So, to say I’m a little bit gobsmacked would be a *huge* understatement: On Thursday night, at the glittering awards ceremony of the South West Wedding Awards, I won ‘Best Reportage Wedding Photographer’ for the third year in a row! I’m still pinching myself as I’m typing this, actually…

This is what the judges very kindly had to say about me:

“All the comments in support were long and considered. This business is well respected by their clients and delivering a great service with great memories. And a true ambassador of the reportage style.  Blends into the background and weaves his magic!”

The final part of deciding who won the award was down to the judges, but, before that, it was down to my incredibly lovely couples to vote for me – and, wow, I’m so humbled to have just read what they said about me. To hear such kind words like this… it just means everything, it really does. Thank you all *SO* much! Here’s what they said (and the images are just some random ones I chose for this post – the actual comments are made anonymously, so I don’t know which couple wrote what, but this post would be far too word-heavy without some images as well!):

“Absolutely amazing photographer. Captured the true emotions so beautifully on our day and I can’t thank him enough. Such a relaxed approach produced such raw photographs which were truly stunning. He is an unbelievably nice guy and immediately made me feel at ease. He blended in to the wedding so well we hardly knew he was there except from the hello and goodbye. He caught moments from our wedding that are so incredibly personal that every time I look at the image I am transported to that exact moment and feeling. And he seemed to be everywhere. For one man, he sure doesn’t miss anything. I can honestly say the photographs from my wedding were the best bit. (That and marrying the man of the dreams of course). I would recommend Alan one hundred times over.”

“Alan was the best photographer we could ask for! His style of photography is beautiful and we love his unposed approach, it was great to have such natural photos of our wedding and was so good to see things he’d captured that we would have otherwise missed seeing! He captured such great moments and it felt so personal that he goes through every photo and edits them accordingly. He is also the nicest guy and we felt we’d known him for ages which made us feel so relaxed having him snap away around us. We are so glad we chose him for our wedding!”

“Alan is a legend. From the minute we met him during our initial consultation we knew we’d found someone very special indeed. Alan is so warm and unassuming (& also a bit of a nerd like us!) that it felt like we were meeting with an old friend. On the day itself Alan blended in so seamlessly that we barely knew he was there but he was always instantly to hand whenever we looked for him. In addition to being an all round stand up guy, his photos are astonishing. Alan managed to capture so many special moments from our day & every one was so beautifully & thoughtfully composed. Booking Alan for our wedding was one of the best decisions we ever made. No praise is high enough for this extremely talented & all round awesome guy!”

“We chose Alan Law because his photography captures moments of emotion. He is a true artist with a modern, unfussy and unposed style. He was a delight from beginning to end, a great communicator, totally comfortable to be around and unobtrusive on the wedding day. His images were utterly beautiful, thinking about those perfect tiny moments he captured on the day makes me emotional and we love looking at the photos – all 880 of them! Alan Law should win, he’s brilliant.”

“We loved Alan’s unique photography style and this is what drew us to booking with him. He was kind and made us feel like he wasn’t even there he was so discreet. He captured our wedding so perfectly and every photo and moment told a story. Everybody who has seen the photos have commented on how beautiful they are and we now have these photographic memories to look back on. He deserves to win because he is hardworking, kind and makes everybody enjoy being photographed (even the ones who shy away from a lens).”

“Alan was amazing the whole time. His photos are stunning, he captured the emotion of the day better than I could have possibly hoped but what sticks in mind more than anything is a moment when, afterr ceremony he asked my wife and I if we wanted to go for a walk in the grounds not just because that produced singer great photos but because at that time I wanted to have time with my wife rather than bouncing from guest to guest. It was exactly what we wanted/needed and alan had the sense to realise that on our day.”

“Having come across some of Alan’s wedding photographs on an internet search for ‘Cornish photographers’ I knew I just had to have him for our wedding! The style of photography suited us perfectly, as the gallery images showed relaxed brides, grooms and guests enjoying their day, incorporating the beautiful surroundings. We had an initial consultation over Skype (as we live a little while away from Alan), where we discussed our vision for the day. All of our wedding guests were so impressed with our choice of photographer..most said how they didn’t even notice he was there, which is exactly what I wanted. In fact, every friend who has since gotten engaged has asked me for Alan’s details, as they want him for their own weddings! That says it all really! Approximately 900 edited photos were promptly sent to us on CD, with an online gallery for friends and family to view. Alan is a fantastically talented photographer who manages to capture loving, natural moments. He is also a very nice to have around, the importance of which is sometimes underestimated! We were incredibly happy with our photos and are so glad that we were able to have Alan document our day for us!”

“Extremely dedicated and genuinely lovely man. We could not have asked for better photos from our special day. We did not notice him on the day and we were truly surprised with the moments that he captured giving us a chance to experience the magic over and over again Absolute perfection and forever grateful.”

“We had met with a few wedding photographers before meeting Alan but as soon as we started the consultation we knew he was the right photographer for us. He was so professional and passionate about his style of photography which suited our wedding theme (relaxed, country, farm wedding). As soon as he arrived on the farm he got stuck into the day’s events, from joking around with the bridesmaids to catching the best man in a towel!! He was also one of the fastest photographers we have ever seen, taking pictures of us exploring the farm, he was running up and down the field – we were very impressed. Also, capturing some epic pictures of the men attempting to play wedding cricket without spilling their pints! And, people’s reaction to the Best Mans speech (one of the highlights of the day). Even the guest commented on his style and professionalism. We would thoroughly recommend Alan to any couple planning their wedding as he will not disappoint. He caught some beautiful shots which we will treasure for a lifetime. Thank you Alan.”

“Alan has captured our wedding perfectly. every time I watch the photos I smile (and feel a bit emotional 😉 ) he has been amazing to work with – very relaxed but professional. I barely felt he was around but he managed to capture absolutely all, that we wanted, and more! he understood perfectly what we were looking for and gosh, he did deliver! I would strongly recommend his service to everyone.”

“Having planned our wedding from the other side of the world we really struggled to find wedding suppliers however as soon as we saw Alan’s photos from previous weddings there was no shaddow of a doubt that he was the man for the job. Right from his initial emails we were really impressed by his professional and none ‘pushy’ approach. Just from email he managed to understand exactly what we were after. Due to living so far away we only managed to meet Alan a few days before our wedding he was a true gentleman and professional he listened and took note of any requirements we had whilst also offering advice based on his experience and expertise without being forceful. On the wedding day itself Alan was an absolute star I have never seen anyone work so hard sometimes we would forget he was even there due to his non invasive and true professional approach. When we received our photos we were completely blown away through Alan’s amazing talent we now not only have very special memories but amazing pictures to go with them. he somehow managed to not only capture amazing images but also the emotion that went with them. I could not recommend Alan highly enough for this award! Good luck Alan :)”

“Alan has a wonderful natural but completely distinctive style of photography, capturing some of the most special moments when you don’t even realise he’s there. His perspective on our big day has allowed us to relive all the details and see them in a new light. He deserves to be widely recognised for his amazing talent”

“Alan Law was the perfect wedding photographer for our wedding day in Padstow, Cornwall. From the initial meeting he was warm and accommodating and listened to our requirements for a quirky reportage style. Alan provided a wonderful service on the day- totally relaxed, personal and blended in with the days events. We hardly noticed he was there as he captured moments of our special day in the wonderfully natural style that we so wanted. However he was happy to do the traditional group shots too where necessary. Unlike other wedding photographers Alan understood the importance of us enjoying our day with each other and our guests, so we did not spend hours smiling and posing for traditional married couple style shots that can often take the bride and groom away from the celebrations but managed to capture special moments effortlessly. He has a real talent and flair for style and getting the perfect shot. He worked so hard to get these for us from scrambling up cliffs on the beach to following Rick Steins restaurant staff as they carried out our delicious dinner to the table!! Alan created so many beautiful images, it’s been hard to choose our favourites. We absolutely love looking through them all. Not only do they capture joyful and personal moments of our wedding, they are also of such good quality and style that they would not look out of place on a gallery wall.”

“I couldn’t recommend Alan highly enough for this award. He would thoroughly deserve it (fingers crossed he does). When we were looking around for photographers for our wedding (we had meetings with quite a few!) and after meeting with Alan we instantly knew we had the right photographer for us. We researched him online and instantly fell in love with his style of photography, it’s just amazing!! He was such a good presence to be around and you hardly noticed he was there half the time. Such a down to earth genuine chap and when the photos came through we were delighted with how they came out. They were all so natural and caught moments that we would have missed. Please please make sure that he wins if only for the fact the poor bloke had to deal with my Aunty grabbing his bum half the night!!! :0)”

“Alan was incredible on the lead up & of course, on the wedding day, he was calm, friendly, helpful & discrete. We were totally unaware of where he was or what he was up to so he caught so many amazingly wonderful shots of not just us but of our guests as well. We were always a bit worried about ‘posed’ photos as we both felt we could looks stiff & uncomfortable but even our very few group shots are fabulous, he was fast, calm & organised. All of our guests were amazed with the photo’s & many friends have requested his details for their big day. Alan Law’s photo’s are simply magical & captured our day to perfection – he was worth every penny & I would recommend him in a heartbeat! All couples should be lucky enough to have photo’s as stunning as we do!”

“Alan was amazing from the first time we emailed an enquiry to him, through to the initial meeting and then on the wedding day itself. He answered all of our queries, was quick with his communication and really helped give us confidence as we were located approx 25o miles away from our wedding venue – so we had to put a lot of trust into our wedding suppliers. We had seen that Alan had worked at the venue before and had fantastic knowlege of the photographic opportunities available, locations, what the lighting would be on the day etc.   On the day you would not even have known Alan was there, he just disapeared into the background yet captured every last moment of our day. His skill for this has resulted in us having so many wonderful natural images of us and our guests on the day. His style and skill is wonderful, he is a truly talented photographer and we are so thankful to him for presenting us with so many wonderful memories of our day.”

“Alan was an absolute pleasure to work with from the 1st email exchange to the very prompt return of our incredible photos’. We had looked at a few photographers before we found Alan, his style was exactly what we were after & his photo’s were so beautiful he was an obvious choice. On the day of the wedding he was friendly, relaxed & put me at ease instantly. He became part of the wedding party & interacted with guests & no one felt the pressure of the camera being on them – he captured so many magical shots of us & our guests. His photo’s caught the feel of our day & we still have no idea how me managed to be in so many places at once! I would & have recommended Alan to all couples looking for a reportage photographer. Our photo’s bring us a huge smile every time we look at them & will be treasured for life”

“Can’t gush enough about how lovely alan is and what an amazing photographer he is. Our photos are so wonderful and we couldn’t have been happier with them.”

“Alan was the consummate professional, we hardly knew he was present, but he was still completely at ease when interacting with ourselves and our guests. From the very start of our relationship with alan, we felt completely at ease and his communication was excellent. His photographs of our day are absolutely stunning and are a definite highlight of our day.   The value for money and his willingness to accommodate our needs, along with his beautiful photography have meant that we have recommended him to our friends and family alike, and he couldn’t have made our day any better. Cheers alan!”

“We found Alan to be great. We didn’t know he was there and that’s why we got such great natural pictures,none of this posy posy stuff. We love our photos, and have several of them put onto canvas as we love them so much It was fantastic value for money. We also had a photo album from him, which was fabulous. He always kept us in the loop of how things were coming along. He really made us feel at ease for the whole day seeing as we both hate having our photo taken. He took thousands of pictures but edited over 800 for us on disk I cant rate him highly enough.”

“We did a lot of research into photographers before we selected Alan, and we were so pleased that we did. Alan’s ability to produce photographs in the style we wanted was excellent and his enthusiasm was amazing. We love the photos and they’ve captured our wedding day in a better way than we could ever have imagined.”

“Alan was lovely from the first email contact on. He was friendly, helpful and interested in helping us make our day special to us and capturing it in the way we wanted. Our wedding was small, individual and reflected our personalities and when we got the photos from Alan he had captured that perfectly. His suggestions in what we could do (finding a place to get a few photos of just the 2 of us after the ceremony so we could have a few moments together was so helpful). He caught the bits that I remember that made me laugh and he captured so many other moments that we hadn’t seen. He was so unobtrusive, even when we were back at my parents house for a cream tea! I don’t know how he got some of the photos he did as I don’t even remember him being there! The photos we have ended up with are truly amazing. They have perfectly captured the day for us, we not only have a record of everyone that was there we have a full record of what happened during the day. The photos make me smile every time I look at them and you certainly can’t ask for more from a wedding photographer!”

“Alan is an extremely personable guy and a brilliant photographer. He is extremely creative and is an absolute perfectionist. We are absolutely thrilled with our wedding photographs, they not only capture the romance of the day but also due to the reportage style all the genuine smiles of the guests- nothing posed or fake. He captured the bright colours and happiness perfectly.”

“Alan was an absolutely phenomenal photographer. Right from the moment we met him he put us at our ease. The photos he took were absolutely stunning, so many people have commented to us how amazing they are especially the ones where he has captured the mood of the festivities by taking shots of guests laughing and enjoying themselves. The service was second to none and he really deserves to win this award.”

“Alan was a thoroughly professional, personable and excellent photographer. The day would not have been as memorable had he not been there, the photos really do the day justice. I would heartily recommend him to anyone.”

“Alan was a fantastic photographer, for a groom that hates having his photo taken, the moments Alan managed to catch on our wedding day were just beautiful. The comments that we’ve had from all our friends and family all say the same, just how he managed to catch all the laughter and fun of the day. Our wedding day was filled with smiles even when faced with a tricky walk in the rain to the wedding barn, the laughter and eventfulness that Alan managed to catch still brings such joy to me when I look back at our beautiful pictures. It was a pleasure to have Alan capture the day for us, he was so friendly and professional and blended in so well that our guests never even noticed he was there snapping away. If I could plan my wedding again I would pick Alan as our photographer each and every time, we were thrilled with the images we ended up with, they were so much more than we could have hoped for and will bring us joy and laughter for many years to come.”