The lovely Elena & Sam. {Photography by Abbi Kemp}

I LOVE it when a bride brags about a photographer… especially when she’s my bride too. I met the lovely Elena just after the summer and we had a good old chat about weddings and decor. A week later she hired me to help style her wedding. I immediately loved her, and I knew she would be an easy bride to work with. Her upbeat personality and kind heart made liking her easy. After her pre-wedding shoot with Dubai wedding photographer; Abbi Kemp she wrote this for my blog…

Words by my bride Elena…
Few months before our wedding this December, I gave myself a task to find us a good photographer for the special day. I am a great fan of photography and knew what kind of photography I was after. Refined, airy, ethereal and with gorgeous light. Being a lawyer by vocation, I did my due diligence on selecting the photographer that will capture our special day (and that included stalking that person on all social platforms, reading whatever available reviews on their work, and as a final stage meeting them for coffee/chat). Well… you see with Abbi Kemp, things were somewhat different. Not only did I fall in love with her work from the first moment I saw her images, but meeting Abbi turned into hours of chatting, giggling and talking everything from love, romance and travels to why we love Dubai, but miss home.
I usually follow my gut instinct when it comes to people, and both the outcome of this “due diligence” process and my gut were telling me that Abbi will be the perfect fit for this task. And boy, was I right!

We made the final arrangements with Abbi (i.e. payment terms, services, next coffee date, etc) in a matter of days, and we then agreed that as part of Abbi’s package we are to do a pre-wedding shoot at any location we (Sam and I) decide to. The obvious options were beach, a nice hotel, the Bastakiya area in Deira, or the desert. Having met here in Dubai and having lived here for close to a decade, we thought the desert really echoes our deep connection with the city and also holds a special sentiment in our love story. Deal was made, and Abbi, after scouting appropriate locations by herself, instructed us to meet her one Sunday in front of Studio City at believe it or not — 5.15am!! We both thought she was joking at first but knowing her love of light in pursue of capturing a magic in each and every shot, we hesitantly agreed.

That 30-45 minutes in the desert were so much fun that it makes me laugh even now whilst I am writing these lines. It was brilliant. There we were — Sam and I standing next to each other like some wax figures and posing!! That was in the first 10 seconds though! With her enthusiasm, guidance and a very discreet way of using her camera, we were left to roam around the dunes and talk, and kiss, and laugh, and walk, and run, whilst almost forgetting that Abbi was there either perched on a little rock, lying in the sand, or in some body-twisting position (trust me any yogi would envy her body flexibility), and all of that just to capture what she believed is the right photograph.

We wrapped up in about 40 minutes (bear in mind we then changed in the car and headed straight to the office, given that this was on a Sunday) and waited for about 10 days to see the final shots. All I can say is that when we received them, both Sam and had tears in our eyes. I thought that the way she captured our love, the emotions, the desert and everything in between was absolutely amazing. And once you go through these pictures I hope you will also see her wonderful talent in each and every one of these photographs.
Few weeks later, Abbi was part of our special day… I literally cannot wait to see how the wedding pictures look. If they are anything like the desert pictures (and I have no doubt they will be even better), I will be the happiest bride ever! And Abbi… well she will continue to be as awesome as she is!
To find out more about Abbi Kemp check out her website: http://visualsbyabbi.com/ if Elena’s blog hasn’t convinced you she’s awesome, then I don’t know what will…