This wedding was a first for me, which after 13 years of photographing weddings was quite a major thing! Nicki and Steve got married at Rising Brook Community Church in Stafford, nice and local for me which is always a bonus. They wanted to keep it quite low key and informal so opted for a bespoke photography package of just a few hours. I joined Nicki in a room above the church where she was getting ready with her Mum and two best friends, I then nipped downstairs to capture Steve as he welcomed some of their wedding guests.
Rising Brook Church in Staffordshire is home to Open Hands Signing Church launched in 2019 and served by deaf baptist minister Susan Myatt and a team of Deaf people. The services are conducted entirely in British Sign Language (BSL) with an interpreted voice over so that anyone, hearing or deaf can attend and access the services. As members of the deaf community Nicki and Steve chose this as the perfect place for their wedding ceremony. During the ceremony Steve even took to the stage to sign a message to his new wife.
Taking photos at this wedding was not that different to other ceremonies and wedding days that I’ve been at with my cameras, emotions were expressed, guests wanted to see the wedding rings, cake was cut and food eaten, everyone got dressed up and were happy, celebrating the love with the newly weds. When it came to the handful of group photos the couple wanted, hand signals and non verbal gestures worked and once one or two guests were on it, others were quick to join in.
A special mention has to go to the wedding cake which had Gruffalo decorations on, the detail on the decorations were amazing!
