On the day before New Year's Eve, I photographed my most local wedding for a lovely couple who live on the other side of the world.
While the bride and groom Bron and Rob live in Australia, they decided to leave the Ozzy sunshine behind and come over to the cold and wet winter in the UK to Rob's home village of Stoney Stanton (which is where I live) in Leicestershire to get married in St.Michael's Church.
It poured with rain all day, but that didn't stop Bron and Rob having a good time as they just enjoyed themselves indoors rather than outdoors. In fact the rain enabled me to take one of my favourite photos of the day, which was a shot of Bron inside the wedding car as she arrived at the church, shot from the outside, showing a rain-splattered window and a reflection of the bridesmaids smiling at Bron while keeping dry under a big colourful umbrella.
Trevor the vicar lead a superb service and he was really helpful to me as he let me stand next to the alter to take photos discretely (and without flash of course) throughout the wedding ceremony. Some vicars and registrars don't allow photography during the ceremony, so I am very grateful to him for this.
After the wedding ceremony, we had a very brief photo shoot in front of the church. The big colourful umbrella came in handy again! Then it was off to the fabulous Leicestershire wedding venue Ullesthorpe Court Hotel in Ullesthorpe, near Broughton Astley for a drinks reception and wedding breakfast. I was able to take lost of reportage wedding photos during this time of Rob and Bron and their guests. there were lots of smiles so they were clearly enjoying themselves.
Rob and Bron went away on honeymoon and then returned to Australia to have an Ozzy wedding blessing yesterday for their friends and family on that side of the world who couldn't make it over here. I hope the day went well for them. I doubt they will have had to use the colourful umbrella yesterday - unless they used it as a parasol!
N.B. This blog covers just the wedding and portrait side of my business. Please see my Commercial / PR Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business.
Here is a small selection of wedding photographs of Christine and Jeremy's Christmas wedding at the very exclusive wedding venue Horsted Place Hotel, near Uckfield, West Sussex. I was honoured to be booked for this wedding as Christine is an excellent reportage wedding photographer with many years of experience, so I was really pleased she chose me to photograph her big day.
Being in the wedding industry, Christine paid great attention to detail and she told me that planning her wedding had taken over her life for the last few months! She chose Hot Pink Peony as her florist, who created some lovely Christmas-themed displays. Louise Large did a magnificent job with the bridal make-up, using an airbrushing technique for the foundation that I have never seen used before. Pianist Charlie Myers kept the wedding guests entertained with his excellent and wide-ranging repertoire. Like all great musicians, he made it so look easy - even though anyone who has tinkled the ivories will tell you, it is anything but easy!
Photography for winter weddings is always difficult when they are late in the day, due to the lack of light. The wedding ceremony started at 3.30pm and with sunset at around 4pm, I didn't have much light to play with and as the bride was a professional wedding photographer, the pressure was really on! It was a windy and rainy day day, so the overcast sky minimised any light coming through the windows too. Despite this, I still managed to take lots of photos by available light to give them a really natural feel and when I did have to resort to using flash, I used it in a sympathetic and creative way. What really made this set of photos was the big beaming smile was ever-present on Christine's face. Her happiness really shone through in the photos and it was lovely to be part of her and Jeremy's big day.
I recently had the pleasure of taking some family portraits in Leicester of the Burford family. Mum and Dad (Marion and Brad) wanted a group shot of of them and their five sons. They wanted an active, lively shot against a bright white background that showed everyone at their best.
I took some shots of all of them together in one shot, but it is extremely difficult to get the perfect shot of all seven of them as I could get a great shot of some of them, but the others may not have such a good smile. While I got some good shots of all of them together, I knew it could be even better if I took shots of them in pairs, so I could work on their expressions and then digitally make up a group shot from four separate shots. This is the resulting photo. I think it works well.
N.B. This blog covers just the wedding and portrait side of my business. Please see my Commercial / PR Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business.
Here is a small selection of photos of Sophie and Andy's wedding at the excellent Leicestershire wedding venue Quorn Country Hotel in Quorn.
Sophie started her big day by having her make-up done by Rachel Liney Hair & Make-up, before heading off to Quorn Country Hotel. They were very lucky with the weather as it was particularly mild (and dry!) for a November wedding. After the ceremony, the guests enjoyed a drinks reception and came outside for a few group photographs. While most of my coverage is candid and natural reportage photography, I usually take a small number of group shots, but I do that as quickly as possible to allow the couple and their guests to enjoy the day. Andy's best man Gary, helped me by rounding up the guests that were required for each shot, so he saved us all a lot of time. So thank you Gary! After the group shots, it was back in to the hotel for a superb wedding breakfast followed by a disco by Chris Chiverton of Bright Stars Entertainment.
This was a really funny moment (not for the dad though!) as a little girl bit her dad's finger while he was feeding her. He showed me the deep teeth marks in his finger afterwards. Ouch!
N.B. This blog covers just the wedding and portrait side of my business. Please see my Commercial / PR Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business.
I will be exhibiting at Prestwold Hall Wedding Fair on Sunday 30th October from 11am to 3pm. Prestwold Hall is one of the Midlands' premier stately homes and as such, is a superb Leicestershire wedding venue. Full address: Prestwold Hall, Prestwold, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 5SQ. As usual, I will have lots of wedding albums and photos on display. If you are planning a wedding, I would love to see you there.
N.B. This blog covers just the wedding and portrait side of my business. Please see my Commercial / PR Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business.
I will be exhibiting at the Nailcote Hall Wedding Fair tomorrow (Sunday 23rd October 2011) between 11am and 4pm. Entry is free and there will be a prize draw. This excellent Warwickshire wedding venue is a stunning Jacobean 4 star country house hotel near Solihull (mid-way between Coventry and Birmingham). The full address is: Nailcote Hall, Nailcote Lane, Berkswell, Warwickshire, CV7 7DE. I will be displaying fabulous Graphistudio storybook wedding albums and timeless Jorgensen traditional matted wedding albums as well as having a slideshow of my reportage wedding photography. If you are currently planning a wedding, it would be great to see you there.
N.B. This blog covers just the wedding and portrait side of my business. Please see my Commercial / PR Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business.
