The wedding of Tom and Karen who were married at the St Ives Harbour Hotel was blessed with some beautiful weather. Neither Tom or Karen were from the area but St Ives held some special reasons or memories for them to make the decision to get married here.
Both staying at the lovely Harbour Hotel, I was able to move between the preperations of both the bride and groom, documenting each story leading up to the wedding. Tom seemed very relaxed with his brother and best man all getting ready before heading down to the bar for a drink and to meet their guests.
Karen was busy getting ready with her bridesmaid and a few close friends, also looking quite relaxed and all enjoying themselves. I took pictures of some of the details that Karen had scattered around as well as the shoes and her beatiful wedding dress which I hung in a recessed window space so as to also encompass the beautiful sea and coastline in the background.
Once Karen was in her dress we took some pictures before heading outside onto the balcony for some more pictures with her bridesmaid, son and friends which also highlighted how beautiful the weather was on the day with St. Ives bay in the background.
The ceremony was very relaxed but emotional with plenty of laughter and tears of joy.
After the ceremony, the rest of the day was just a fun filled affair with lots of documentary pictures as well as the family formal photos on the lawn with the coasline in the background. A high power and portable flash was set up to make the most of the formal photos and help reduce any unsightly shadows on faces caused by the bright natural sunlight.
Time ran away a little so the wedding breakfast took place before we had the opportunity to head down to Porthminster beach for some portraits of the newlyweds, although it was decided beforehand that we would do these afterwards,
We headed down to Porthminster beach, just below the hotel with some of the wedding party. The sun had almost completely set by now so I used the lights from St. Ives as a backdrop, blurring them out a little to make them look more beautiful and using some portable lighting for Tom and Karen. We kept the pictures natural and relaxed with no formal posing as requested by the couple. They were instead, able to enjoy a romantic stroll along the waters edge, stopping to grab the occasional kiss.
On arriving back at the hotel, the cake was cut and the first dance began almost straight away. Throughout the day, it was very obvious how much love there was between Tom and Karen and you could definitely tell this when watching them dance, oblivious to everyone around them.
Thank you Tom and Karen for a lovely day.
Jon O’Connell Wedding Photography Cornwall