Tom Ravenshear

A long while ago we ran a small competition in an ace magazine called Oh Comely. The winner of that prize was this amazing couple, Justine and Jon. They got married in the south of France way back in June, and to say that their day was awesome is a bit of an understatement. The reason for this is that it was almost literally put together on the day. It was held at a beautiful old monastery called Chateau de Queill and on the morning of the wedding Justine went and picked all her own wild flowers, the bridesmaids made the paper cone to put the confetti, everyone helped lay the tables (which Jon went out to buy on the morning of the wedding!). The whole thing was handmade from start to finish, even the bridesmaid Naoko Inuzuka made their wedding ring, as well as the flowers. A superb day (and night) was had all round.

I have been very very lucky this year to have met and photographed some amazing people, and i’m a true believer in fate and that good things happen to good people. So when i got a call three months ago from Annette asking me to shoot her and Adams day, in the middle of July, it was just pure luck that it fell on the only day that i had available. From the moment we chatted, i knew that this day, and these two wonderful people would be up there with one of the best days I have ever had. Their Civil Partnership was in Stoke Newington Town hall, followed by a reception at the beautiful Londesborough pub in Stokie too. Being a non gender specific partnership, both Adam and Annette (and Martin, the best man) wore suits, tailor made by Newman Pearce, with shoes by Grenson (I wear these too, and did a few of the guests!!). The part of the day that touched me the most was them reading their vows to each other, which included among other things the promise of puppies and a full size swimming pool. You two are amazing people, the world needs more people like you…thank you so much for a wonderful day.

When Vicky and Scott told me about their wedding day it sounded amazing, very simple and fresh, but what they forgot to mention was the groom’s gold shoes, some table tennis, cheese flavoured popcorn, limbo dancing, table football, a spot of rowing on a lake, the bride wearing a plastic bag on her head, a run down warehouse and some 3D modelling of the bride and groom…! This wedding had it all, and more….

Summer is finally here, as is the unending sunshine which means shooting late in to the evening. Helen and Matt are getting married later in the year, so I spent a beautiful evening in the beautiful St Albans with these beautiful people for an engagement shoot…

Way back last year I ran a competition with the amazing Oh Comely magazine to win your wedding photography, and the winner was the truly inspirational Justine and Jon, who got married over the weekend in a beautiful chateaux in the South of France, and basically made everything themselves and with friends. From picking wild flowers on the morning of the day to making confetti holders, they even just popped out and bought the beautiful wooden tables on which to have dinner. I just could not resist sharing a few images, but to see the rest, you will have buy issue 17 of Oh Comely later in the summer…