Documenting Your Wedding Story

Natural Wedding Photography in Hertfordshire

When I was selecting my Top 10 images for my Home Page recently, it wasn’t until a few days later that I realised that ‘Hands’ were a key feature in all of them. People assume it’s faces we look for, and we do - but hands connect people, and it’s these connections that I look for, and love to capture on your wedding day.

I won’t lie. I’m not the only wedding photographer marketing themselves as ‘Documentary’. In wedding photography, people interpret that word in different ways. I’ve worked hard for the past 10 years to develop a style that works in a natural, storytelling way, yet also gives couples fantastic Bride & Groom couple photos without comprimising any part of the wedding day.

This is achieved by relaxing everyone with a light splattering of friendly chat, whilst constantly surveying my surroundings for where the next storytelling opportunity lies. I have learned when to be present and vocal, and when to shut up and be invisible. It’s as important to me to leave a positive impression on wedding guests, as it is to impress my clients with amazing images, and I won’t sacrifice one for the other. Recently I made a key decision to add Wedding Highlight Films to my arsenal, as a cost effective way of getting both still photography and wedding film from the same person at once!

Unposed Wedding Photography & Films

Nearly all of my couples approach me looking for Natural Wedding Photographs. There are several terms used by Wedding Photographers including Documentary, Reportage, Natural, Storytelling, Photo Journalistic, and they are all correct. Minimal posing is my goal, so that even your couple shots look as natural as possible. Covering Hertfordshire and beyond, I will happily take my style of photography and film anywhere in the world.

Here are some of my Best Moments of 2023 to show you what I will look for on your day. If you want a photographer to tell your wedding story in the way the images above do, and your day is loaded with fun, happy people and plenty of coffee, we should talk.

Here’s me being all tall, in a variety of questionable shirts

“Rafe instantly understood our vision of how we wanted to capture our wedding day. We knew from the moment we met him that we were in safe hands. As a couple that doesn’t take many photos of themselves we knew we needed a photographer that we would feel comfortable with. Rafe made us feel totally at ease, to the point where we almost forgot he was there at times! The photos he captured were absolutely breathtaking and are more than we could ever have hoped for.”
— Shannon & Matt, South Farm 2023

Award Winning Hertfordshire Wedding Photographer

Whilst my priority is happy clients, one’s ego does enjoy the boost from an Award or two. Recently I have been blessed with the following achievements:

Hertfordshire Wedding Venue Recommended Supplier

I am blessed to have some of the finest wedding venues in the country recommending me to their clients. Many of these are based in Hertfordshire and the surrounding counties. These include:

South Farm, Royston   The Barns at Redcoats, Hitchin    The Barn at Alswick, Buntingford Offley Place, Hitchin Bassmead Manor Barns, St Neots   The Priory Barn, Wymondley    Essendon Country Club  Huntsmill Farm, Bucks The Ferry House Inn, Sheppey Fanhams Hall, Ware Sissons Barn, Peterborough Hatfield House Sandon Manor, Buntingford Shortmead House Coltsfoot Country Retreat Swynford Manor, Newmarket

I work with a simply wonderful bunch of photographer friends, who are available to work alongside me, and enable me to be in 2 places at once. These Second Photographers are a briliant option to add, and I’ve even given them their OWN PAGE HERE!

So let’s MEET UP - I live in the lovely market town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire and have a sturdy kettle and the worlds’s noisiest Nespresso machine. You can tell me about your day, and I can explain how I would capture the joy of it.

In the mean time you can while away the hours looking at my PORTFOLIO page which contains some jazzy stuff. There’s also a good chance I may be able to pre-empt a few questions here with my FAQ PAGE