This has to be one of my favorite stories of the year. Even though I was in the middle of a busy run of weddings in Tuscany I couldn't resist taking on this 25th wedding anniversary photography tour in Rome.
I've photographed many weddings in Rome this summer but this was a slightly different brief.
Jen had set up this photography tour as a suprise for her husband of 25 years, Mike. Flying over from the United States Jen had already secretly flown over her original wedding dress and a tuxedo for Mike.
Whilst slipping off to get her hair done she'd left a note for Mike to open the parcel where he would find his tuxedo. The only other instruction was to wait on the steps of the hotel at 5pm.
Once Jen had finished having her hair done and put on her dress she arrived outside the hotel to surprise Mike, with me in the shadows to capture the moment!
A bottle of Prosecco was opened and a toast was had and then we went off on a short tour of Rome that I had pre planned with Jen.
Firstly we made our way to St Peters where we caught the last of the afternoon sun. It's a great spot to photograph not just for the basilica but also to photograph around the fountains and among the pillars.
It's also a good time of day to catch the piazza a little less busy as the day trippers head home.
And although the low sun made the photography quite challenging it also made for some lovely light for the photographs.
From here we made our way along to the bridge and castle of St. Angelo and then onto Piazza Navona.
It's an easy walk between all of these locations which makes it so easy to cover so many different places in a short time on these tours.
Jen had her wedding dress modified to suit the trip and the original train was now used as a shawl, we made sure we got this shot to show it off nicely!
I love this quarter of Rome to the west of Piazza Navona, there's some beautiful side streets and it's also a good place to stop for something to eat or drink.
Although it was still early Piazza Navona was filling up and there was a great atmosphere here in the early evening.
Of course we were attracting plenty of attention and our couple were great sports chatting away with the tourists, police and gladiators!
From here we made the short walk across to the Pantheon and after a little time to look around inside we made our way to Campo de Fiori.
And to finish off the evening perfectly a group of musicians, on seeing our couple walking through, started up on a romantic number and our couple obligingly took centre stage.
This quickly turned into quite a spectacle as a crowd gathered to watch them dance and take photographs.
The combination of the music and the crowd struck a chord with our couple and the emotion of the day caught up with them.
It was a truly special and spontaneous moment and I'm always so grateful to be there when moments like these happen.
Our evening finished with a cold beer before I escorted them to their restaurant where they could enjoy the rest of their night.
So it's not just been weddings this year and although primarily I'm a wedding photographer in Italy and Rome, this was a great job and a pleasure to do.
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