Wedding Photography Testimonials

Like timeless magic

The more time goes on and the more I look at my pictures, they get more and more intensely beautiful, like timeless magic.

An absolute pleasure to work with

Words cannot express how grateful we are for the beautiful way you captured out wedding. Your images bring both of us and our family and friends so much joy. We will never tire of looking at them. You were an absolute pleasure to work with – before, during and after the wedding and not only made us comfortable being photographed, but confident that our photos would be stunning. Thank you so much for the beautiful gift you have given us from a day that went by all too quickly.

I didn’t think it was possible to capture in a photo just how much I love that boy – but you did

We just wanted to say a huge thank you for the beautiful photos. You captured perfectly the joy we felt on our wedding day. From start to finish you captured the special moments and the important details that made our day everything we could have dreamed it would have been. Every time we look at them we can’t help but smile and remember just how much fun we had. I didn’t think it was possible to capture in a photo just how much I love that boy – but you did… Thank you”.

It’s all about light

“It’s all about light “; those are the words that appear in my mind whenever I think of Kate Hopewell-Smith. Words she often repeated when we met up and spoke about photography and the essential elements of a photograph capturing a moment in someone’s life. Remembering what kind of light there was when taking a picture in order to restore that light when working on the picture. Observing, remembering, restoring.

When my husband and I decided to get married, we didn’t know where to start, but what we did know was that we wanted every moment, every emotion, to be captured for us to remember. At the time we lived in Paris and we had chosen to get married in Oxford, my home town, in the Ashmolean Museum. Not knowing any photographers in the Oxfordshire area, we were recommended a few names by the Ashmolean.

Looking through websites and galleries was my task! As I browsed through the websites, I always came back to Kate’s galleries. Her pictures struck me as being so spontaneous and natural. The aesthetic of her pictures was extraordinary and well, her pictures were simply beautiful. What more was there to add? She was the one! So, I took the first step and wrote to her. I just wrote, sincerely and simply. I did not have to wait long for answer. I don’t know what made it, but after only a few e-mail exchanges, Kate agreed to be our photographer for the big day. We felt so lucky she chose to work with us, and privileged too. I was excited to meet her.

We exchanged a lot by e-mail, and then came the chance to meet up. Kate was everything I had imagined through our exchanges, but when seeing her she revealed such an aura, a charisma, that it was hard not to be impressed. And rightly so; it was quickly obvious how invested she was in her work, but also in the people. It wasn’t only about taking a pretty picture; it was about telling a story, unique to each couple, person… And that showed how much Kate was interested in knowing the people she was going to work with.

All of this was reflected on the day of the wedding. Kate was always there but always discreet. At ease with everyone, she fitted in naturally and took her shots, whether from a discreet angle or having to stand on a chair! But most of all, she was with us, not only as a photographer but as a reassuring figure. She helped us hide away from the crowd when we had to scurry off and take our couple pictures…! She understood what we were going through between emotion and stress. She knew when to give us a moment to relax. She guided us through the picture session and was supportive at every moment. One thing I under estimated was how essential it was, for me the bride, that Kate was a woman. She helped me with my hair, my dress, helping me keep my cool when I had to go down the stairs for the first time. She was caring and did more than just photograph the big day.

Needless to say, when we saw the wedding pictures for the first time, we were taken aback by how beautiful they were. It was just magic, like reliving that day. Our family, our guests, everyone was impressed with the pictures. So much emotion and warmth came from the pictures. Just beautiful.

There is no question that I would trust Kate again with taking pictures of us. I would know; I later did a boudoir shoot with her…

Discreet, artistic and brilliant

Thank you for being discreet, artistic and brilliant.

The most beautiful wedding photos

Kate and Brett produced the most beautiful photos of our wedding day. Having only seen about two photos of myself that I could bare, prior to our marriage, I now have hundreds of wonderful photos of myself with my new husband, looking unbelievably happy, natural and very much in love! Kate and Brett were a lovely couple themselves, who chatted to us one evening over a video call to really get to know the style of photos we wanted. They had both worked at our venue of Blenheim Palace before and seemed to know all the best corners, for magical shots, intimately. This made for fantastic photos whatever the light or weather. We traveled around the grounds on a little golf buggy, for about 40 minutes. This time was the only time I spent with my husband in any quiet way for the whole day, so I really cherished this opportunity. Kate and Brett new exactly when to put us at ease with some encouraging conversation, and when to leave us alone, to be in our newly married little world. In fact one of the things that everyone commented on at the wedding was how un-intrusive they were, right from the shots of us getting ready, through to the ceremony and during dinner. So much so that I was a little worried we had hogged all their time and there wouldn’t be any photos of the guests. But this was very far from true. I was wonderful surprised to see how many lovely shots/ portraits we had of our guests. Especially during the drinks and the speeches. In fact the sheer number of photos we had was quite astounding. It was about 3 time the minimum number in their contract! They were incredibly generous. We also overrun by a couple of hours and so they very kindly stayed much later to catch our cake cutting and first dance. But the surprises didn’t stop their. Just as we were escaping on our honeymoon the following day we had three of the most magical photos sent to us by Kate. I couldn’t hold back the tears! They are everything I had ever dreamed of and they meant the world to me! The photos kept me going for the few short weeks until we were sent the rest of our online gallery. Each and every photo was a masterpiece. I am so happy to have these moments captured so perfectly by Kate and Brett. I cannot thank them enough!

The most perfect set of images

We wanted to say an enormous thank you for photographing our very special day and putting together the most perfect set of images which tell the story of our happy day.

We have been so busy since collecting our album a week ago but now that our closest family have had a look at it and expressed nothing but pure compliments, we sat last night to go through it and it really is stunning.

Thank you for putting us both at ease on the day, thank you for capturing us so naturally, it was exactly what we wanted from our album. And thank you for an album we will treasure in our hearts forever. The memory of our wonderful day is now stored in a beautiful album…. THANK YOU!! You’re fantastic!!

Everybody that has looked at them has shed a tear and said how beautiful they all are

Just a quick email to say a massive thank you to you for Saturday. You are an amazing photographer and a lovely person. You really helped the day to go smoothly. Lots of friends have been saying what a great photographer you are, how they felt relaxed with you taking photo’s. Thank you so much for taking such amazing photo’s, everybody that has looked at them has shed a tear and said how beautiful they all are.

How on earth can we thank you enough for your incredible work?

How on earth can we thank you enough for your incredible work?  The photos are all absolutely stunning and we are so grateful to you for that.  From our first meeting in London we that you were ‘the one’ and we thank you for always putting us at ease and doing so with so much warmth and humour.  It was an absolute pleasure to work with you and to get to know you and we are so excited for the final album – we will treasure it forever!