HOT TOPIC Local experts offer stellar advice on wedding dilemmas PICTURE-PERFECT We’re both a bit camera-shy and anxious about photos on our wedding day. Can you offer us some advice? Feeling camera-shy is normal, especially on such an important day! As experienced wedding photographers, we’ve worked with many couples who have felt the same way. A professional supplier can make you feel comfortable and natural in front of the camera. So schedule an engagement photo session to get to know the team and their shooting style while allowing you to practice being in front of the camera in a more relaxed setting. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to build trust, which can make a big difference on your wedding day. We strive to be as unobtrusive as possible during the wedding, capturing candid moments and emotions. We’ll also provide gentle direction and guidance when needed, but we will always focus on capturing genuine moments and expressions. This is key to feeling more confident in front of the lens. Your wedding day is about celebrating your love; we aim to capture that authenticity in your photos. Your photographer should support you every step of the way to ensure you have a beautiful album filled with memories to cherish for years to come. Elena and Yury | Elen Studio Photography and Film https://elenstudiophotography.com https://elenstudiophotography.com TO DINE FOR What advice can you share to help us to create the perfect wedding menu? Communicating with your chefs is vital! Every venue will have a sample menu to use as a starting point, but I love to sit down with each couple and get to know them so we can tailor the dishes to make them unique. If you enjoyed a certain dish on your first date together, for example, we can curate the menu to offer a nod towards that special moment; this also extends to the beverages. Knowing your guests’ limitations can affect the menu, so determine all dietary requirements as soon as possible. We’d often suggest offering one meat and one fish choice. Still, if most of the party is vegan or someone has a severe allergy, we’d recommend something better suited while not impacting the rest of the dishes. While we love to add personal touches to our wedding menus, we know from experience that compromise is usually required. Venison may be your favourite dish, but with such a strong, sometimes divisive flavour, we’d always recommend having another option. Think of a chicken or seasonal vegetarian dish to ensure everyone is catered for. We’ve always planned our menus around seasonal ingredients that can be sourced locally, and we’re seeing this become the norm across the industry as diners desire more transparency over the provenance of their food. This means you can ensure top-quality ingredients are always at the peak of their freshness for greater flavour. One way to make this element shine is through a soup or salad starter, which can be tweaked to offer the best flavours from the season or brought into the choice of vegetable side dishes. Weddings gather loved ones together from early morning to late at night, but this means that guests can get hungry. So, it’s essential to think of opportunities for grazing before and after the main meal. Canapés are a great choice for giving guests a treat when they arrive and keeping people seated until the afternoon. We provide many opportunities throughout the day so guests can indulge in various treats. Hira Thakur | Cleaver & Wake | www.cleaverandwake.com 76
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