Caroline Goosey Photography

Mike & Julie's weekend-long celebration in a tiny village in France - in which Julie's dad and his mates did a striptease, we drank wine from a vat, everyone sat around a campfire on hay bales and the cake didn't get cut til 1am!

Intimate, emotional, creative, fun, cosy

I'm so proud every time I send away a happy couple with beautiful photos. Knowing that someone will treasure what I do for years to come is amazing.

Do it your way! Everyone has so many expectations of what a wedding should be - do you want to conform to their ideal, or create your own?

A dress made by the bride (whose day job is teaching, but she's a dab hand with a sewing machine). She also lined her own shoes and made the groom's bowtie with the same fabric.

After a good long chat or skype, a couple books in and I start planning when the various bits of planning should be done (a plan for a plan!). If the couple decides to take up the offer of a complimentary pre-wedding shoot then I'll get that booked in for about 6 weeks before the wedding day. We hang out for an hour, get to know each other, and hang out, and they get about 20 photos to make sure we're a good fit for each other. Around this time I also get them to answer a questionnaire about the details of their wedding day - things like when and where everything is happening, but also who's super important to them, which group shots they want etc. I insist on having a catch up shortly before the wedding, so we can make sure everything's settled and I know where I need to be and when. Then, on the day itself, everything should run like clockwork (and if it doesn't then I'll know when there are slack bits of time that I can use). A day or two after the wedding I share a sneak peek on Facebook/Instagram, and the full gallery will be complete within 6 weeks. If you've opted to have a short film it will usually be ready at the same time. Everything gets sent out to you online and on a USB in the post, with a few little tangible goodies to enjoy.

I think every couple should take 15 minutes out of their wedding day to spend together. It doesn't matter what you do - jumping on a bed with pure joy etched on your faces, running through a field, or just having a cuddle. The thing is, it's so easy to spend a lot of your wedding day apart. You both want to see your friends, and you're too excited to find each other in all the busy-ness of the day. So take a little time, and get some photos together.

Bride and groom guzzling 99s from an ice cream van

If you can, embrace it. If it's warm outside and you want to run around in the rain, do it! If not, then make sure you've got plenty of supplies to keep everyone happy indoors and get to the bar.

After having my son in 2013 I discovered I just could not put my camera down. I'd had it for years but it mainly sat on a shelf while I kidded myself I was happy working in retail, but all of a sudden it was such a powerful way to remember all those tiny details I knew I was sure to forget with time.