I met Phil and Louisa on Christmas Day 10 years ago in a hotel lobby in Hoi An, Vietnam. So I can say with absolute certainty, it was an honour to photograph their secret elopement. Their wedding had originally been planned for Greece but Covid put pay to that. When things reopened Louisa had fallen pregnant and their big destination wedding no longer seemed as applicable to them. Louisa emailed me about the possibility of eloping and I replied saying how amazing they were.
Perhaps a year later they were sold on the idea and when she got in touch to say when was I free I was obviously excited. However, when she told me they planned to go to a festival and for me to join them, I could hardly contain myself. They managed to find a small window of a couple of hours at Low Hall the Lakes. Just enough time to get dressed, get married and grab a couple of photos before heading to Solfest. A small festival just half an hour from Cockermouth stopping along the way for some snaps on Silloth beach.
I left the two of them for a couple of hours while we got sorted with admissions and got our bearings. On meeting back up I realised I was in the presence of Royalty. Everyone wanted to say hello or have a selfie, stalls gave them free food and the festival gave them free drinks. Everyone was in awe and couldn’t quite believe it was a real wedding. But this was them. Listening to live music and without a care in the world ,Phil and Louisa were in their happy place and so it made perfect sense to do it on your wedding day. At sunset, an impromptu circle formed around the pair and they had what can only be described as a first dance, encircled by strangers and caked in mud. Of all the weddings I’ve shot, this was without doubt the one that was unapologetically all about them and that’s exactly how it should be. I left them at around 9pm with Louisa on Phil’s shoulders, hands in the air having the time of their lives. Little did I know it was about to get even better, they were invited backstage for the remainder of the set.
