{Wedding} Maria & Rob Porter at the Runnymede Hotel

At the beginning of June I had the privilege to photograph Maria & Rob’s wedding at the St Anthony’s Church, Slough and the The Runnymede-on-Thames, Egham.

When Maria asked me to be her wedding photographer, she also warned me to be prepared for anything at a large Italian wedding. And let me tell you, she was not exaggerating!I had a fantastic time, right from the word go!

Maria got ready at her Mum & Dad’s house, and so much for a peaceful affair. The doorbell did not stop ringing. Most of the neighbours, and family members dropped in to quickly come and wish her good luck. In true Italian style, the catering (at the house) was to die for, but in retrospect, you can understand the amount of food taken into account the number of people that came through. I tried to make a dent in the sugared almonds, but sadly for all my efforts, I don’t think I succeeded!

There were times when the emotions got the upper hand, and there were times that the pure joy could be felt in the air (and across the internet during a Skype conversation with Australia just before setting off).

The ceremony at the church was lovely and heartfelt, and even a bit funny when Maria forgot what she had to say 😉

After the ceremony when everybody went outside, there was no stopping them throwing handfulls of rice (uncooked!). Even with my best photographer voice asking them to just hold tight for a minute so that we could get everybody together, just meant that I got pelted with it too! Now there’s a lesson to be learnt here, don’t try and organise close on 150 Italians when they want to do it differently! 😉

Maria & Rob travelled to the Runnymede in style in a Rolls Royce, complete with champagne for Maria & a pint for Rob. 😉

We slipped away for a little while to go and take some photos of the couple and with a complete stroke of luck on our side, there just happened to be a stand-in Lock Keeper for the day. He was more than happy to let us go on the “jetty” to take some photos of the couple, and was even keeping the boats out of our way in the process.
I have had loads of comments and reactions already from everybody, including the staff of the hotel, about these images, because apparently the regular Lock Keeper is a bit of a grump and wouldn’t have allowed it in a million years!

During the reception I had another “first” to content with. Every-so-often all the guests would start clinking their glasses/plates/tables etc with the cutlery making one hell of a noise, and this is to indicate to the bride and groom that they would like to see a kiss. So Maria and Rob had to stop whatever they were doing (even at opposite sides of the room) and share a kiss. In true Italian stylie, Maria would also wind them up of course by saying that she couldn’t hear them and that they could get louder… which of course they did. Occasionally the guests wouldn’t be satisfied with a kiss by the bride and groom, so they would keep going until the Bride’s Mum and Dad or Groom’s Mum and Dad had a go. All in all a very interesting tradition that I thought certainly livened things up!

You’ll also notice that even the first dance wasn’t anything like the usual, but maybe I can ask Maria to describe it for us, as my words will fail to portray what went on there! 😉

I felt honoured to have spent the day with this wonderful family, and they truly included me in the party and celebrations. This is one wedding I will NEVER forget!

PS: In case you were wondering, the “Pirates” went by on a boat on the river while we were doing some couple shots on the river bank. While they were waiting for the lock they all came running over to congratulate Maria & Rob and insisted on this photo. Maria & Rob liked it so much that it is going into their wedding album as well.

As always here are my favourites, but let me know which ones you like best!

[Berkshire & Surrey Wedding Photographer]