Wedding - Engagement Shoot

September 24, 2014


I think one of the first things I did when we were officially engaged was email Binky Nixon, our wedding photographer to get booked in the diary. My Mum had shown me some photos of a family friend's wedding a good few years back, before we were even thinking about getting married, that were taken by Binky and we both fell in love with her work. We followed her blog, facebook and instagram ever since swooning at each new wedding or engagement shoot. So I was so so excited when we could get our time in front of Binky's camera.

{apologies to those who read this last week, a technical error meant it got published earlier than scheduled}



I think most people who follow me on Instagram will understand how much I love photos so choosing a photographer that would capture our day was a big decision for me. I must have looked at so many photos of Binky's and other photographers but in the end it was a no brainer, I loved Binky's natural, relaxed documentary style so we begged her to book us in for the 3rd July even though she hadn't opened her books for 2014 yet!



Our wedding package included an engagement shoot. I'm not sure how likely we would have been to book one of our own accord if it wasn't in the package but I'm so glad it was included for a number of reasons. First of all, we didn't really know what to expect but the whole morning was so fun. It was lovely to spend more time with Binky and she instantly put us more at ease and told us what to do. We honestly forgot that we were having our photo taken half the time.


Binky encourages dogs in her shoots and I love my pup almost as much as Ben so it was sweet having him in some of our photos.


It was also good to get used to having our photo taken, it sounds silly as you think that you know how to pose for photos instinctively but your wedding photos will probably be the one's that you'll treasure most for years to come so making sure you're comfortable with your photographer and having your photo taken will make it a lot easier for the wedding day knowing your best angles. It's good practice basically. 

And the other bonus is the set of the photos you can keep from it by a professional. We've displayed some of ours in our kitchen and are genuinely really pleased with them. There's not many photos that capture us both so well and so naturally. 


We had a hard time choosing where to have the photos taken. We had thought about going into London, I'd seen some cool shoots done around Borough Market and Primrose Hill. I think if we still lived in London we would have had one in the city but it's always so busy in London and we had just moved back to the village where we're both from so wanted somewhere local to reflect that. 




We wanted to choose one of our favourite places that reflected a typical weekend. Binky had suggested photos in our house as she knew we had just renovated it but as we were going to display the photos in our house afterwards, I wanted to go out somewhere for them. In the end we were torn between Ashridge and Chipperfield {in Hertfordshire}, both gorgeous places in the countryside where we take the dog a lot for walks. Chipperfield won in the end as it's just up the road and then we could go to Fred and Ginger, our favourite coffee shop in the village. 




The next decision was when to have it. We chose the end of October, the day before halloween - partly because it's a quieter time for Binky but also because I love the colours and light in Autumn. Our wedding photos would be in the middle of summer so it was nice to go for a different season. 


We got really lucky with the weather, it was such a gorgeous, crisp blue sky autumnal day with light perfect for shooting in. We did a loop around the woods and then went out onto Chipperfield Common in the open for some different surrounds before ending up at Fred and Ginger Coffee. 


A photographer will probably be one of the bigger expenses from your wedding after the venue. Not everybody prioritises this but photos were definitely high up on our list so it was well worth it in our eyes but you've got to decide what's important for your day. A lot of people spend a lot of money on bands but music wasn't that high up the list for us, you can splurge and save accordingly. 







We were advised to wear fairly bright clothes that would stand out in photos but I also hope the clothes we chose won't really date when looking back, we wanted something quite classic. 



We had a lot of fun and now enjoy looking back on the photos. I can't believe it was almost a year ago already. I'll be sharing lots more of Binky's photos from our wedding day over the next few weeks in these Wedding Wednesday posts. There are more photos below if you'd like to see.



























You can see our sneak peek album and more of Binky's photos on Facebook here 
And Binky's website here.

R <3 xx

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