Last week, for the first time ever, I was completely rained off of an engagement shoot when I met up with Gemma & Phil in Whitstable. We went through some plans for the day as we watched the rain beast against the windows of the pub so allw asn;t lost, but we needed to get a move on and re-book a date. Their wedding at Cooling Castle Barn is only a month away!

Out on a job a couple of days back,  Phil found a run-down old industrial estate in Rochester which looked pretty interesting so we shot up there to finish what we'd started!

Despite her protests, Gemma's a star in front of the camera and a pleasure to photograph. We got some lovely urban-style pictures in the bag before security turfed us out - oh well!

Here's a few from our pre-wedding shoot, now to design them into a signing book in tim efor the wedding day!

Back to Chilston Park for Justine & Chris' wedding on September 4th (yes, I've been tardy ongetting some images on to the blog....but it's taken a bit of neglect whilst we got the new site up and running, I'm still playing catchup!)

We stayed into the evening to get some nightime images with them, and were delighted with the results, and though there's loads of favourites I could have posted here, I've had to limit the numbers a bit!

£1,450 got this couple a photographer and video with all files included....what a bargain!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218248/Newlyweds-win-court-battle-1-500-wedding-photographer-shoddy-pictures-include-missing-heads-car-close-ups.html

What they got wasn't worth a pound! Whilst it's tempting to laugh (the article features some of the worst wedding photos ever seen - take a look!) you have to feel for the folks that have lost the priceless memories from their day. Time and again, we hear these stories from people who book cheap wedding photographers and later regret it. In fact we've done more than one post-wedding shoot with couples who booked photographers who just didn't deliver a single worthwhile image.

Couple of bits of advice  from us.

1. Book a photographer who can show you complete weddings, not just 'best of' portfolios.

2. Make sure your photographer is full time, insured and experienced.

3. Make sure they're fully equipped with backup (and backup backup!) equipment, lighting and have contingency plans in case of bad weather or the day running late.

4. Have a pre-wedding shoot before the day so you know your 'tog' and  you're comfortable with their work.

If all else fails, consider booking Derek Pye, the self-styled 'World's Greatest Living Wedding photographer'