Remember last year I posted up a few pictures from Paul and Rebecca's engagement shoot in Blackpool?
We had a load of fun that evening but it was insanely hard work.
Check out the Blackpool shoot here.

Most of the shoot was taken up by sitting in cafes just getting to know each other, so by the end of the night Jess and myself were really eager to see how their wedding day turned out!

Paul and Rebecca both got ready at the Manchester Airport Marriott and then moved on to their ceremony and reception at Davenport Green Hall.
Regular readers of the blog will remember that I've shot at Davenport Green Hall before for Ian and Grace's wedding reception.

It's a great venue to shoot at with it's beautiful grounds. The staff are all so accommodating too, so I was more than comfortable being there all day.

Their wedding was on another hot day. Perfect weather for a wedding! Guests flew from all over the place so it was an extra special day for them!
I'm not too sure what was going on that day, but we had three people walk straight into glass doors and windows! The MC actually cut his nose, poor guy!
I also was one of the unlucky people that mashed my face up on a window! Stupid!!

The family and friends from both sides were brimming with personality so they made my day very easy as there were plenty of characters!

So, enjoy these pictures and please leave a comment at the bottom of the page!

You'll see plenty of pictures of Paul and Rebecca's little girl; Connie later. Meanwhile, check her tiny shoes out!

Paul looks pretty relaxed considering 1) he's getting married in a bit and 2) he just had his personalised registration plates nicked from his car!

Talking about cars, check this beauty out. This limo was provided by Horgans Limousines
I can honestly say that the service provided by the chauffeur was the best I've ever seen, and no, I'm not being paid to say this!

Look at those beautiful eyes! What a charmer he was!

To me, these two picture are what weddings are all about...

Here's our little Connie!

Rebecca looked incredible! She made a great Bride!

Best service ever.

As my first couple that I shot here had their ceremony in Wilmslow, it was nice to see how Davenport Green Hall does things during the entire day.
Instead of walking straight to into the ceremony, Rebecca took a more scenic route which made for some great pictures but also helped to settle some nerves.
A really great yet simple idea!

Come on Paul, you can do this!

The room was a little...intimate and...cosy.

I love it!

I love this picture, I think it's the trail of crumbs from a packet of crisps that does it for me!

"Right, when you've finished that one luv, you can down this one too"

Jessica captured this beauty!

Pictures like this make my "job" extra special!

Connie is absolutely gorgeous!

I wonder who thought up these table names then?

Time for speeches. Just a word of advice to wedding photographers...
When the Groom and the Best man approach you and ask you to rate their speeches out of 10, for the love of all that is good, don't say that one was better than the other.
Goodness me, I almost got myself maimed!
I'll say now that both speeches deserved a 10/10.

Rebecca's girls looked great!

And doesn't Rebecca herself look incredible? For the photographers reading, this was shot outside at 9:45pm with on camera flash!

They shared their first dance...

Joined by friends and family.

And soon, things got a little rowdy. Just how I like it!

I was more than happy when the DJ dropped a few Irish songs including some Pogues! Love it!!

Oh yeh, you didn't hear? Tina Turner was there.

Thank you Paul, Rebecca and Connie for letting me be with you all day! I had so much fun!

A special thank-you goes to Mr Jonathan Taphouse for his help with this wedding. You made my day even easier!

Now for the wedding of a super smoking-hot couple from the Midlands.
Yes, there is such a thing.
Nathan and Kate got married at the Kingdom Hall in Cradley Heath and then went onto Hotel Du Vin in Birmingham.
I loved shooting there as the light all around was gorgeous.
Having the reception smack in the middle of the city was a pleasure, I don't believe I've ever had that privilege.

The great thing about shooting in the city is that in the day, the sun bounces off the windows and metals creating gorgeous spots of light, and in the evening, all the offices and car parks still have their lights on making for some beautiful yet sometimes challenging lighting. I was in my element.
Please enjoy the pictures!

Nathan was as relaxed as anything I've ever seen.

Nathan had his Dad as his best man. He was just another one of the boys.
Here's the Bride, doesn't she look amazing? And that veil? She made it herself. So creative!
Mum and Dad

It's always a pleasure to see the groom's face as he watches his Bride walk down the aisle.

A gorgeous day for a wedding!

Oversized bouquets for ushers are now officially "in". You heard it here first!

Oh, Kate also made her bouquet herself too!

Inside, good light was hard to find but was amazing once I found it.

Yes, this little boy really was that cute.

We popped out for a few minutes whilst I had a raging headache to get some special portraits.

Bubbles never boring whatever your age...

...or whatever form they come in!

Kate's father's speech was hilarious! I think with all these speeches I hear each weekend, I'm going live a long life!


Here come the boys. I love that city light, and also how Nathan's Dad is clutching onto his Son.

Nathan and Kate hired a juke box for their evening reception. Clearly, this presented the guests with some extremely difficult decisions.

Me: So Suzzie, how long have you been friends with Kate?
Suzzie: Urrr, she's my sister?
Me: Sure...

Congratulations Nathan and Kate, and thank you a million times over for allowing me to be with you all day.
Enjoy your lives together.

Joseph

They were married at the Wilmslow hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cheshire and then moved to Davenport Green Hall for their reception.
Ian is in hospital at the moment, not too sure what is happening, but we're all thinking of him!

Enjoy these pictures from their wedding 365 days ago and if you've got time, check out their wedding pictures here.
Happy Anniversary Ian and Grace! 

I've loved 2009, I've met some incredible people, learnt some good lessons, ate some wonderful food, attempted to dance with the best dancers to the worst and best music, seen some incredible bands and taken some killer pictures.

I can't wait to get wait to shoot my first wedding of 0'10.
It already promises to be an even more successful year than '09.

Thank you to all my brides and grooms who have chosen me over other photographers, I've really enjoyed meeting you all and getting to know you.
We've had fun.

And finally, thank you to my amazing wife. None of this would of been possible.
You really have no idea how patient she is with me!

Enjoy my look back at 09.

First, I shot our close friends, the Hornby's as an anniversary present for their parents.
Gorgeous weather in Bristol on that day!
Look out for Sabrina, she's just booked me for her wedding this year!


Then came the wedding of Debby and Craig, this was a biggy for me for many reasons.

I can't believe this was in 09! It feels like years ago!
Mark and Laura are a wonderful couple, I loved shooting them.

This is my brother Phil, and his wife, Hannah.
They're allot of fun and awesome family to have.
This shoot was a little embarrassing for me as I had to tell my brother how to kiss photogenically! Mmmm!

Then came a really great wedding!
Ian and Grace
This by far though was one of my favorite ever bride portraits.
(I was also very pleased with the edit!)

Bianca and Jimmy came next, I did an engagement shoot with them in Knighton. For those who don't know where Knighton is, it's no where near anything.
Bianca and Jimmy are great friends of ours, I was really looking forward to shooting their wedding!

I did a few child portraits around Bristol, mostly in the Ashton court grounds.

Then a Bristol photoshoot with this couple, Mark and Laura are allot of fun to be around.

Then their wedding came, I forget now but by the looks of it, the photoshoot was either 1 or 2 days before the wedding!
A great wedding, and a beautiful bride.

Some familiar faces in there? I should think so! And look out for Rowan in the middle here, I'm shooting his wedding this year too!

Paul and Cassie, what a great couple and super good looking too! People like this make my job very easy.
Another engagement shoot where the wedding was just a couple of days later...



By Far, my favorite groomsmen portrait of '09.
I would never usually edit an image like this, but with such awesome faces, I had to push it to the extreme.
Without the expressions, this picture would be a flop.
FYI, I had a bride book me because of this picture.

Right, I've been looking forward to posting this one. For sure, a favorite engagement shoot. This was text book.
1) Luke and Jasmine both put allot of effort into looking good for their shoot.
2) Both start the shoot quite nervous.
3) But, chose some great locations with personal attachments
4) Light was perfect
5) Did a little trespassing
6) By the end of the shoot, I'm sure Luke and Jasmine forgot I was taking pictures, they felt so relaxed.
7) Shot roughly the same amount of images on this shoot as what I do at an average wedding.

Bianca and Jimmy's Wedding. Loads of fun!

Another experimental groomsmen shot.

Then my first wedding of many at Clearwell Castle. Thanks Will and Cindy

Luke and Jasmine got married. Of course, with one of my famous Joseph Yarrow Engagement shoots, Jasmine and Luke were totally relaxed in front of the camera! Book now!

Then a really fun Engagement shoot in Badminton with Adam and Lucy. Their wedding is in the summer. Remember that season?

Then I tried something that I've not really done before. A baby shoot. Harvey was easy to shoot, as were his parents, Becki and Ben.
Looking forward to doing a few more baby shoots this year.


Certainly one of my favorite shots from the shoot.

Followed by an engagement shoot in Sheffield!

And a wedding at Clifton Mansion house in Bristol. I can't wait to shoot there again this year!

This also was a text book shoot!
Great looking couple.
Awesome locations.
Both started off nervous.
Ended up dancing by the end.
True story

A few weeks before, I had been inspired to change my equipment to make my pictures better.
This part of the shoot was at dusk... well into dusk actually. This was shot with totally natural flash.
I was nervous about changing my equipment, but shots like this made me confident that I had made the right choice.

I'll keep this one short and sweet.
I was contacted by this lady, she asked me to take some pictures of her and her husband in their wedding attire for the wedding anniversary.
Sure, no problem at all, but why?
She was so disappointed in her images that she had to have them done again.
I hear this sort of things very often.
Do not book a photographer that you're not sure about.
I personally know people who have cried because their wedding pictures were appalling.
Your wedding pictures are one of the only things left from your wedding, so don't mess around.
Anyway!...
This shoot was allot of fun!

Matt and Annie got married.
Hands down, one of my favorite weddings of '09.
You should of been there!

I don't think I'm doing this couples wedding, but they were guests at a wedding that I also was a guest at. Tried my best not to be an Uncle Bob

Got this great shot of Jessica with her two brothers Micah and Keir

Strictly speaking, I didn't take these pictures. Jessica did, so although I set up the lighting and camera, she takes full credit for the shots.
Unfortunately, she doesn't plan on taking any more shots as she doesn't think she's good enough! Crazy I know, but I think we'll do a few baby shoots together, with Jessica entertaining and assisting!

Amazing weren't they!!?

Really looking forward to Chris and Victoria's wedding in March, that's going to be allot of fun.
This shoot was loads of fun!

On my way up to this wedding, I got an email from the WPJA saying that they wanted me to join their organisation.
This was the best wedding/business related news I was given all year.
I was so glad that I could shoot a wedding the very next day!
Thanks for booking me Andy and Julia!

Hands down, the hardest engagement shoot with Paul and Rebecca.
We had so much fun though!

Another wedding at Clearwell Castle. Thank you Dave and Paula!

Nathan and Vicky's wedding came next. Fun!

Matt and Yvonne had an engagement shoot by the harbor. It was here that I realised that the evenings were getting darker, so this shoot was quite a challenge for me. Great couple though, they made it much easier.

Jimmy and Louise chose our favorite city of Bath for their engagement shoot!
Another text book shoot!

Then Matt and Yvonne got married!
Nothing...I repeat Nothing, beats the expression of the guy behind Yvonne! Brilliant!

Then for my last wedding of the year, Jimmy and Louise got married at Clearwell Castle.

Whoa!

That was a busy year on reflection!
My original draft of this blog had about 200 pictures in!

A huge thank you goes to all my Bride and Grooms, past and future.
You've treated me like a King and I've eaten like one (Although I'm sorry I'm so hard to feed with my food intolerances!)
Thank you also to all the great comments on my blog, I love receiving them, they always make me feel so great!

Keep on visiting and commenting!
I can't wait for this year to get moving!

Jessica and myself met them under Blackpool tower, and we were both pleasantly suprised!
"I hope that's them over there Jess, they're pretty good looking!"

We went for a drink to get to know eachother and I soon realised that Paul and Rebecca's wedding will be allot of fun!
They originally found me after they saw the wedding of Ian and Grace that I shot at Davenport Green Hall, their same wedding venue!
We started shooting at 7 as that was when the lights came on.

Jessica used to come to Blackpool as a little girl on her holidays, and loves the whole feel to it, Paul also loves Blackpool, but Rebecca and myself couldn't quite see the attraction! Still, we had a really good time!

It was busy.
And when I say busy, I mean Xmas shopping on Oxford street "busy"

Also, it was windy.
And when I say windy, I mean 70mph winds sort of windy, and this is a seaside resort, so we had sand whipping up all over the place, I've still got sand on one my lenses!

Honestly, this was one of the hardest shoots I've ever done!
But, Rebecca and Paul and of course Connie their little girl were absolute troopers!
I really got very few shots that I was happy with, so enjoy the few that i'm posting here!

We had a great time guys and we really can't wait for your wedding!

Just remember that our offer of another engagement shoot in Manchester is still open!

Enjoy!

"Hey, Joseph, How did you manage to get that soft directional light on Paul here?"
Good question! A big white bus was driving along side us and I bounced my flash at the bus. I think all the people on the bus thought Paul was a famous male model!


Seconds before this picture was taken, I decided that I wasn't happy with using a bare flash, so I got out my white studio umbrella....in 70mph winds....I won't be doing that again. One, because its stupid, and Two, because it buckled in the wind so fast that all I could do was literally screw it up into a ball and throw it away!

I really love this last picture.

I've admired the work of the many different photographers for quite a while now. Some of which are very big names in the world of wedding photography.
If you're looking for a wedding photographer who can capture the real moments of your wedding, then I highly recommend that you invest in any of the wedding photographers listed on the WPJA website.

On  a slightly related note, on Thursday night, on the way up north to shoot Andrew and Julias wedding, I received a very nice email which went something like this:

"Hi Joseph,

Please excuse our delay in getting back to you. We are in the midst of making three contests live on our site(s): WPJA Q2, AGWPJA Q2 and the annual WPJA/BRIDES Magazine contest.

It is our pleasure to have you as a new WPJA member! Great images in your portfolio!
...
[blah blah blah].
...
Welcome to the WPJA!

David Roberts
 WPJA"

So....yeh, I got in!
I've put so much effort into getting into this association and I am SO thrilled to be welcomed in!
I've had allot of backing from brides and grooms, photographer friends and of course so much support from my family and my beautiful wife!
Thank you everybody!

I felt like after receiving that email, I couldn't be in a better place than a wedding!
So I shot Andrew and Julia's wedding, and I shot it good!!!

Thank you Andrew and Julia for being another couple who liked my work enough to let me capture your special day, and thank you also for being a perfect couple. It's couples like you that make my job so much fun!

Why not enjoy these pictures hey?

Thank you Dan for your help!

Now get this, and prepare your saliva glands...
a Krispey Kreme tower as a wedding cake!!!
Honestly, the smell hit you as soon as you walked in the room, it was a beautiful thing!
(my wheat and egg allergies on the other hand....hmmm, not so beautiful)

Andrew and the family had arranged some suprises for Julia, one being the Krispey Kreme tower of Joy, and another was to have an old music teacher play Sax for them during the meal! Lovely stuff Neil!

And Julia was thrilled!



The boys went out for a spot of football, Victorian style by the looks of it!


Not too sure what Julia will think when she sees the state of Andrews shoes!

The Hill girls sure know how to rock a wedding dress don't they? I think Julia looks fantastic here!



The Speeches were sweet...

..and very funny too. Well done Luke!



Congratulations Andrew and Julia.
I hope you enjoy eternity together.

Luckily enough for me, a fair few couples who just happened to be engaged (my favorite marital status!!)...also liked the pictures, so Debby and Craig passed on the essentials and I've got some nice little bookings coming up! Thanks guys!! =)

Annie and Matt were guests at that wedding, and it was their wedding on Saturday.
Their ceremony was held at Manchester town hall, which was absolutley beautiful!
I'd love to shoot there again, it was full of this incredible gothic architecture, I loved it!
The ceremony was great, Annie walked down the ailse to "This is the one" by the Stone Roses which has to be a first for me!

Matt and Annie also had two readings from friends during the ceremony.
They exchanged rings and made everything all hunky dory.
Infact, on the subject of rings...Annie's engagement ring had engraved on the inside "This is the one".
Incase you didn't know, it's a song by the Stone Roses, a little underground Manchester band.

Then the reception...where do I start here?!
The reception was held at a family friends home in Didsbury which was a non-typical reception location, but it was so perfect!
I think, instead of rambling on about how incredible it was, I'll just let the pictures talk!

Enjoy! =) (I did)

FAN-TAS-TIC

Annie's Bridesmaids were, to quote a certain bride; "off the chain" =)


I've been down coal mines in Wales, and I thought this was dark in here! =)
Annie and her Dad walk into the brides entrance.


The ceremony!




Doesn't she look amazing?
















A big Red London bus picked up the guests and drove them to the reception in Didsbury. I guess you don't need me to give you their phone number =)

A little bit of red never hurt anyone...

Right then...the reception, this is where I don't need to say much.
I think Annie's reaction says it all!













Look at those colors!!! argh! amazing!









I love this cheeky little capture!






I love this smile! Contentment!






You knew it was coming...


I'm so very proud to say that this wasn't posed! I was just in the right place at the right time!

Matt and Annie had as their first dance, this song by a band called the Stone Roses...? Don't know if you've heard of them or not.
Anyway, they've got this song which I hadn't heard before called....oh, whats it called, I think I've forgotten...

Their first dance really put my hairs on end, it was a cracking atmosphere!! This is SUCH a cool job!


Congratulations Matt and Annie.
Thank you so much for choosing me as the person who is in charge of capturing your memories.