** Love My Dress readers are entitled to a 10% discount on any wedding bookings for 2012 (just mention it at the time of enquiry) or a 2013 wedding at 2012 prices **
Wedding photographer Ellie Gillard is a new sponsor to Love My Dress and I’d like to introduce you to her today. Whilst located in South East London, Ellie is prepared to travel the length and breadth of the country and beyond for her clients. And she loves weddings. Lots….
“Quite simply I’m a hopeless romantic and I love love. I love bonding with my couples, sharing their happiness and that of their friends and family, and I really enjoy the portrait sessions I have with my brides and grooms. I’m actually a total sucker for the speeches too! That said I also love shooting pretty details – awesome shoes and gorgeous flowers.
My signature style is soft focus and a little bit feminine, but with a bit of an edge. I love golden light, sun flare, blue skies and the look of film photography but in this country you have to become quite adept at shooting with a grey sky too!”
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Ellie Gillard
How did you get into wedding photography?
I’d always taken photos from an early age, and I got my first SLR (an Olympus OM-2) when I started my art foundation.
I went on to study fashion at university, and became a fashion buyer, so creativity never left me really.
It was when I was planning my own wedding in 2009 that I saw what beautiful images were being created, I became an obsessive wedding blog reader and I yearned to create images that moved me as much as those I saw. I’m now in the second year of running my business.
What inspires you when it comes to your work?
I am inspired by my fashion background, being immersed in it means you’re constantly surrounded with innovative and beautiful imagery at all levels of the market – from the pages of Vogue to Topshop’s latest campaign. Keeping abreast of what’s going on outside the wedding world keeps your thinking fresh.
Can you provide a price guide?
Full day wedding coverage including an engagement session starts at £1200 for 2012 weddings.
If you weren’t a wedding photographer, what would you be?
I wouldn’t want to be anything else – I’m too much of a daydreamer for the business side of buying – always getting caught up in what a great colour something is rather than whether it’s commercial. Maybe something like a lion tamer, i have two cats so it can’t be too much of a stretch!
What advice would you give to Love My Dress readers who have yet to choose a wedding photographer?
Pick your photographer carefully – that the photos are the only thing you’ll have left after the wedding is a well worn cliche but so true.
Make sure you gel; I’m a big advocate of engagement shoots and believe they can serve as a useful bonding process between the photographer and their client. As a photographer, it’s so important to get a feel for how someone interacts with the camera and you can get some fun, relaxed shots out of it too.
Stretch your budget – if the photographer you really want is a little bit more expensive then work out a way to put aside the extra money, it’ll be worth it in the end to have the images that you want.
To find out more and make the most of your 10% discount, please contact Ellie Gillard via her website. Ellie can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Lots of love everyone,
Annabel
* This is a sponsored feature – all my sponsors receive an introductory feature like this. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email [email protected] and request a media pack.
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
