The first dance is always a wonderful moment for a wedding photojournalist to capture, as no two are ever the same. Different couples, different venues, different songs. It’s always a lovely moment when the bride and groom are essentially alone for just a minute or two, albeit under the watchful eyes of their onlooking guests. It’s great to see how couples treat this moment differently. Some choose to slow dance in each others arms, staring lovingly at each for the duration of the song. Others will whisper things into each others ears, prompting smiles and laughter which is always a joy to watch. I have even photographed a couple pulling some ‘pulp fiction’ style moves on the dance floor.

The first dance at the wedding I am featuring here really wasn’t really supposed to happen. The couple hadn’t planned a first dance. In fact, they hadn’t planned any dancing at all. But they had hired a fantastically entertaining swing singer and he did his very best to get everyone up on the dance floor, bride and groom included. The room itself was pretty dark, with the main light source coming from the window behind them. I took a couple of shots from the other side of the couple, with my back to the window, and of course the light here on the couple was lovely. But for me it didn’t tell enough of the story. As I have said before, context is very important in my work and so I decided to move around to the other side and work against the backlight that this window presented.

By positioning myself here I was able to tell more of the story of the first dance by including the singer himself. Nice little touches like the guests taking pictures of their own, the drapes of the window and the champagne glasses in the background add extra layering and interest.