Wedding Photography at Stanbrook Abbey, Worcestershire. Toyosi and Dolapo's amazing wedding celebrations.
A few weeks ago I visited Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire for the second time this year (following Kiri and Chris' wedding that I will blog in the coming months) to photograph Toyosi and Dolapo's wedding celebrations. This is something of an epic blog post befitting an epic wedding so please accept my apologies for the number of images here!
Toyosi and Dolapo's celebration took place over two days towards the end of July. The first day was spent solely at Stanbrook Abbey with a traditional Nigerian ceremony. Having never been to a Nigerian ceremony before let alone photographed one it was the most amazing experience. There was just so much joy, colour and dancing to capture (dancing being a theme for the whole weekend!)
The following day, Toyosi and Dolapo had a church wedding in nearby Worcester before returning to Stanbrook Abbey to celebrate with their many family members and friends.
I must admit that this wedding was very much a challenge for me, with many traditions etc. that I had never experienced before, coupled with a large number of guests and many other photographers in attendance (apparently it is tradition for the Brides parents to have their own photographer in attendance). However, thanks to Toyosi and Dolapo's patience and easy going nature, together with the help of the wonderful Mel from Olivia Photography (second shooting for me on the Saturday) I made it through... very very tired but very happy!
I should also say a big thank you to Colin, Toyosi and Dolapo's toastmaster on the Saturday. He helped me immensely in gathering together people during the group photographs that I had been asked to take... and with 300+ guests that was quite an undertaking so thank you again Colin.
There are a lot of photographs to show from Toyosi and Dolapo's weekend so I won't say to much more. Here are just a few of them!
Venue: Stanbrook Abbey
My Second Shooter: Olivia Photography
Toastmaster: Colin Bruton
A gorgeous Worcestershire sunset at Stanbrook Abbey.
The colours throughout the wedding were fantastic... not least the traditional Nigerian clothing worn by Toyosi and Dolapo's family members.
One of the themes of this weekend was the amount of dancing throughout the wedding celebrations. Here is Dolapo dancing into the ceremony room on the friday, with the intention of impressing Toyosi's family members.
We were treated to some beautiful light at Stanbrook Abbey over the weekend... not least for a short while after the traditional Nigerian ceremony on the Friday.
After Fridays fun, it was back to Stanbrook Abbey the next day for more!!
A lovely shot from Mel... I had to leave to arrive at the church before Toyosi, so Mel stayed behind to capture a few of the last minute preparations...
Now that's a wedding car....
Beautiful Toyosi arriving at church for her wedding to Dolapo.
Dancing down the aisle...
Another beautiful image from Mel. I had a lot of group photographs to take in limited time meaning I missed out on a few moments. However, as Mel was with me she was able to grab a few wonderful shots like this one...
What a beautiful smile!!!
I remember a couple of years ago taking a class by the incomparable Susan Stripling who said that as a photographers career progresses and experience / skill levels grow, there will be fewer images from each wedding you shoot that will 'wow' you (paraphrasing a little)... Well this has to some extent become the case for me recently (which doesn't mean I think I have nothing left to learn... far from it in fact!)... However, as soon as I shot this on the Saturday I knew it would be an image I would be hugely proud of ... and I am!
Toyosi and Dolapo's first dance. A perfect end to a wonderful couple of days for me....
All images © John Colson Photography. Not for reproduction.