Following my previous post about my preparations for Freda’s family gathering shoot, I am delighted to say that the party was awesome. Thirty five guests enjoyed a lovely afternoon and if I had to use one word to describe the celebrations, that word would be ‘fun’. Everyone was so relaxed and friendly and really seemed have a good time.
The Priory Hotel on the outskirts of Bury St. Edmunds provided a wonderful setting for the celebration as well as an awesome buffet. Luckily the sun managed to shine for most of the afternoon, allowing us to use the lovely gardens for the photographs.
The guests came from various branches of the family and ranged in age from two weeks old to a simply charming lady of ninety. Said lady was the host and party organiser and she was absolutely brilliant at both. Cue my brief, which was to take formal designated group pictures of the various family groups. I did manage however to slip in a few candids which have been well received, with at least one being the subject of a caption competition within the family!
One of the problems of being the formal photographer at these occasions is knowing (or rather not knowing) who’s who and who should be where when. I was therefore grateful to have the assistance of one of the family members in rounding everyone up. They did brilliantly as we don’t seem to have either missing or extra people in any of the images.
Freda was thrilled with the photographs and I can now share a couple with you. She has however asked that no pictures with children are shown publicly on the internet or social media and I am more than happy to respect this.
If you are having a family get-together or celebration and would like to make some special memories to keep forever, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you and see if I can help.
All images © Carol Street
