You may remember our post from a couple of months ago, which mentioned that we had entered the wedding industry awards. We’d entered on a bit of a whim after relaunching our website and thought anything that may drive an additional wave of traffic to our website was worth investing time in. So we entered. We never thought we’d be selected to go on to the next round, so the prospect of actually winning was beyond comprehension.
On November 16th 2014, the regional awards event for the East of England took place. We were unable to attend the actual event, but followed the results on Twitter. We knew many others who had entered and wanted to support our industry colleagues. It was lovely seeing the excited tweets of those announced as winners. It wasn’t long before I was starting to feel pretty gutted that we’d not been able to attend. I’m sure the atmosphere was amazing.
The results began flooding in
Soon came the results for Best videographer (Rideout Films) which I knew probably meant that the photography announcement would not be long after. I got back to my admin and continued to glance back occasionally looking at results. After a while I skim read the latest TWIA post and saw a photographers name I recognised. I’d just assumed that was the winning result announcement. I called to Sam to let him know who’d won. Not long after though another photography announcement was made. “That’s odd” I thought, as I thought there was only one photography category. So I stopped and had a proper look. That’s when I saw this:
I literally sat with my mouth open for about 30 seconds. It turns out I had completely miss read the previous announcement, which celebrated “Highly commended“. WE had actually won. Even as I type that, I still can’t really believe it.
Poor Sam got shouted at!
I remember siting bolt upright and shouting to Sam in the other room “Sam! We WON!?” he replied with “What? Who? No”
And we’re not saying it to be modest, but we genuinely never thought we would win at all. We didn’t enter to win. It was a real shock. There were 28 finalists in our area and heaps of talent. People who are silly good, people who’s names we knew before we were even working as photographers full time. People who are much more well known than us.
It became official
A while later the main Wedding industry awards website updated to show the winners in the East of England region. Low and behold, there we were again with that little silver badge beside our name.
When I say that we are thrilled, it really is an understatement. We are beyond pleased, proud. 2014 was our busiest year to date and we have literally not stopped for months to ensure that each of our couples have a fantastic and memorable experience with us. Out of nowhere, on that night in November it all seemed to come together and reiterate that the long days, late nights, early rises and 18 hour stints in front of a computer really are worth it.
Feedback from our couples- the best bit!
We’ve now been given the opportunity to view the anonymous feedback given to us by our 2014 clients during the initial stages of the competition. It was very humbling to read the kind words offered by so many of them. We cannot thank any of you enough. Not just for taking the time to vote, but for taking your time to find us in the beginning. For taking the time to reach out to us and allow us to be part of something special. We value and appreciate each and every one of you more than you’ll ever know. We hope, along with our portfolio, that is why we were chosen as regional winners- because we care.
The words of support, encouragement and the well wishes are genuinely heartwarming.
We have copied and pasted the general feedback below. You can also find out why our 2014 couples booked us on our post here.
Kind words from awesome couples
“They are highly professional and extremely skilled photographers. I cannot recommend them highly enough.”
The communication from Sam & Louise was fantastic. They were so organised and no detail was missed. Their relaxed approach and willingness to try anything and have fun made such a difference on the day, not to mention the fantastic photos we received. We have so many amazing ones that we are really struggling to narrow our album choices down! We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them!”
“Sam and Louise were absolutely amazing!!!”
“Amazing photos, just what I wanted and more. They are very creative and amazing at what they do. So happy I found them.”
“Sam & Louise are a lovely couple who immediately put us at ease and gave us confidence that they’d provide great photographs of our special day. They understood exactly what we wanted from the photos and helped 2 people who hate cameras get some amazing shots of our special day! They were really more like friends on the day, we enjoyed having them there. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the result, they captured every emotion of the day and have given us incredible memories to look back on”
“Louise & Sam were outstanding from start to finish, at our initial consultation they were so friendly and made us feel relaxed, we knew they were the right photographers for us. On the run up to the day Louise was so quick to reply to any emails or questions we had. Both Louise and Sam were amazing on the day and captured everything we asked for and more. We honestly cannot recommend them enough.”
“Sam and Louise are fantastic. They are so personable and real! Nothing was ever too much for them and they managed to create the story of our wedding in photos. When looking through them it really felt like I was reliving the day, and the emotions that came with it, laughter and tears. They are the perfect pair and I couldn’t of dreamed for more perfect photos. My family and friends also commented on how great they were!!! Fantastic photographers”
“These guys are honestly the friendliest, most hard-working professional photographers I have ever met. From the moment of the initial enquiry to the final presentation of the photos, they went above and beyond the call of duty. They did all they could to ensure that my husband and I were relaxed and comfortable with the camera and the results were beyond what I could have even imagined. The photos are beautiful and captured our special moments flawlessly.”
“Sam and Louise were absolutely fantastic on, after and leading up to our big day. Nothing was too difficult for them and our happiness and what we wanted was their number one priority. They offered sound professional advice and the photographs and their service was absolutely faultless. We know we can still approach them for any advice that we need and they remain friendly, professional and helpful, nothing is too much, they really do go that extra distance even now so long after our wedding day”
“Sam and Louise were amazing… They were an amazing team and made everyone feel comfortable without being pushy or bossy. The pictures were breath taking and I am so so so so happy that I booked them. They were amazing and perfect!!!”
“There are no words to describe how wonderful Sam and Louise are. Not only are their pictures absolutely amazing but they truly are the nicest couple you could ever meet.”
“From start to finish Sam and Louise were perfect. Everything that we wanted and much much more. They went out of their way on more than one occasion for us but it was never any trouble for them. They have a very modern out look on photography and provide a service in keeping with this. I would recommend Sam and Louise to anyone and everyone.”
“Genuinely lovely people. From beginning to end they went out of their way for us, crucially didn’t pressure us to book & emphasised how we should be 100% sure we liked them before booking. They do anything for a perfect shot (water in wellies, knee high in flood water and lying in mud for a shot of us included! Always replying fast to emails and texts even after the day was over. We and guests loved them & the beautiful photos they produced.”
“Amazing photographers! Professional, friendly, helpful in every way and fantastic creative shots. Would highly recommend to anyone and they fitted perfectly into our day and then gave us some fantastic memories capturing every moment in over 1000 photos.”
“Hiring Sam & Louise was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. On the day itself it felt like they were our friends as opposed to a supplier. We were absolutely amazed when we received our final gallery of photos, and couldn’t believe all of the special and fun moments they managed to capture. When I look at our photos it brings back wonderful memories of such a great day. Their expertise and fun-loving nature helped make our special day even more perfect.”
“Sam and Louise were a clear choice for us from the start. They were always quick to respond to any questions we had either via email or phone. They worked with us to create a package for us which fitted everything we wanted! Our engagement shoot was brilliant as it enabled us to really get to know them and feel comfortable in front of the camera, something that we were both very nervous about! The wedding day photographs were amazing and made us cry!”
You can read why clients said they booked us here.
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