Finalist for Best Wedding Photographer in London and the South East at The Wedding Industry Awards 2016
Ok so, this post is a few days late…the awards ceremony for TWIA was held on Tuesday evening and since then I have been pouring over the feedback and doing my best to hold back the tears. I honestly could not believe what my incredible couples had written about little old me. Being based in Surrey, I fall into the HUGE region that is London and the South East, where hundreds of incredible photographers (and friends!) are working hard from. It is a tough, tough competition and I knew when I was nominated that winning would be extremely difficult! So, I didn’t win, BUT, I was made a finalist. Which to me is an amazing feat knowing I could only be made a finalist if I were to score above 9.8/10 in all seven categories. Well, I was awarded with three 10/10’s, and four 9.9/10’s, which pretty much blew me away. Scores aside, my super lovely couples also took the time to write why they booked me and what they thought of me and my work, seriously, WOW. So here goes, I wanted to compile a little post and share an image from each wedding since my lovely couples took the time to vote for me, so please have a nosey below to check out what it means to do this job, and why I consider myself SO very, very lucky each and every day. Thank you thank you THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, this is a truly special job, and I know I go on and on about it but sometimes you just have to keep repeating it because it really is. I am lucky. Life is amazing. Thank you <3
“The photos I saw of other weddings (of people I didn’t know) gave me goosebumps and I knew if I could feel that about strangers, I would be blown away by those of my own day. Sophie was the best money I spent for my wedding. Firstly she is lovely and fits in so unobtrusively to the whole wedding proceedings. The images she captured throughout the day were absolutely stunning. You can feel the happiness And love in every photo. The lighting she captures is stunning and really is an artist. She manages to capture the most natural looking shots, which takes a lot of skill as looking through my pictures looks like she never missed a moment! ” Kate & Ricky
“I picked out Sophie’s photos from last years awards as ones that looked fantastic and my wife agreed. We really liked the way she captured special moments and the beautiful style of all her shots. My wife contacted Sophie by email which was responded to quickly and followed up with a comfortable, easy and chatty telephone conversation which sealed the deal. We think Sophie is great and I have recommended her to a work colleague who has booked her for their wedding.
From my wife’s first telephone chat with Sophie to the final hand over of our album it is clear to see that Sophie is an experienced and talented professional who loves what she’s doing. She was always relaxed, comfortable and personable in all situations which was great, we knew Sophie had it covered. Her photos were stunning and the comments from friends and relatives were amazing. They are images and memories that we will treasure together forever, it was Sophie that captured those moments.” Ryan & Kathryn
“It was her photos of the venue at a previous wedding that made us want to book the venue. She made it look so beautiful and everyone looked like they were having so much fun that we wanted that for our own wedding. We wanted a set of photos as beautiful as theirs! We couldn’t be happier with the photos Sophie produced of our wedding. She blended seamlessly into the wedding and just looked like one of the guests! The wedding didn’t feel like a photoshoot like some of the others we’ve been to, but we still managed to get all the shots we wanted. We can’t recommend her enough. The photos arrived so quickly after the wedding and were such a lovely treat in the post-wedding blues! She captured the fun and laughter of the day so well.” Lorna & Shervin
“I saw her in an online magazine feature and her pictures looked natural yet stylish and she came across as a lovely person. Sophie was wonderful, she became part of our wedding party and calmed me down when everything went crazy. The photos were amazing and we got loads of compliments – very happy!” Tessa & Phil
“My friend recommended Sophie and when I saw her wedding photographs I just knew that I had to book Sophie. I was wowed by Sophie’s website and blog. When I emailed her the correspondence was fun and professional. I liked the personality that she brings to her photos and she made us feel individual and special as opposed to being just another wedding. She suggested that we meet for a drink before the wedding and we felt 100% confident that she was the right fit for us. She is absolutely brilliant and so incredibly talented! Sophie was an absolute joy to work with from the beginning of the process right through to receiving the final photos. She’s an excellent communicator and great at responding to our queries. Not only is she efficient but she injects her work and photographs with her own style and personality. My guests loved her so much that they want to invite her to a ’wedding reunion’ because she was such a key part of our day. Sophie somehow managed to balance this with being seemingly invisible at times.” Natalie & Doug
“Sophie is an incredibly talented photographer and we loved her style, she also has so much enthusiasm for her work! Sophie was incredible and captured our day just perfectly! We are so happy that we found her and are so grateful for her hard work. We couldn’t have found a better photographer, Sophie captured so much emotion in our wedding photos and people have said they are the best wedding photos they have seen! She is also absolutely lovely and her customer service is fabulous, she blended into our wedding perfectly and we have so many photos we will cherish forever.” Charlotte & Russell
“We had a lovely first meeting with Sophie who had made the effort to come into London to meet us. After an initial conversation over the phone, we really felt she would do a brilliant job on the day after meeting her and we weren’t disappointed! Sophie was fantastic and put everyone at their ease on the day. She really understood what we were after with our photography from our first meeting and helped us to feel relaxed and enjoy the moment on the day. The beautiful presentation box we received our photos and memory stick in was the icing on the cake! We would wholeheartedly recommend Sophie to anyone who wants beautiful, personal photography which captures the tiny moments as much as the big emotive moments.” Marianne & David
“I saw photos from another wedding she had done and knew straight away she was the photographer we wanted. We didn’t look elsewhere. Sophie was amazing. She fitted into the wedding and was really quick to get fantastic shots that really captured the day. We all felt very comfortable with her as she was so friendly whilst staying professional the whole time. Her advise on timings and photos was greatly appreciated and the end result was worth every penny. Would recommend to all my friends.” Kim & Jonathan
“We both loved all of Sophie’s previous work, each wedding she shoots captures the uniqueness of couples wedding and gives a real sense of the day. She takes inspiration from the couple and the venues to create beautiful shots that are always so original and personal. Since my own wedding I still avidly follow her blog and am amazed by her work, she is truly an artist. I genuinely could not be happier that we booked Sophie as the photographer for our wedding. I am phobic of having my photo taken and usually avoid cameras at all costs, so was extremely nervous approaching the big day. Leading up to and on the day she was wonderful, she was there capturing every moment, yet I was I was never aware of her presence and at no point felt uncomfortable. Even during the posed shots she made us both feel relaxed. And the result – photos of me that I actually LOVE!” Jill & Stuart
“We found Sophie because we looked specifically for photographers who were already familiar with our venue but we needn’t have worried about that at all as Sophie is so talented. As soon as we met her we got along instantly and for me there was no-one else I even wanted to consider one we’d met her. I am SO GLAD we found Sophie! Looking through her work it was so obvious that she has such a natural talent for finding the most beautiful moments to capture. We really adore the wedding pictures that she took for us but I have to say if there was a stand-out thing we loved about Sophie it’s the time and effort she puts into every single client. She does so much in advance of the wedding to get to know her couples, and on the day she felt way more like an old friend than a wedding photographer.” Anita & Andy
“When I was at my sister in laws wedding I just loved the way Sophie worked. And then looking through their wedding photos made me cry and I just knew she was my Lady! Having Sophie photograph our wedding was a dream. I booked her over a year in advance – we had to have her! Before the day she got to know us (which is so important) and she listened to everything we wanted. I knew we were in safe hands and she would have everything covered – she went above and beyond to capture the story of the most special day for us. The day just flowed seamlessly (sometimes forgetting she was even there) Sophie is passionate about her work and it shows in the finished product.” Chloe & David
“We found her online when I was hunting for a photographer and she seemed to be everything I was looking for. Her website was very professional and showed everything id been looking for and wanted to see. As soon as I contacted her she was friendly, professional and seemed to know what I wanted already! Couldn’t have been happier with the choice of photographer we made. Sophie was both very professional and also so friendly. She arrived, fitted in with my whole crazy family and got on with snapping the photos! She could easily have just been another guest and it made everyone so at ease. She made organising 100+ people seem easy! She captured all the best moments perfectly and told the story of the day with her beautiful photos. She’s very creative and makes the most of the locations. I can’t recommend her highly enough and would use her again tomorrow.” Frankii & Andy
“Sophie was my sister’s wedding photographer and was amazing. She helped my very camera shy sister come into her own that day! Sophie was just brilliant! From the start it felt much more like working with a friend than a stranger. She made sure that she understood what was important to us on the day and we spoke for hours in the run up to the wedding. I was ridiculously nervous and stressed. We’d created a DIY wedding whilst my baby girl was only 10 months. I’m amazed that she managed to get any photos of me looking happy at all as I felt a bundle of nerves all day but her presence is so calming. She was our best guest!” Karen & Tom
“Firstly her photos are stunning with great colour and we felt she was able to capture the essence of the couple and their day. We had a relaxed outdoor wedding and even from our first emails with Sophie to when we first met we knew she would fit in perfectly. She very approachable and put us at ease with her knowledge and experience. Sophie is an incredible photographer. Our guests all commented on how hard she worked – you would have thought there were two of her! She caught so many moments we missed from my Dad shining his shoes to one of the children playing with an apple during the ceremony. Not only that she somehow captured the personality of our guests perfectly and all the fun and emotion from getting ready right until the dance floor. Her photos tell the story of our special day which we will cherish forever!” Sarah & Dan
“Sophie’s website and social media presence was a real winner for us; her photos capture genuine moments and aren’t presented in a stuffy way; despite still capturing the classic shots your Grandma would place on her windowsill. Sophie has a passion for capturing amazing light and nature; our wedding was very outdoorsy and garden focused so that was a big tick from us. Having then made contact with Sophie we knew she was for us – she was easy going, not pushy and really receptive to our ideas. It goes without saying that Sophie is a very talented photographer, however in addition to that she is an exceptionally dedicated and genuine individual. For us that made all the difference to our big day. Everything from the moment of booking, Sophie’s presence on the day and the beautiful presentation of our photos was seamless. Nothing is too much for Sophie and she goes out of her way to make her clients happy; including shooting our wedding with a broken foot! She truly deserves this award.” Charlotte & Tom
“It is impossible for us to speak about our wedding without mentioning Sophie. She felt like an old friend from the moment we met. She made myself who hates having her photo taken completely at ease and did her very best including climbing muddy banks to get us the photos we wanted. She fitted in to the wedding party so well and actually organised me and the bridal party in the morning when I’d gone into relax mode and my mother was flapping. She wasn’t intimidated by drunk uncles. Beautiful photos” Lucy & Ryan
“We liked Sophie ’s informal style and we knew we wanted her to be our photographer as we’d seen her work before. We were impressed by her professional but friendly demeaner which gave us confidence. Sophie was the only photographer for us. Sophie amazed us. She understood exactly what we wanted and captured all of the special moments of our wedding incredibly discreetly. We didn’t know she was there most of the time during our wedding. She also gave clear and creative direction during our photos as a couple. Sophie made us feel relaxed and confident so we could focus on our day. We love how Sophie manages to capture not only a moment, but a story in each frame she shoots.” Helen & Mark
“Similar to finding your partner, your dress, your venue… when you find your photographer, you just know! Sophie captured our day beautifully, the atmosphere, the emotion and the special moments. I can look at our photos for hours on end and each time I notice another little detail I would never have thought to ask to be captured. Sophie made us feel so at ease throughout the day and was so accommodating.” Nikki & Andy
“We loved the look of the photos on her website and when we met up with her to discuss our wedding day she seemed to understand instantly what we were after and she clearly did because we were delighted with the photos. I have some friends who have seen their wedding photos and thought that they captured the day well and had all the important photos, but the photos Sophie took for us are not only that, but also mini artworks in themselves, which is why they are so special to us. As a keen amateur photographer myself, the photography for our wedding day was really important to me. I found Sophie via an online search and was really looking for something that would stand out. Sophie’s website and galleries really jumped out at me, and she was the only photographer we talked to because we knew once we had met her she was the right person for us. Extremely easy to work with, good-humoured, responded to emails/questions really quickly & we were bowled over by the end result!” Catherine & Simon
“We were adamant we wanted more reportage style photography, nothing staged or formalised. The tone we set for our wedding was relaxed, fun yet stylish….which is exactly what Sophie’s own mantra is. I couldn’t believe it when I read it on her website – it was like fate. Then once we got to know her during the pre wedding consultations we knew she was the perfect match for us. We had no 2nd choice so we were mighty relieved when she said she was free! Booking Sophie was the quickest decision we made in the entire planning process and definitely one of the best. You just can’t underestimate the value of having a collection of such wonderful memories. I might be biased, but Sophie created the best wedding photos we’ve ever seen. She did such a brilliant job capturing the vibe of the day and all the different elements superbly – we have a book of memories we will treasure forever. On the day itself Sophie managed to be totally inconspicuous yet in all the right places at the right times – remarkable! The speed of turn around in post production meant we were able to relive it all again soon after and keep the wedding buzz going longer!” Chiara & Stevie
“We had to choose between two people to do our wedding and after meeting them both, we felt Sophie’s style suited us better. Plus, she was so easy to talk to and enthusiastic about our crazy ideas, we knew that we would be able to work with her easily. It was an excellent choice. Sophie quite literally went above and beyond that of an ordinary wedding photographer. Our wedding was very different in that we travelled around London with our party on a bus, a boat and by foot to complete a treasure hunt. This was all before a drinks reception in the evening. Sophie was amazing! She ran around London after us, suggesting photo opportunities and always with smile. She is very personable and all our guests warmed to her instantly. Our photos are perfect!” Phil & Tamsin
“Loved the photographs on Sophie’s website. She sounded like the perfect person to have around at a wedding – adding to the fun of the day and fitting in with all of our friends and family – and we were right. Sophie made the whole process really fun and put everyone in our wedding party at ease. She was great at communicating in the lead-up to the day, on the day itself and afterwards. Sophie captured lots of lovely natural moments and had plenty of ideas for the more formal shots. We loved the photographs, which were presented beautifully, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to any brides-to-be.” Hollie & Dan
A HUGE thank you to this last couple Hollie and Dan who took the time to nominate me for this award. With just a mere six days before voting closed, I shall never forget the fact that so many of my fantastic couples stepped up to vote and get me my new shiny badge of honour. Thank you a million times again *hugs* xxx