The Best of 2024
Another 12 months of weddings are in the bag and it’s that time again: it’s the best of 2024! It’s been difficult to keep track at times, but this year I’ve photographed weddings all over, including Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Italy, and probably some other places/venues I can’t remember!
What a rollercoaster 2024 has been, as a wedding photographer and just generally! It’s been a wild ride of personal and professional highs, alongside the bits of life that don’t make it onto the social media highlight reel. So let’s jump straight into how the last 12 months have panned out.
In my 2023 roundup blog I stupidly said this: “My god, did it rain this year! I can probably count on one hand how many weddings didn’t experience some kind of rain this year, so we can only assume that 2024 is going to be a scorcher.” What an idiot. By June this year I was asking myself if it was EVER going to stop raining and if we’d finally get some warmth and sun. We did eventually, but please can we have a bit more next year?
More than an average number of 2024 wedding couples experienced less-than perfect weather on their wedding days this year, but as always, everyone approached their days without fear or disappointment in the weather, and never ever let it affect their enjoyment. I cannot overstate how letting go of things we can’t control significantly enhances how you see and enjoy your day. Thank you for being troopers.
I didn’t have to wait a long time for my first wedding of the year, as in early January I headed to beaut Essex country house wedding venue Gosfield Hall, for Danielle and Benn’s wedding, which had more than a touch of Tay Tay as Danielle is somewhat of a Swiftie. Taylor Swift’s influence featured at more than one wedding this year! Hardly surprising after the Eras tour was so huge in 2024.
After that it was a relatively gentle lead into my wedding season, as I eased into the rest of 2024 with some half day coverage weddings. Though I’m not there for the whole day, they are just as fun to photograph and I still get all the feels from capturing these special, and often intimate gatherings.
As we whizzed into full spring I entered the ‘wedding every weekend’ phase, and this works seamlessly right up until any major life events crop up… and in the same fortnight period as me needing to be in Berkshire, then Somerset then Italy, our daughter was taken into hospital for a week, and everything became quite stressful at SRP HQ. I did cry the whole car journey to Stansted airport as I left the country for 4 days, and I began questioning my life choices as I arrived in Tuscany as it poured down with rain for 2 days, but thankfully Josh and Beth’s Italian wedding day pulled it out of the bag with a warm, sunny, dry weather and wonderful destination wedding day.
You can see their dreamy Italian destination wedding HERE
Dramas fully behind me, the busy summer period was just that - BUSY! Back-to-back weddings, multiple weddings only a few days apart, weddings in one part of the country and the next somewhere else… I wouldn’t have it any other way! I adore the craziness of peak summer weddings and it’s one of the unique experiences of being a wedding supplier. July was mega with zooming round many weddings in different parts of the country, and I started in Kent with back-to-back weddings there. At Becky and Aria’s day, I arrived in the morning to a waterlogged family estate only to get my car stuck in mud, so Aria’s dad arrived on a commercial vehicle in a hi-viz vest to tow me out, before he got changed into his black tie. What a legend!
Also in July I zoomed up the M6 to the north west to capture the wedding of Chloe and Scott at Cheshire wedding venue Merrydale Manor, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before. If you know me, you’ll know I am a massive women’s football fan, and quite frankly this was a huge personal and professional highlight for me. If you haven’t seen the blog of their day, you can see it HERE
Black tie was absolutely massive this year, you guys bloody love it, and I suspect we’ll be seeing more of it in 2025 too. This year you guys have been loving black tie, cocktail towers, champagne sprays, and Natasha Bedingfield’s ‘Unwritten’. I don’t think I’ve heard that song quite so much as I have this year! Was that the song of your hen party?
It’s also been a super eclectic year for your first dance song choices, I’ve heard such a multitude of styles and it’s been so lovely hearing the variety of songs that mean something to you 🎶
I’m a recommended wedding supplier at Chippenham Park, Blake Hall and Easton Grange and I was chuffed to shoot some beaut weddings there in 2024, returning for some more there next year too.
It’s been such fun working alongside lots of different wedding suppliers this year, from the venues who choose to treat us photographers like humans and not like Victorian street urchins, to videographers who are loads of fun to work alongside, to my second shooters who not only take fab photos, but help keep me sane, too. Some of my seconds this year have really helped me out in tricky situations, particularly helping me last minute or travelling round the country with me when they have their own weddings to shoot too. Thank you.
As ever it’s been a wild ride capturing all of your weddings this year! So many absolutely banging weddings that I know have been planned with meticulous detail. I never take my job for granted and I get such gratification from hearing back from couples after you’ve received your photos. Your kind words energise and galvanise me to keep on producing epic wedding photos. I appreciate all of you.
So that’s it for another year, I can’t wait to see what 2025 has to offer, hopefully some effing sun, I am ready for SUN!
Here’s a look at some of my favourite photos from the last 12 months of weddings that I’m able to share with you. They may not all be the glossy couple shots you’re used to seeing, but it’s a joyful selection of some of the images that stand out to me. When you take tens of thousands of photos, it’s hard to narrow down the faves, but I think these just might be them. Enjoy - and well done if you make it to the end!
Like what you see? If you’d like to check my availability for your wedding date, whether it’s in the UK or beyond, please get in touch HERE. I receive over 300 enquiries a year and peak dates get booked up over a year in advance.