My time with Sally + Angel was brief. Just 4 hours on a Tuesday in August. But I will never forget them.

Smaller weddings and elopements have been a large part of my life this last 18 months. Shining lights in an otherwise terrible time and a true reminder of the power and posivity that weddings carry with them..however small and whenever they happen.

I always try to control my waffle on these posts and try and let the images do the talking…but I feel obliged to explain a little more and up the waffle count. So here goes:

I ordinarily wouldn’t have found the time for a half day shoot..half way up the country from me BUT Sally’s positivity and infectious character shone through when we chatted so I agreed and here’s how it went down. A few highlights from a special little day, with a few waffle interjections as you scroll:

Having family overseas meant it was never going to be possible to have EVERYBODY they both loved in one room together this year. So Sally and Angel decided to elope, in secret and make sure they could share the day through their images. Cue big responsibility..HUGE but these two wonderful souls made it a dream and a day I will never forget.

I warned Sally that registrars are often not keen to allow photographers to be witnesses PLUS she would need at least two people so she should check out if anybody local was available so she hit Facebook and found a “lovely older couple” who were selling a pair of curtains locally and asked if they fancied attending 2 complete strangers wedding. No reply.

Next she joined the local village Facebook group and posted asking for help and hey presto 2 witnesses who were willing to take an afternoon off work, dress up fancy and arrive smiling and bearing gifts for the happy couple. A reminder of the power and positivity of weddings and the true kindness of strangers…and just when things couldn’t get anymore lovely and heartwarming the local curtain selling couple arrive, unannounced and bearing gifts. You couldn’t make it up. And the registrar even allowed all 4 “strangers” to sign the register.

We then waved goodbye to these lovely 4 people who now had become part of Sally + Angels life story and headed back into York for a wander around and a few pics before I drove back down the country smiling the whole way home.