Wedding Portraits in an Art Gallery: Farmers Image Of The Week

As wedding photographers, we rarely get invited to weddings as guests, but we LOVE weddings, so I’ll always say yes if I can. Sadly, I can’t make it to Esmé and Rebecca’s big day later this year because it’s the same week as our Thrive conference. I also missed the hen party last weekend, so I lived it vicariously through Instagram stories and TikTok instead… and what a story it turned out to be.

Because this was no ordinary hen do, it was actually their secret legal wedding. Just them, their wedding photographer, and a content creator. They dropped the video into their hen party group chat before walking into the party to Charli XCX. Absolute icons.

Of course, I was on high alert waiting to see the portraits by Belle Art Photography’s Becy. As a close friend of theirs and an extraordinary creative in her own right, I knew she would deliver something that felt deeply personal. And this image? This one absolutely sings.

Esmé has a background in fine art and a love for the Renaissance and Dutch Masters, so it’s no accident that they’re sitting in front of William Etty’s dramatic scene of Sirens. The composition feels so deliberate: the figures in the painting mirroring Esmé’s and Rebecca’s hair colours, their gazes holding intensity without touching, as if the air between them is charged with feeling. It’s sensual, striking, and a little bit subversive, exactly like the painting behind them.

There’s a painterly quality in how the image is lit. It doesn’t fight the backdrop; it harmonises with it. And that’s not easy to do. You need technical skill to make that happen, the lighting, the tones, the whites, all perfectly balanced.

The result? A portrait that feels timeless and fierce, intimate and elevated. It’s not just a wedding portrait, it’s a statement. It’s a reflection of who they are, and the kind of beauty you get when you let your friends photograph your love with intention and full creative freedom.