Wedding Inspiration - Wedding shoes

How gorgeous are these ribbon tie cream lace wedding shoes? I seem to have an addiction to wedding shoes or shoes in general but the truth is my personal shoe collection surprisingly isn’t that extravagant. Maybe that’s something I need to address.

These are Aimee’s wedding shoes. These are also Aimee’s legs.

Aimee.

I’ve known Aimee since we started high school together. I daren’t say how many years ago, but it was quite a few. She was quite like me and still is. She’s not the girliest of girls, she loves the outdoors and she’s pretty straight to the point. Probably why we are still besties now!

Wedding shoes.

I think I’m right in saying that these gorgeous shoes stumbled across Aimee almost by accident. She spotted these beauties in the shop window! I think picking your perfect pair of wedding shoes is such an important but almost impossible task for any bride. They need to look good. They need to be super comfy. They aren’t really going to be seen but they still need to be just right. 

Day in, day out Aimee is normally seen in a pair of wellies or walking boots. Her now husband Jonny is super tall so I knew she would wear heels despite the fact the shoes wouldn’t be seen under her wedding dress. I asked Aimee why she picked them. 

“They weren’t my type of shoe at all really. I just thought they were different and I was up to my eyeballs in wedding shops.”  

Aimee’s wedding day.

Maybe I should say Aimee and Jonny’s wedding day, but let’s face it it’s all about the bride! (Sorry Jonny). On the morning of Aimee’s wedding she was getting ready at her Mum and Dad’s home, in a large bedroom with loads of space. I noticed the gorgeous light spilling through the circular window of the room the moment I arrived. I almost became obsessed with it in some way.

Like most girls and despite being my bestie Aimee isn’t the type to prance around half naked. Saying that I did talk her into having a boudoir shoot before the wedding, but that’s a story for another day. On the morning of most wedding days you have LOADS of time. Then for some reason out of nowhere you have exactly 15 minutes to brush your teeth, put your dress on, organise your bag and get to the church before the ceremony begins. It happens so often, it’s like the clocks go forward an hour every Saturday at 11am. Needless to say all your feelings of being shy seem to disappear as you can’t be late for your special day. 

Documentary wedding photography.

As a documentary wedding photographer it’s so important for me to capture moments as they happen. To capture the details of your wedding day in context and more importantly in real time.. I will always capture the details of the wedding dress, wedding shoes when I arrive on the morning of a wedding but I’ll then make it my mission as a wedding photographer to capture these details again in context. Whether that be putting the your wedding shoes on, or the wedding shoes getting out the wedding car. For me (and for you) this means so much more when you look back at your wedding photographs as you’ll remember how you really felt at that exact moment in time. This goes without saying for every detail and every moment that happens.

I didn’t ask Aimee to do anything to create what is now one of my favourite wedding photographs. I just waited until I captured the perfect moment that would tell the story of Aimee tying her gorgeous wedding heels. 

Behind the photograph. 

I’m quite lucky that Aimee chose these beautiful ribbon tie high heeled shoes as it gave me ample time to compose the perfect moment. I’d already secured my spot. I laid on the floor and locked in on my composition to frame the perfect image. All I had to do now was shoot and wait. In the 3 plus minutes it took Aimee to fasten her shoes I took nearly 50 frames as I wanted it to be just perfect. By perfect I mean I wanted the hands to be equal, but also to have separation in the limbs so the image looked cleaner. This was alongside the stance being elegant to show the beauty of the moment. 

The reason I love this photograph so much is because you can’t see any facial expressions that aid in the story telling of the photograph. I love the image because it’s a detailed photograph of Aimee’s wedding shoes in context in real time. For me and for Aimee this tells the story of the final moments of her bridal preparations on the morning of her wedding day. That I know when looking back at this photograph in many years to come will take Aimee right back to how excited, nervous and happy she felt at this very moment on her wedding day.

I’m also extremely lucky and proud to have won an ISPWP award for this image too. I only enter images into awards that I absolutely love. This image is now very precious to me and to my career as a wedding photographer. 

I hoped you liked the story behind this image. If you’d like to read more about why I love your wedding photographs you can do so by clicking here. You can also watch more videos about my favourite wedding photographs on my YouTube channel here. 

Please do get in touch, I’d love to know what you think. 

Toni xx