Gabi & James · Niepołomice, Poland · Three days of celebrations.
Gabi and James. Three days, 250 guests from around the world, and a Niepołomice Castle wedding. They divide their time between Toronto and New York. Before we met, Gabi sent us a very clear idea of the photographs she wanted. She is a photographer herself. She knew exactly what she was asking for.
In her first message, she wrote: “I would like the day covered, from preparations, ceremony to the party in a documentary/reportage style (we are leaning towards all black and white). I would really like the photography not to be intrusive. I am interested in classical, black and white, high contrast documentary/reportage style images.”
“Grainy texture for the low light situations is preferable to harsh flash, (our dinner will be lit only with candlelight which is so beautiful on the face and I would like to honor that light in the images).”
We had been waiting for a wedding like this! We agreed that the entire story would be in black and white and even put it in the contract. We love black and white. Having that freedom from the start meant we could concentrate on light, contrast and composition with every frame. We rented Leica M Monochrom cameras especially for the wedding – cameras that record only black-and-white files. We could hardly have asked for a better reason to take them to work.
After the wedding, Gabi wrote to say it had all been so wonderful and colourful that she would love a few colour photographs after all :) So here they are. Most of the story remains in black and white, with a few colour photographs from our other cameras. The Monochrom images stayed monochrome – those files never recorded colour in the first place.
Kasia Wachułka and Kinga Nowakowska of Raz w życiu / Once In A Lifetime planned the celebrations. We will let them take over for a moment. This is how they described the preparations:
“How do you summarize a year of preparations, if a month prior to the wedding you learn everything needs reorganizing, because twice as many guests will be coming than initially planned? How do you show in a couple of pictures three days and a variety of events for 250 Guests from all around the world? How do you tell the story of a family who’s keeping a signed bottle bought on their daughter’s birth day to pass on to her on her wedding day, without sounding trivial?”
One more line from the planners says a great deal about working with this couple: “These two are among the nicest people we’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.” Beyond the ceremony and reception, the weekend included a trip to the forest, a carriage ride, an evening around a fire and Sunday brunch.
A dress made for Gabi
Gabi’s friends Ray and Craig designed her gown. Its three tiers represented her past, present and future with James. They sent us a description of the embroidery before the wedding, so we knew which details to look for during the preparations.
The making of the dress spanned four continents: design and construction in New York, the initial pattern in the United Arab Emirates, fabric from Europe and embroidery in India. Eight craftspeople worked on the embroidery for two weeks. After midnight, the gown became a short dress for the dance floor.
The ceremony and the return to Niepołomice Castle
Getting ready at the Royal Castle, a ceremony at the Church of Ten Thousand Martyrs, then back to the castle for the reception. This Niepołomice Castle wedding also took us into the woods for portraits of Gabi and James, with a few photographs beside the car along the way.
Candlelight, speeches and the dance floor
Dinner by candlelight, speeches and dancing into the night. This was the story Gabi had asked us to photograph: from getting ready to the party, preserving the light she had chosen for the evening. Gabi and James, thank you for trusting us and for inviting us along. We loved photographing it all for you!
The embroidery and its meaning
According to Ray and Craig’s description, monograms around the skirts honoured the women in Gabi’s family: her mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. A symbol of the Szeliga family appeared at each wrist. Poppies, lilies that James liked to choose for her, and motifs from traditional Polish paper cuts were worked into the embroidery.
The word “inshallah” at the hips and geometry inspired by the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi referred to the couple’s years in the Gulf. Their wedding date appeared in Roman numerals around the hem of each tier.
The designers also described astrological references: the ninth-house symbol on the train and the constellations of Aries and Capricorn. Wheat represented prosperity, while a bumblebee among the lilies at the neckline stood for fertility. The techniques included satin-stitch embroidery, silk appliqué and a stitch inspired by Bedouin craft.
Ray and Craig intended the gown to connect family history with Gabi and James’s future together. These details come from the letter they shared with us before the wedding.
Photography: WhiteSmoke Studio Planning: Kasia Wachułka & Kinga Nowakowska, Raz w życiu / Once In A Lifetime Dress design: Ray & Craig
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