Enjoy.

Matthew and Lyndsey's day was everything you'd want from a wedding really. Laughter all day, kids being kids and a load of love. Of course there was generous servings of emotion served up too.

Fast forward a few weeks and I receive this text from Lyndsey.

"Ive had the worst day, shouted at my girls this morning for being pickles! Then got upset in front of a patient at work as she was telling me she has been put on the tablets that have damaged my dad's lungs, been so so busy that left work feeling like there was still a million things I was supposed to do, ran from one end of Milton Keynes to the other in rush hour to collect girls . . . . Then came home and found the very special parcel you sent me. . . . Still crying but this time for a different reason! :-) Thank you doesn't even touch how I feel Joseph. You have given me some amazing memories forever. There are so many that made me gasp! I love them all! Thank you x X"

This wedding in its entirety was about friends and family, with no other distractions. With just two weeks to plan a wedding, you'd think that you wouldn't have enough time to get everything sorted but the amount of support that was offered by Matthew and Lyndsey's family was incredible.

Hopefully you won't have to use your imagination too much to feel the mood at this wedding.
Pease, enjoy.

I hope you're having a good December.
Wedding season hasn't quite calmed down for me yet, I still have two left this month. One at Priston Mill and also one at Mottram Hall. Both couples are lovely, of course!
I was at Priston Mill last winter for Ian and Lucy's wedding and snow was a major issue, it was a great wedding though!
Let's hope we have a sensible amount of snow without any risk attached to it this year.

Enjoy this teaser from Matthew and Lyndsey's wedding from earlier this year.
This was taken just as the girls were taking an usual route to walk down the aisle.

Thanks.
 Joseph

So, after such a long wait it's been quite difficult to decide what work I should show you first. A wedding in Devon? A friends wedding in Bristol? A wedding in the middle of a field in Yorkshire? A wedding on a boat? A Chinese wedding? Engagement shoots on the beach?
I think, I should just carry on where I left you hanging last time.

On with Matthew and Edith's wedding then...
Yes, not even a week after Mike and Kathryns wedding, I was back to cover a fantastic Chinese wedding at exactly the same venue.
I had covered weddings of Chinese couples before, but none as traditional and hectic as Matthew and Edith's.
When I met up with them, they began to tell me of all of these plans for their day, but one thing that definately caught my attention was the "Chinese wedding games".
If you've ever partook of these "games", you'll know just how harrowing they are if you're the groom or an unlucky usher.
The basic idea is for the bridesmaids to set the groom challenges so that he can prove his love for his sweetheart.
Press-ups, feathers, blindfolds, oranges stuffed with wasabi, booze strong enough to make you giddy just at the smell, large bribes and general cruelty were the order of the day for Matthew and his loyal friends. Certainly not my idea of a calm start to the day.
The rest of the day was a pure delight, as was Matthew and Edith's company.
I'll let the pictures do the talking, hopefully you'll feel as though you were there.
Enjoy, and you'll hear from me soon.

I've been looking forward to blogging this wedding since I covered it earlier this year.
Mike and Kathryn's wedding was quite an interesting one really, I'll explain.

They managed to organise the whole wedding in three weeks flat.
You could of walked in and just presumed that this wedding took the usual 12/18 months to organise. Nothing was missing from their day. Not a sausage.
In fact, their wedding rocked my socks off. The reason for said socks being rocked was down to their guests who, with their huge personalities just laughed all day.

I'll make a bit of a confession here.
Sometimes, I get so sucked into the day that I forget that I'm working, especially with the speeches. You wouldn't believe how hard I have to bite my tongue during the speeches, I'm fighting a constant battle against the heckler inside of me who just wants to get involved in the day!

Getting sucked into a couple's day certainly has its good points though.
You become a guest with a posh camera rather than "the photographer" and this allows people to relax around you. You can get closer to the action without people feeling intimidated

When I was looking through their pictures, some great memories came flooding back so I'm sure they dont feel like anything was missing.

Anyway, have a proper look through the pictures, and if you've got time, leave a little comment at the bottom.

In case you're interested, the two winning images can be seen here.
If you were considering having your wedding here, don't hold back from booking. It's in such a great location and it's so convenient because there is often no driving from Bridal prep-house to church to reception venue. Everything under one roof!
Just make sure they light the fire for you. The smell is so relaxing!

Unfortunately, the first time I met up with Samuel & Kayleigh was on their wedding day. Due to some worrying family health, the date had been pushed forward and it seemed like everybody helped out to make everything run smooth. And it did!

I wish I had time to of met up with them before their bit day as they're a cracking couple.
Still, never mind. I always try my hardest to really get to know my couples before their wedding day so that they can feel comfortable around me.
It is always beneficial.

Kayleigh got her hair and make up ready in the keepers cottage before escaping to the Bridal suite to get into her dress without anyone spotting her. All good fun I thought!
Whilst everybody was in the cottage getting ready, I went out the backdoor to have a little explore.
Long story short: door closed behind me, locked shut, spent 10 minutes shouting for help. Of course, everybody found it hilarious! Good times.

On with the pictures then.
Just a little note about these fabric bouquets; Kayleigh made them herself and was very modest about them. Well done Kayleigh, we all think they're amazing!

I could say this about every Bride that I shoot, but Jane made a fantastic Bride. She really enjoyed it!
I hope that you'll be able to see that from the images. Owen was very laid back and was also a pleasure to shoot.

A super-cool couple indeed!
How cool?

Well Owen is a concept artist who has worked on projects for some small companies like Disney and Atari.... No, I've never heard of them either.
Jane designs websites for CBBC and CBeebies.
I think that classifies them as cool, and those are just their jobs!

Thank you Owen and Jane for letting me be with you (literally) all day. You and your guests made me feel so welcome.
Enjoy these pictures.

Owen created these designs. Very impressive!

A sneak peek at Jane's dress

Hair and make up by the amazing Julie Dunkley

This is the cottage where Jane got ready, And yes, I was very nervous bringing the dress outside!

Jane's mum helps to take the dress to the Bridal suite

Nice to see a keen groom like Owen and suited up already!

Jane's twin sister Sam and friend Nerys made brilliant bridesmaids and multitaskers.

A new favorite.

I loved how Jane and Sam shared their mannerisms!

Jane's Mum loved seeing Jane get ready, and she was a great help too...in-fact she was a pro!

Owen's parents looking excited!

Molly just getting in some practise for her big job!

Jane's Dad was thrilled to see Jane looking so stunning!

Owen looks more relaxed than his best men! That's a first for sure!

The amazing wedding cake by Justine from Just Cakes

Wearing a hat as smart as this one, you can't help but smile, I think.

This amazing string quartet really set the mood!

Nobody knows how to play, but everybody likes a shot at it!

Good friends of the family and real gentlemen; Roy and Steve were very pleased to be at the wedding.

Rhydian looking a little nervous before his speech! I hate that feeling. Alcohol usually does the trick.

The soup really was that good!

I've not included the images here, but there was a pretty ugly riot at the wedding a little later on when the guests realised they weren't give fish and chips like Molly!

This here was the leader of the riot.

How good does this look though?!

In the same room was the secret meeting of hat wearing ladies. SShhhh!

A quick costume change! Very pretty!

Jane's fathers speech was brilliant and is physically congratulated by pretty much everybody!

"You ready?"
"Yep...let's rip Owen to pieces"

...and rip they did!

7:43 to be exact! I'm not too sure who won the sweepstake, but I did hear some heavy bribery going on!

We popped out whilst the light was just fading. All my couples, Owen and Jane included love this time when they can just relax and get some fresh air!

...and have a lie down!

I love a well beered-up group of stags, this lot though were especially tricky to work with. I loved it!

I challenge anyone to find me a picture of a freshly married groom with a fat cigar in his mouth, rocking a pair of aviators with a castle in the reflection.

Dance time!

Nerys and Nick make a great couple. (tried to think of an Avatar-based quip for their blue faces... I failed)

This lady is either heading for the dance floor, or the bar. Either way, she's going the right direction!

If you're not using your fingers to point in every direction, you're simply not dancing!

I liked watching Jane hold on tight to her husband!

And that's all!

Congratulations Jane and Owen.
You made me feel very relaxed and welcome and I thank you for that.

I hope you've enjoyed your honeymoon in San Francisco and I also hope that you really enjoy the rest of your lives together, you're a wonderful couple!
Take care.

I really enjoyed this wedding, I was there right up to the very end which was great as I really got to know a couple of the guests.
I certainly felt like one of Owen and Jane's friends by the end of the evening as they made me feel so welcome!

So, thank you, you two!
I hope you made your flight to San Francisco for your honeymoon in the end!

This one picture is just a little teaser.
It really caught my eye when I was going through the 1400-ish pictures!

I love that Owen's mum made time to glance at her son at a very important moment.

Keep an eye on the blog as I've got another great teaser to post before I blog the best of Owen and Jane's pictures from their wedding at Clearwell Castle.

Enjoy!

We had loads of fun in the fog and the cold on that day.
Unfortunately, Jimmy and Louise wern't exactly blessed with good weather for their wedding either, but what I love about Clearwell Castle is that if the weather is poor outside, then there are so many rooms to discover!
In fact, embarrassingly, I didn't realise that there was a downstairs to the castle, full of a dance floor and even more rooms!
I've always finished shooting before the dancing starts at the other Clearwell Castle weddings I've shot.
I much prefer these longer weddings, sure they're far more physically exhausting, but I enjoy it as I really get to know the guests and they get to know me.

This was the biggest wedding I've shot at Clearwell and certainly the most fun!
It was also my first Chinese wedding, so plenty of new sights I've not witnessed before, like the tea ceremony which I found fascinating!
I'd love to be there for their Chinese wedding in Hong Kong, it sounds loads of fun!

Friends and family flew in literally from all over the world to see Jimmy and Louise get married, so the atmosphere was amazing!

This was the last wedding of the year which is a bit sad, but I've had an incredible year.
I'll be posting some of my favorite images up on here later on in the week!

Thank you so much Jimmy and Louise for choosing me, I was so flattered!
Enjoy these pictures!

With light pouring in like this, you know it's going to be a good day!

And with this level of military precision, not much could of gone wrong!

So many friends and families flew over from Hong Kong.
This was just Jimmy's luggage though.

All day, there were smiles like this, everybody was so happy!

And so many cute faces!

Although, some were either clearly jet-lagged, or just not that crazy about weddings! 


Jimmy and his boys. 

Louise with her bridesmaids, Jo and Rachel.  

A few last minute tweaks!


On more than one occasion at Jimmy and Louise's wedding, I attempted to use other peoples camera flashes to enhance my own image.
I've never seen so many cameras at one wedding, so this was quite easy.
Also, the gentleman checking the image on the back of his 5d mk II is Bristol photographer Jordan Chung




And now the tea ceremony. It's a chance for the older members of the family and important relatives to give gifts and advice

I really took a shine to "Uncle Joe"... not sure he realised it though!

I don't know what this friend was saying but I'm sure its profound.

Glad I'm not washing up!

And so begins the toasting!

Another two not overly fussed by weddings! Or just knackered from jet lag!

Another use of other peoples camera flashes to get a cool cake cutting shot!

One of the smartest and cute kids was sat on my table.

And the lovely couple themselves!
Thank you so much Jimmy and Louise!
You could've chosen anyone to take your pictures, so I'm so grateful you chose me!