To say my Daughter, Sophie, and her now Husband Jonny, had been preparing their wedding for a long time is a bit of an understatement.
Amongst one of the first things that was arranged, after the venue, was the Photographers. About 3 years ago I became aware that somebody had recommended a family business of Photographers to Soph. Somebody who I will be forever grateful to. Because the day she recommended them Soph looked them up and decided, there and then, that they would be the photographers at her wedding.
So, a new name entered the Adams vocabulary The Dignums.
It’s fair to say Soph was excited once she’d seen their work, but she was just as keen to see what I thought, as I’ve been known to take a photo or two myself. Well once I’d looked at their work I was just as hooked as she was.
What you can see as soon as you look at the website is that they are real people people.
It goes without saying that such a successful team can take technically perfect pictures but these guys bring out peoples personality. As good as their formal pictures are, and my God they’re good, it’s the candid shots that made them stand out for me.
I was seeing photos of people that I’d never met, but from the images you could instantly see their personality.
As part of the wedding package, Soph purchased, she had a pre-wedding shoot. This is where The Dignums got to know Soph and Jon, and found their personality, and I suspect started to plan how they were going to photograph the wedding.
Come the big day and, as you would expect, nerves were fraught. My wife, Jan, and her daughter were camped in a room with 4 brides maids, the grooms Mom and Step Mother; along with makeup ladies and hair stylists, and from about eleven o’clock a photographer.
Meanwhile the groom was camped in another room with his Dad, two Best Men and a couple of young nephews who were acting as ushers, and yes they had a photographer in their room as well.
At some time during the day I got introduced to the The Dignums who immediately put me at ease with their gentle manner, and they simply became Phil and Toby.
It was Phil who spent the morning with Soph, and Toby stayed in Jon’s room for a while whilst the grooms party got ready, and then followed him around whilst he greeted the guests who were gathering at the hotel.
When I walked into Soph’s room to lead her to the ceremony Phil was stood in the perfect position to capture my expression when I saw her in her dress for the first time, and do you know what, I didn’t even know he was there. In fact the girls told me later he had been in the room for hours taking photos and apart from the occasional bit of banter initiated by them, they hardly noticed he was there either.
The wedding was booked to take place outside but the weather in the morning was biblical rain. The hotel were great and had a fall back plan to stage the ceremony indoors, but Soph had her heart set on pictures beeing taken outside, in fact she’d chosen the venue because of the grounds so she could have her photos taken there.
Thankfully the weather cleared and she got her photos, in fact I can remember Phil coming up to me at one point and saying “we’re going to get a great sunset tonight”
Phil and Toby were in position when the wedding party started to take their seats and when I walked Soph to the ceremony, again I didn’t even notice they were there but the phots they took were stunning.
After the ceremony they took the formal shots. Not many because Soph and Jon had sat down with them and said they didn’t want people hanging around for group shots. Between them they had drawn up a list, of the groups. The list was given to the Best Men, and Phil and Toby found the perfect spot to take the photos.
Formal shots were done within half an hour and everybody was sat ready for the meal and speeches.
Dan, one of the Best Men did what can only be described as the funniest speech I have ever heard at a wedding. Phil and Toby quickly understood this was going to be a big part of the day and positioned themselves to capture the reactions of the room, one covered the top table and the other floated amongst the guests. The pictures they captured are absolutely brilliant.
So did they go after the speeches?
Of course not. They stayed until about eleven o’clock that night snapping candid photos. Then they did something I’ve never seen before.
They started getting groups to go outside in the dark where they had set up an area to take some special effects photographs.
The interaction these guys had throughout the day had been fantastic. In fact more than one person came up to me and asked if they were family, or long-time friends of ours.
No I had only met them that day, and I will be meeting them again because I want them to take some pictures of me and Jan.
A few weeks after the wedding Phil and Toby announced, on their Instagram page, that the wedding package was finished and that a link had been sent to Soph.
It took me and Jan nearly 2 hours to go through the 1100 plus photos that they had put in the final package. Every one of them is a gem. Every one of them is a memory. Every one of them is perfect.
The final presentation pack Jon and Soph received was full of surprise gifts that really shows the care and thought that goes into the work Phil and Toby do.
I think it was the Native Indians of North America that would not let anybody take their photo, as they believed it soul their soul.
We all know they were wrong. But Phil and Toby will find your soul when they photograph you, and they will show that soul with your personality.
Thank You Phil and Toby for the memories, not just the ones in the photos, but the ones from you being there on the day and making it go so perfectly.
If you want to have a look at their work check out their website and social media feeds at
Twitter @TheDignums
Instagram @thedignums
Would I recommend them?
Without hesitation, every day of the week.
nigeladamsbookworm 