Best of…2021

TWENTY TWENTY ONE. I won’t forget you in a hurry.

Apart from last year, I haven’t had a year quite like it. It really is hard to summarise, because unlike previous years, it began so bleakly. Cast your minds back to January 2021 - the country was in its third lockdown, the first vaccine had just began its roll-out, and there was no sign whatsoever that we would have a ‘normal’ year, let alone a normal wedding season. I think I felt more despair then than at any point in 2020!

Which is what made 2021 so unreal. That I have to trawl through to the back-end of my mind for these memories and feelings, must tell you all about how the year did a complete 180. The wedding season began with 6 people in a registry office, no reception, and outdoor dining only for the wedding breakfast. By the end of the summer it was business as usual, and looking at the gallery I think there are only four or five images that I would say are ‘Covid-era’ images.

Moving on, there are a couple things I’m incredibly grateful for - I haven’t been that busy since 2017, which, after the hit my bank balance took in 2020, was a sincere relief. And I probably haven’t enjoyed myself throughout a wedding season since then as well. A big part of that was simply seeing (and sharing in) the joy and exuberance from everyone, as they partied hard, and threw caution to the wind. On another more personal level, I think it’s also because I needed that year off in 2020. Ten years of shooting weddings year after year, had begun to take its toll. I needed the break I never would’ve taken otherwise, and I came back this year all the better for it, more impatient than ever to create new work again.

Finally I was also incredibly thankful. I began 2021 with the belief that it would be another year written off, another year lost, and it ended up being anything but.

So, let me end by saying a huge thanks to all the couples whom I photographed this year. Thank you for having me there, and for allowing me the opportunity to capture such a special day in your lives, and be embraced by you, and your amazing entourage. Your words of kindness after the day, and after seeing the pictures, will remain with me always.

Here’s to another incredible year :)