2016 was a very interesting year for Steve and I. As well as Steve getting married, and me being one of 7 people at his wedding, we practically lived together for 3 months of the year! Why may you ask?

I got an interesting opportunity early on in 2017, before the wedding season kicked in, to help Steve do all the special effects on the reboot of Channel 4’s Crystal Maze show! I’d always been a fan of the original series so I was really happy I had the gap in my diary to take it on.

So how does a Wedding Photographer get involved in Special Effects? Well, in the off season I run a professional Firework Company called Matthews Brothers Pyro. We do wedding fireworks, corporate displays, events etc… but in the course of that work I got asked to do fireworks on several film and TV productions for the BBC and ITV. That lead onto doing little bits of Special Effects here and there. And so the opportunity to work (and live!) with Steve in Bristol for 2-3 months came about. It was a fantastic, unique, slightly surreal and very enjoyable experience. So when you watch the 2017 series of Crystal Maze and see anything burning, smoking etc… that’s me and Steve! I’ve hung up my Special Effects cap for now, but it’s something I will always look back on fondly.

Suzi and Steve had planned a very intermit and vert secret wedding! No body knew what they were doing in London, well apart from me! Here is how we got on…