For a Lifetime

Gary and Danielle Lineker in Ravello

It’s 23:00 on Thursday the 3rd of September and we have just walked through the door after returning from Ravello in Italy. For the last three days we have been hard at work photographing the wedding of Gary Lineker and Danielle Bux at the Hotel Caruso on the Amalfi coast in Italy.

It all started last Monday morning, the 31st of August at 05:00 AM. Our bags were packed the previous night and we were ready to throw our luggage in the car and go. Saying a last goodbye to our Jack Russells, Eddie and Tia we got in the car a bit behind schedule but ready and excited nonetheless.

We shot down the M62 trying to reach the airport car park in time to drop our car off and get to the baggage check-in at Manchester International airport. We parked the car in a space close to one of the shuttle-bus pickup points and Sue noticed that the baggage check-in closes in 20 minutes time. The inevitable stress of doing an overseas wedding set in and the adrenaline started pumping as it has so many times before.

Needless to say, we made it to the baggage check-in and caught our flight down to Gatwick for a connection to Naples in Italy. The British Airways 737 seats were surprisingly comfy and the in-flight breakfast wasn’t bad either. We were soon on our Naples flight, joined by a large group of very noisy Italian students. We were soon flying over the Alps and saw Mont Blanc from the air.

Upon landing at Naples airport the captain was given a hearty applause by the group of Italian students. I was wondering what happens on Italian airlines when the applause isn’t deserved. Scary!

After landing we were met by sweltering 32 degree heat which was a lovely change from the cold weather we had left in England. We headed over to the Avis car rental desk to pick up our small car for the next leg of the journey to the Amalfi coast. The lady at the desk was very friendly but must have misunderstood our reason for visiting Italy as she soon upgraded our rental car to a Fiat Bravo at no extra cost. We must have been mistaken for newly weds.

It had been a while since I’ve driven a left-hand drive car, and Italy (and especially the Amalfi coast) was not the safest place to practice. The owner of our bed and breakfast said: “If you can drive the Amalfi coast, you can drive anywhere in the world.” He was correct as the roads are, in most places, too narrow for two cars to pass but that didn’t stop the stream of cars, busses and scooters screaming down the winding roads.

The view from our room in Punta Civita

We stayed at a small bed and breakfast called Punta Civita and I can recommend it to anyone wanting to visit the amalfi coast. Staying at Punta Civita is like visiting a good friend. Roberto Lucibello is the owner and a man that has earned a reputation for being an extremely gracious host. His reputation is in our experience, very well deserved. When you arrive, Roberto is your host, when you leave he has become your friend.

Ravello town square

Shortly after we’d unpacked our bags we decided to head to Ravello and have a walk around the town square. The sun was setting and we were getting quite hungry. We ran into Gary and Danielle in the square and Danielle recommended we eat at Cumpa Cosimo, a restaurant which has earned a reputation for it’s great home-cooked food. The proprietor of the restaurant, Mama Netta, makes sure no one ever leaves her restaurant hungry or unhappy. We enjoyed great food, a surprise power outage, a complimentary plate of lovely tiramisu and a long chat with a couple from Chicago.

We stumbled back to our car in the dark, drove back to our b&b and hit the hay for a well deserved night of restless tossing and turning. Adrenaline and nervous excitement kept us awake, not lack of comfort. We were looking forward to the wedding and the next couple of days.

The hotel Caruso in Ravello

Arriving at the hotel Caruso in Ravello which would be the setting for Gary and Danielle’s secret wedding, we photographed the staff busy preparing the hotel garden for the ceremony and reception. A while later we joined Danielle in her hotel room to photograph her getting ready. (We won’t be publishing any more images of the wedding on this blog unfortunately, sorry)

The wedding ceremony in the hotel garden was romantic and absolutely beautiful. Everything went smoothly and everyone present had a great time and kept commenting on how great Danielle and Gary looked together.

Shortly after the ceremony we took Gary and Danielle aside to shoot a couple of images for transfer to Martin Keene at the Press Association. The images would be the first official pictures of the wedding and distributed to all the major UK newspapers. The image at the beginning of this blog post, and the following image were both selected and sent out on the wire on Wednesday afternoon (and quickly snapped up by the Mirror, The Sun, the Mail Online, the BBC, OK magazine and Marie Claire):

Gary & Danielle Lineker

Both images above were actually taken by my wife, Sue, even though the newspapers credit me (Heinz). We feel we make a good team as she takes the best images as she has a great eye for shape and composition. She also makes the couple feel at ease in front of the camera. I am responsible for the lighting, retouching during post processing and transfer of the images to the PA.

We were privileged to have been asked to photograph Gary and Danielle’s wedding. They are two extremely honest and friendly people who treated us with respect and made our job a very pleasurable experience.

On our way back to the airport in Naples, we stopped in the lovely coastal village of Minori to sample the delicious Pistaccio ice cream at De Riso, a pasticceria which has become famous for both it’s range and quality of pastries and tarts.

Minori beach

Minori on the Amalfi coast

Pistaccio ice cream at Sal De Riso in Minori

We look forward to meeting up with Gary and Danielle again to review the images from the wedding and design their wedding album.
We hope to see joy on their faces when they revisit the memories of their beautiful wedding day.