Real Weddings, Advice, & Inspiration

Catalyst Wedding Company highlights weddings by and for game-changers. We seek to amplify and empower voices and viewpoints that are usually missing from the Wedding Industrial Complex. We're a community of badass wedding professionals who love all things funky, fresh, diverse, unique, and personality-driven; we convene twice yearly for (un)convention, a collaborative workshop, styled shoot, and dinner party. We're also the publishers of Catalyst Wedding Mag, a resource for couples looking for inspiration and affirmation that doing things differently in wedding-world is not only ok, it's wonderful!

Chrissy and Sam initially met through friends in 2014, but at the start it was a slow burn. They had no further contact until four months later when Sam found Chrissy on Facebook. He was about to be a groomsman for his friend and the night before the wedding he stayed up chatting on the phone all night with Chrissy, such that he overslept and was late for duty the next day. Since then they have been inseparable.

A pre-wedding shoot is a little different from an engagement photo session. Usually it takes place not long before the big day and serves as a warm-up in front of a camera for the couple as well as a chance to finalise details of the schedule for the big day and to clarify exactly what they are hoping for from their wedding pictures. I used only 35mm analogue film so the pictures have a beautiful, soft tonal quality. For Chrissy and Sam it proved to be a very useful day on many levels. Although they knew that I was deaf, as Chrissy had been recommended by Sam’s sister in law who is a BSL interpreter, they weren’t quite sure how they would communicate with me. We met together with an interpreter but soon found that there was no problem understanding one another.

"We clicked right away and both really liked her. We knew she would be the right photographer for us." Chrissy and Sam said they had been rather overwhelmed by wedding planning up to this point so it was a chance for them to spend some time together having fun, remembering what the wedding was all about and so it was an uplifting and memorable day for them both. Because I shoot using real film the couple had to wait for the negatives to be processed but I sent them an image from the shoot taken on my mobile as a taste of what they could expect from their photos.

"We absolutely loved the image of Sam lifting me up. it really captured us as a couple and were so excited and confident our wedding pictures would be amazing. And when we saw them the photos were perfect. The day itself was so chaotic but Becky’s images were fun, natural and really reflected our personalities — we love them."

Once I've talked through the schedule and all the details with my clients it’s not necessary for me to bring an interpreter with me to the wedding as I know what to expect and have already established a good working relationship with the couple. After the wedding the couple were delighted with their photos, so much so Chrissy decided she wanted to hire me again for a new career venture.

"I had decided after the wedding that I wanted to start a fashion blog and Becky was my first choice as a photographer as I knew she’d help me feel comfortable in front of the camera and get the shots I wanted. Since then we have worked together regularly and we make a great team." You can find Chrissy's stunning fashion blog here.

Words and photos by Becky Bailey Photography

Brick Lane London Wedding Engagement Session by Becky Bailey Photography

BECKY BAILEY

Becky Bailey is a photographer in the London area and is very proud of her Deaf identity. She is an artist and creative, an advocate for BSL, and serves both Deaf and hearing clients throughout the London area.