A day in the life…… by Bonnie & Adam
1. Our approach While planning our wedding , the photography was definitely one aspect which was really important to both myself and my husband Adam, as well as our family. We wanted a photographer who wasn't too formal and had a creative eye as well as offering a more fun and different element to the photography- almost more personal approach. We were recommended Paul Toeman by a number of different people including our makeup artist Louise Stone, our toastmaster Jamie Parkin and our event planners Ruby J Events, all of whom had worked with Paul on numerous occasions. We subsequently arranged an initial meeting with Paul to get to know him and see how he works. We immediately clicked and knew that Paul was going to make the perfect photographer to capture the special moments throughout our wedding day. We had planned our wedding timings differently to most weddings which actually suited Paul's photography team better on the day.
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We let Paul know exactly what we wanted for the day but given his experience he went above and beyond including taking amazing night shots in the astounding grounds of the grove hotel - the location of our wedding. Alongside this- Paul also took it upon himself to get a few creative different shots from our day such as "the selfie shot" which captured special moments in a different light which made our wedding album even more exceptional. Tip: We had planned all our shots in advance to ensure the family and bridal shots were taken as quickly as possible to ensure we could party with our friends and family. I would advise writing a list of the family formal shots before the wedding f day and send this through to the PTP team so that on the day you do not need to stress or worry about this in the day.Â
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Meetings & wedding prep
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When we had our initial meeting with Paul, we were extremely impressed with his work and the packages he offered. We felt that the prices were fair and competitive. He went through the main package which included a large album as well as 3 memory stick's with at least 900-1000 pictures from the day. This was a lovely aspect as my grandparents actually live abroad so it was a nice way for them to view all the pictures easier. After our initial meeting- we had a few follow up emails which were sent through in good time as well as any queries we had were answered straight away. Paul was also at the end of the phone if needed to ask him any questions. The booking forms were easy and straight forward to complete and were also quite detailed. Paul also liaised with our events manager and toastmaster as well as our catering company so they all worked to the same time table for the day- this was particularly important to us. The following photos are the photos we knew we would get from Paul after all the planning and prep as a result from our initial meeting and follow ups as well as keeping all people in the loop for our big day:
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I remember Paul telling me what time he would be arriving and as we had a late chuppah at 6, beginning with a reception at 5 he mentioned that he would like to arrive around half 2 which I thought would be too early but once the day arrived- it was a perfect time! He arrived and worked his way around us so carefully as well as getting amazing shots of the bridal party getting ready and dressed which were so sentimental. The one personal aspect I loved and will never forget was- he 'confiscated' my iPhone for the whole day! There was me wondering what the hell he was doing with my phone.. He had been taking pictures on my phone as well as his camera of the whole day so at the end of night I already had some amazing pictures on my phone to look at immediately! Such a nice touch :-)
Paul had 2 photographers with the bride as well as 2 photographers with adam and grooms party- so all aspects were covered. The shortlist we supplied for the formal shots, were followed exactly and Paul and the team managed this extremely well. Throughout the ceremony and the party we barely noticed the photographers as they all immersed themselves in the wedding celebrations. Every single special moment was documented as well as amazing action and natural shots. The photos give a wonderful insight into the intimacy of the ceremony as well as the exciting and energetic party celebrations! These pictures show off some of the best of our wedding day...
Stunning getting ready shots
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Special moments captured
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Post wedding
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The day after our wedding when we were still on a high! We had a phone call from Paul where he had already sorted through pictures from our night and had uploaded onto the 'FedEx of fun' - into Facebook a few amazing shots which was magical to see the day after as well share with family and friends a few days after the event! Within 1 month after our wedding day- Paul came round to present to us the photography from our wedding day as well as also arriving on our doorstep with a personalised cake for us with a picture from our wedding day as well as a framed picture from our special day too :-). The presentation consisted of a 10 minute slideshow of all selected pictures which Paul felt were the strongest, the slideshow was to music too which was lovely. The first time we both wtched it- brought a tear to our eyes- as it was amazing! We also received the usb's one for us and the parents. Paul clearly explained to us the next step to choosing all the pictures for our album which was extremely straight forward as all we needed to do was type in our email on the PTP link sent to us and favourite the pictures we liked - we left the design of the album down to the PTP team and we were extremely happy with the outcome! The viewing of the pictures online also made this easy for all our family and friends to view them too!
7. It’s
The following pictures were those which were included in the slideshow, on FedEx for fun as well as key features to our album..Â
Going forward Since our wedding day and receiving all our wedding albums , we have kept in touch with Paul and have recommended him . He will now be the photographer for my sister in laws wedding! My husband has also used Paul for photography for his company's corporate summer parties and client events. We have also ordered through the PTP team a few photographic acrylic collages which make lovely presents for family members to capture key moments from our special day! We also arranged another photoshoot with Paul where I had spoken to Paul and explained that I had wanted daylight photographs outside in a countryside setting which we were not able to achieve in the day due to the timings of our wedding . My mother keeps a horse of hers at a local stables called south Medburn and we came up with the idea to do another photo-shoot a simple 'wreck the dress' shoot in mine and my husbands wedding attire but this time in a field with the horse and my dog Louis. We also wanted to get a few amazing shots of both us outside In the sunshine! The photo-shoot was such a success and the photographs which Paul produced were out of this world.. Here are some of the photographs from this shoot..Â
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post wedding shoot
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I will no doubt be using Paul for any photography we would like for future.. He is a lovely person and an amazing photographer!Â