I’ve always described myself as a documentary wedding photographer, long before that term became fashionable. To me it has always meant more than just documenting a day with pictures of people not looking at the camera. It’s about capturing the very fabric of the day without interfering. It’s a mindset as much as it is a photographic style.

Weddings make up 90% of my commissions and whilst these are a superb opportunity for social documentary photography, some couples inevitably want maybe one or two slightly more orchestrated shots. A shot of them with Grandma, or a couple of them together on their own. Heavily posed portraits are a little counterintuitive to the way I approach the rest of the day – I don’t create the moments I prefer to capture them when they happen – so any portraits that I may take will be very relaxed indeed, often simply following the couple as they take a short walk around the venue or surrounding areas.

At a recent london wedding, I joined the couple in their Bentley as they made their way from Clerkenwell to the Rembrandt in Kensington when they decided to have a little pitstop at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. I jumped out of the car with them and spent around 10 minutes taking pictures of them walking and talking. This is always a lovely time for the happy bride and groom as it’s often the only time they get to actually spend on their own away from their guests. A quiet moment alone to absorb all the emotions running through their heads.

I try and keep some distance to allow the couple a bit of privacy to talk about all the events of the day so far and as we walked I spotted this overhanging tree. I set up my composition and waited for a bit of interaction between them. When the groom said something to his new wife she turned towards him and I had my shot. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

For wedding photographers: Taken using a Canon 5D Mark III with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II at 24mm.