*I have decided to blog this Italian wedding in three parts. Partly because it felt like there were three distinct chapters in this story (the Italian serenata, the traditional ceremony and the jubilant reception) but also because there are so many pictures that I would like to share I couldn’t possibly fit them all into one blog post.*

Back in the Summer I was flown out to Italy and welcomed into the small Italian village of San Paolo Albanese near Basilicata in Southern Italy. I met Maria and Andreas through Andreas’ brother Kristian, who is actually a wedding photographer too. I have photographed several weddings for family members of other wedding photographers (and even the wedding of a very fine wedding photographer himself) and it’s always a great honour to do so. I know there were many occasions where Kristian was more than a little bit envious of me in my role and was itching to get his cameras out. But as Best Man he had a job to do, which left me in charge of documenting Maria and Andreas’ special day.

Or should I say days. Because the evening before the wedding Andreas had planned a serenata, an Italian tradition whereby the groom walks through the village followed closely by the villagers and presents himself outside the bride’s home. He then sings a song to serenade her and when the bride makes her way to greet him the villagers rejoice with a street party to celebrate the upcoming marriage. Being Italian, this is all part of the wedding experience for Maria. But as an Englishman now living in Italy, this took Andreas waaaaay out of his comfort zone.

Andreas, you certainly didn’t disappoint. I wouldn’t suggest you give up your day job my friend, but you do stand a good chance of making it to boot camp if you ever audition for X-Factor. Maria was overjoyed and the whole village celebrated. One of the villagers even arranged for a slideshow showing pictures of the couple throughout their time together to be projected onto the wall of one of the adjacent buildings. This was a lovely touch and really meant something to Maria and Andreas. The Italian serenata started around 11pm in the local village bar and then on through the very dark cobbled streets of San Paolo Albanese. It was beautiful. It was perfect. And I was there with my cameras to photograph it.

Here’s what Andreas had to say:

“Just went through them, Maria was in tears!! They’re simply fantastic Steven, truly.”

Below are a few of my favourites. You may notice the lack of colour pictures in this collection. It’s no secret I am drawn to black and white photography but I do always deliver a good mix of colour pictures to couples, especially when colour plays an important part in the day. However, on this particular evening it seemed entirely appropriate to deliver this serenata in black and white. There were all manner of different light sources to contend with and whilst the human eye is very good at balancing these out, it’s not always so successful in pictures. Stripping the images of colour really helps the viewer focus on the content and the emotion, without distraction. The serenata set was also much smaller than a wedding day, around 50 pictures in total, so the use of monotone also helped bring the pictures together into a cohesive collection. Check back tomorrow at midday (GMT) to see part two of this Italian wedding, where you’ll see plenty of pictures in colour.

Why not check out part two of this Italian wedding.