Cathy & Richard

To witness, it's an honour. To photograph, well that's just plain rollercoaster in your stomach exciting.

From my 3am wake up, I finally laid my head to rest on my pillow 21 hours later, quite elated from the day and my cards filled with 2000 still images and some HD video which I surreptitiously captured for them, developing a new line for myself which echos that of my still photography. I love the moving image and would often wonder through my life why I could never follow a plot, too engrossed am I always in the cinematography.

Renewing their wedding vows of 25 years with a full scale wedding, the couple were reunited at the altar for a full Catholic mass.

I first met the bride just yesterday to discuss the details, adoring her easy approach to the big day, which defied her enormous attention to stunning details and energy she'd put into it.

What truly set the wedding apart was the focus on love, bountiful joy and their union through Jesus. My brief was as brief as the word itself: simply to focus on the deeply religious service. Cathy poured her heart and soul into every detail, the awe inspiring towering cake, the crystals sparkling on every table and the union of 150 of their closest friends and family. So often I feel wedding photography is more akin to a fashion shoot with distant moody gazes and so far removed from the love that brings a couple together, cold even, and I cannot imagine greater marital and respectful love than that which is shared between these two lovely people.

Technically, it was a huge challenge, the full mass running on as the priest is family to them, my desire for a fun 150 guests shot and the groom making a disappearing act at that precise moment, as well as the bride's parents doing the same during the formals, let alone the challenge we reeled with laughter over, how to correctly exposure one white face in a sea of black faces, and the sprinklers going off during the formals in the park which set the bride running but created a fab outtake. With fast disappearing light at 7pm (I only shoot in natural light for many reasons) and 4 unknown locations for me to cover over relative distant, freeways apart, I could have done with a second shooter. You wonder when you're going to fit in loo breaks and the like so best not to drink anything at all. The bride kindly asked me to capture images with her parents at 10pm having missed out on them being at the formals earlier and we attempted to do so under ghastly artificial overhead light.

Most interestingly technically was the change to full frame sensor and the difference it made on the 50mm/1.2, the 70-200mm and the 85mm/1.8 which I alternated with the help of the shootsac (that's a camera bag just for quick changing lenses before you get the wrong idea). I realised the shots I was capturing with the 50mm wouldn't have been possible without full frame as I wouldn't have been able to stand far enough back given hedges in the way. It also questioned my eye where I've previously considered the 50mm as what the eye naturally sees, thus making it perfect for traditional photography, but was using a cropped sensor for it so really not seeing naturally at all. That said, my trusty 40D was slung round my neck as a backup to the 5Dii.

Wishing them a happy honeymoon with their families in St Thomas and grateful for the opportunity they gave me today.