SUSSEX WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
I don’t have a version of a wedding I’m trying to make yours look like.
Some photographs need direction. Most moments don’t. The skill is knowing the difference, knowing what matters to you, and being ready before either one happens.
15+ YEARS PHOTOGRAPHING WEDDINGS · SUSSEX + BEYOND
AS SEEN IN BBC · THE TELEGRAPH · CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER · GALA · LOVE MY DRESS
HOW MY PHOTOGRAPHS LOOK
Light and airy wedding photographer with that film aesthetic, but true to the day.
If light and airy or a film look is what you’ve been searching for, you’re in roughly the right place. My photographs are bright and soft, but I don’t push them until the greens turn mint and everyone’s skin looks washed out. I’d rather your photographs look the way your day actually felt: rich, natural greens, honest skin tones, and warm light left warm. You get all the good stuff with a wedding gallery that has depth. I don't keep to the light and airy aesthetic if it doesn't fit the atmosphere of the moment. So candlelight meals are going to be moody and rich shadows are going to have their day too.
The finished edits of your gallery leans towards film. Soft contrast, gentle highlights, creamy feel, and plenty of black and white.
True-to-life colour
Gardens keep their rich, natural greens, golden marquee light stays golden, and skin looks like skin, but creamier and smoother. Bright, but never bleached.
Black + white with a film feel
Soft, sometimes little grainy and timeless. Every photograph is delivered in colour and black and white.
Flash, when it earns it
I mix direct flash, a touch of fill and sometimes no flash at all. If the candlelight is perfect or the band has lights that are as good as live concert, the flash goes off.
I won’t skip a photograph just because it doesn’t fit an aesthetic. If it matters to you, I’m taking it.
LONG BEFORE THE WEDDING
I can’t protect what matters if I don’t know what you value.
Before your wedding day even begins, I know far more than your names and your venue. I know the names of everyone who matters, what you’re excited about and the parts of the day you’ve imagined more than once.
So while you’re getting on with actually having your wedding, I’m already thinking a few steps ahead.
You probably won’t notice most of that thinking and execution happening. That’s rather the point.
And once the moment starts, it’s wholly yours.
BEFORE THE MOMENT
A tiny adjustment can change the experience without changing the moment.
If you’ve told me you’re ridiculously excited about cutting your cake that isn’t actually a cake, I’m paying attention to what could take you out of that excitement. If the band’s travel cases are sitting right behind it, I might ask the bridal party to use their bodies to hide them before you walk into the marquee.
Sometimes one tiny adjustment means you walk in and see all your favourite people, not the mess someone else left behind.
I’m not doing that for the photograph. I’m doing it because you told me the moment matters and I know that's the kind of thing you care about.
Once it starts, I’m not asking you to pause, repeat it, wait till I gather more people to give me a better version. I’m already where I need to be, photographing whatever actually happens.
The photograph comes afterwards. The moment matters first.
ANTICIPATING THE MISSABLE
The obvious photograph isn’t always the whole story.
The look on your dad’s face while everyone else is watching you. Your oldest friend absolutely losing it during the speeches. The tiny look between the friends who set you up during the first dance.
Those photographs come from anticipation. From learning the relationships, reading faces and knowing where the story is likely to move before it gets there.
KIND WORDS
“Kelsie is such a rare talent in every way. She’s so warm, and just exudes so much passion for capturing personal and unique moments. It was so easy to work with her, and she really listened to what we were looking for. Not only did she nail the photos of us, but also paid so much attention to detail and captured wonderfully candid and beautiful moments of our guests which we will enjoy for years to come.”
JENNY
THE TWO OF YOU
I’m not interested in posing the life out of you. I’d much rather give you something to react to.
Loads of my couples tell me they’re nervous about being photographed. Usually what they mean is that they don’t want to spend their wedding feeling like they’re being photographed.
I spent several years working in a luxury portrait studio, which means I know how bodies photograph, how to create flattering lines and what tiny adjustments can make an enormous difference. But you don’t necessarily need to feel any of that happening.
I’ll give you enough direction that you never have to wonder what on earth you’re supposed to be doing, then give you reasons to focus on each other, interact and forget about the camera altogether. All while being intentional on creating moments that move your body photogenically.
You don’t need to choose between looking incredible and feeling like yourselves. I’ll meet you where you are and give you as much, or as little, direction as you need.
YOUR WEDDING IS NOT A PHOTOSHOOT
There’s a whole wedding happening outside the photographs.
This isn’t supposed to be the part of your wedding you have to endure before you’re allowed back to the people you love.
Your guests did not travel across the country so you could spend two hours standing in a field with me while your wedding breakfast goes cold.
Equally, if portraits are one of the things you’re really excited about, we'll look at your timeline and carve out thoughtful windows where the two of you could step away, catch up and actually celebrate this massive thing you’ve just done.
There isn’t one correct amount of time, but either way we’ll work that out around your priorities, your venue, your people and the day you actually want to have.
Five minutes or forty-five, I’ll make you gorgeous portraits with real feeling without sacrificing the wedding you wanted to have.
“Immediately before I could introduce people she knew exactly who was who… everyone felt a connection to Kelsie.”
RYAN · GROOM
YOUR PEOPLE
Your people are kind of part of the point.
Your best friend’s mum is more like an auntie and a second mother. The person winding up the groom is in the bromance of the century. The grandparent sitting quietly at the edge of the room might be the person you most want photographs of.
I want to know those things before the day so your guests don’t feel like a room full of strangers I happen to be photographing. They feel like your people, because to me they’re an extension of you.
Those things change what I notice. They change where I look, who I keep an eye on and why a photograph that might look ordinary to somebody else can matter so much to you.
FAMILY + WEDDING PARTY PHOTOGRAPHS
Beautiful, considered photographs. Then back to the champagne.
Family photographs matter. They’re also one of the easiest parts of a wedding day to let swallow far more time than they need to.
We’ll work out the photographs that genuinely matter beforehand, including the relationships, mobility considerations and family dynamics I should know about. That means I can organise them quickly and make them properly, rather than spending half your drinks reception shouting surnames into a crowd.
And if you want something beautifully composed with your family or wedding party, my portrait background comes into play here too. I’ll sort the light, the spacing and the hands. You just need to bring the people.
HOW THE DAY FEELS MATTERS
Happy people make for happy photographs.
Most of the day I’m watching, anticipating and letting things happen without interference. But being unobtrusive doesn’t mean being passive.
I won’t step in when somebody else can handle it, but fifteen-plus years of weddings have left me with a surprising number of sewing skills and a very clear-headed approach to sorting little problems before they become big enough to pull you out of the moment.
I want you to feel looked after without ever feeling managed.
The goal isn’t to dictate your wedding. It’s to protect the feeling of it.
These sessions change the atmosphere of a wedding day before I even arrive.
ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS
Surprisingly useful. Also just really lovely.
An engagement session gives us a chance to work together before the wedding, but its biggest benefit isn’t teaching you how to pose.
Because I mean it when I say love looks good on everyone. And once you’re comfortable enough to forget about the camera, the photographs will prove it.
I’m no longer a stranger with a camera you’re hoping you’ll feel comfortable around. I’m someone you already know you can trust. You already know the method behind my prompts and what they achieve so you never hesitate or question why. Which means we can make more portraits in less time. I already know what gets a genuine reaction out of you. Neither of us needs to spend the first part of the wedding figuring the other one out.
And that same trust extends to your guests. They feel it, but they've also seen what I can do with their own eyes on your wedding website. I’m not walking into the room as a completely unknown person pointing a camera at them. They are relaxed before I even pick up my camera, and that is a little shift I feel at every wedding that had a session.
Plus, you get beautiful photographs of the two of you that have absolutely nothing to do with wedding clothes. Because there are only so many wedding photographs one house can take before it starts to resemble a very tasteful shrine to your own wedding.
FIFTEEN+ YEARS OF WEDDINGS
Beautiful photographs matter to me more than words can describe.
So does whether you actually enjoyed the life that was happening while I made them.
I started photographing weddings while I was still living in the US and have spent more than fifteen years learning not only what makes them photograph beautifully, but what makes them feel good while they’re happening.
I’m based in Sussex and photograph weddings throughout Brighton, East and West Sussex, Surrey, Kent, London and further afield.
Because very often, the latter is what makes the former possible.
THINK WE’D BE A GOOD FIT?
Tell me what you’re planning.
I want to know what you’re excited about, who’ll be there and what you want the day to feel like.
