: Gladys May Cakery Flowers: JK Floral Design Menswear: Visual Impact Venue: The George Hotel Models: Leonie & Sam
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Let’s cut the small talk. If you’re reading this I can assume you know what “2020” was. If we weren’t separated by the internet or social distancing, I would give you an enormous hug, partly because I haven’t hugged anyone but my husband for nearly a year, and say something along the lines of “fuck, we made it through!” The year where literally you could take nothing for granted about everyday life, where the thing you were going through was what everyone was going through globally at the same time. Where we laughed at how naively we’d set “goals” for the year, had dared to maybe book a holiday, even bought diary’s for the year and that we were so confident we wrote upcoming events in pen. Oh how naive we were! I can’t say this year has been completely terrible for me. Partly because I am more often than not optimistic and proactive, and partly because it wasn’t all a shitshow. Some of it yes, I make no secret of that. It’s probably been the most stressful year I’ve had. My heart went out to people who had lost loved ones to covid many times, as well as fellow business owners, wedding couples who had the extremely difficult job of planning a wedding during a global pandemic, the industry that I love and am a part of struggling like never before. My mental health (and a couple of times my physical health) took a nose dive a few times. I am absolutely confident that I am far from alone in that. It’s maybe such a cliche to describe this year as a rollercoaster, but to be fair I think it’s a pretty accurate description. I learnt self care and compassion in a way I have never before, completely letting go of what was out of my control and doing my best (whatever that looked like day to day) with what was in my influence and control. Just as the first lockdown was starting to slowly wind down, my Gramp (Grandad) passed away pretty suddenly. I wished things were normal purely so grieving and saying goodbye could be more what it would be like in normal circumstances. He was such a beautifully free spirit and such a kind person who was always absolutely himself, loved playing Irish folk music, and along with my Nan had a big positive influence on me growing up, particularly about being an artistic creative person. He was an absolute gem and I will always miss him. Honestly there were times I had never been so uninspired to pick up a camera. But it turns out that over the year I did take photos off my own back through facetime shoots, a couple of photo challenges where people on social media joined in which was pretty cool, and I was so grateful that when lockdowns finished and restrictions allowed I was asked to take photos for some really lovely people too throughout 2020. I’ve also received more wedding enquiries this year than I have ever done, who’d have thought?! I haven't included photos from every shoot and project I did because I wanted to try and keep the numbers of photos down so the blog isn't packed with a silly amount of photos. I also did my first solo photography workshop for beginners, which was a success and I will definitely be doing again when this covid world allows! We also decided to get away when we could and went to the Peak District for a week - Me, my Husband Pete and our dog Scampi. Just the 3 of us, lush! New surroundings, lots of fresh air and walking, tasty food and chilling out. I had a whole summer off for the first time in a VERY long time, don’t think that fact was lost on me when I sat in the garden for hours and took many more trips to the beach than I usually do. I’m not “grateful” for 2020. I’ve seen this idea floating around and I understand the thoughts behind it and that’s great if it works for you. Honestly I don’t feel that way about it. Not as a whole. BUT I’m glad I didn’t write the whole thing off and condemn the whole year as being a disaster, because as hard and scary as it has often been, there are things I am genuinely grateful for and lessons that I have definitely learnt. I absolutely have had moments where things went well, but there were other times I was determined to see the upside and to not take anything personally. Make the best of the fact that I am still here and that I am lucky to still be here. An enormous thank you to everyone who worked with me this year and booked me for weddings, it’s absolutely kept me going as a business and personally too. As special as I knew documenting people together and wedding photography was before all of this, I got more choked up this year at every wedding I did. It seemed incredible and beautiful that despite everything that had been unfolding throughout the year, love was not cancelled and celebrations and joyfulness was still possible. An enormous boost every time. Whatever this brand new year has in store, just remember we got through the last one. Onwards and upwards! Holly x onto the photos! Four weddings, two proposals & A vow renewal...It all started when Nichelle (Angelica’s sister), contacted me asking if I would take pictures of Sunil proposing to her sister, and if I was happy to potentially travel off the Isle of Wight to do so - both answers were a big fat YES! The weather decided to drizzle constantly which was a wee bit disappointing, particularly as we’d been having a massive summer heatwave just a couple of days before, but when Sunil and I were discussing proposal plans I knew it was going to be by High Point Lighthouse at Hurst Castle, it did cross my mind that it might look potentially more romantic in the rain? And in telling the story it does add an extra romantic edge I think if you add “by a lighthouse on a beach, in the rain” Either way, the date was set to stay in line with Sunil & Angelica’s staycation plan, after their holiday abroad had to be cancelled due to that damn ‘rona that’s turned 2020 upside down!
Off I went on the boat to Lymington, and then across on a little ferry, where it turned out they were both in front of me in the queue, and sat across from me on the boat, quite nerve wracking and funny from my perspective, but I was so desperate not to give the game away, so I only unpacked my camera when I felt it was safe! One year ago today, Karen and I were trudging up a field from Karen's parked car towards the corner of a field on a farm, that we had only managed to hire for the shoot 24 hours before. The sun was shining, Covid-19 was something that was unheard of and we were looking to get creative before the summer season for 2019 started.
So firstly an enormous thank you one year on to Forest Farm shepherds hut and camping, for stepping in at the very last minute because we'd been let down by our first venue. Not only did they allow us to use their farm, they were extremely lovely and accommodating and even let us play with some of their animals on the shoot. We could not have done this without you! Before the country was in lockdown and not long after social distancing had begun, Hannah and Simon renewed their wedding vows on Compton Beach after 14 years of marriage.
Simon wore his actual wedding suit and Hannah wore her wedding dress, plus a jumper because it was so cold that day! Unfortunately the sun did not come out to play that day, and just to rub it in there was loads of sunshine before that Friday and for the whole weekend. Hannah made the flowers from ones they'd bought from Tescos, and the heart they used in the ceremony was from Alum Bay, filled with sand they collected from Alum Bay & Compton Beach and dried out on a radiator at home. I loved the sweet little personal touches they did for their intimate renewal ceremony! Seeing Sue from Wight Celebrants in action for the first time was brilliant, she was great! Sue is a friend of mine and I've known her for a long time. We worked together on weddings before in her previous business as a florist (and she was bloody good at that and all!) Plus any ceremony that includes a Lord of The Rings quote gets a huge thumbs up from me. Lovely to see her Husband Paul too! There's even a photo I took below of Simon checking on his phone what was said in one of the first daily Coronavirus press conferences from Downing Street that evening, definitely not taken a shot like that before. Wanna see a really cute, music and science themed winter wedding? DONE!
Not long after Christmas last year, Kelly & Tom got married at The Quay Arts. I'd never shot a wedding there before and was really looking forward to shooting at a venue, particularly one I've been to many times over the years. The room was decorated with the help of Personalize, with some beautiful personal touches celebrating the couples different passions. There was also a really cute desert table and a gorgeous wedding cake by the ever fabulous Frostbite Bakery. Despite the rain that persisted all day (why do they say that's good luck on a wedding day?!), Rachel and Ryan's wedding day went very well indeed. The pair had a fairly small and laid back wedding at Ventnor Botanic Gardens, most of the guests and myself made our way to the gardens on "The Old Girl" bus, where there was an awful lot of Prosecco and laughter despite the miserable weather. It was the first time I'd been on the vintage bus and it is beautiful and the staff were so friendly and helpful. All the wonderful flowers were done by Doris Pinks Florist, and the ever fabulous Frostbite Bakery did the wedding cake! Thank you so much Rachel and Ryan for asking Lana and I to photograph your wedding, for the kind words and for recommending us! Also a huge thank you to Rachel's mum for randomly leaving me a beautiful review. If you'd like to see Rachel and Ryan's poppy and sunshine filled pre-wedding shoot, feel free to look here. holly
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The Ramblings of Holly Cade:Wedding and Portrait Photographer - based on the Isle of Wight. Categories
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