It's Important To Have A Plan

As General Eisenhower said “It’s important to have a plan, but it’s not important to stick to it.” That doesn’t mean that you throw away the plan but that you should amend the plan in light of an event that you hadn’t necessarily anticipated.

The photo that you see here were taken at a wedding at The Longlands Hotel, Tewitfield.  The wedding ceremony and reception were to take place at this venue and I had never shot a wedding at The Longlands Hotel before.  Now, I’m not really the kind of person who likes to rock up at a place and wing it, so a week before I drove up to Longlands via the house where the bride was going to be getting ready. This way I’d know how long I needed to get from the bride to the venue where I’d meet the boys prior to the ceremony.

The Longlands Hotel is set back from the main road and next to a marina, so I scoped out possible locations for the group shots. Unfortunately nowhere leapt out as ideal for the bride and groom together wedding photos. I figured that if there was a marina, there would be a canal close by.

I located a place that was easy to park by a canal bridge with easy access to the towpath for a somebody wearing a wedding dress. Ok I thought, this will be fine even if its not fine and it’s raining, as the bridge will provide shelter. My next task was to find somewhere that was a little more exciting making the assumption that the weather would be good. Prior to setting off I had done a little research using a map and had noticed a minor road which turned out to be part tarmac part grass. Halfway up the track was an opening leading to a newly mown field. On the wedding day I popped the bride and groom in my car and drove the 3 minutes from the hotel to my locations. We were back with the guests in less than 25 minutes.