Neil and Kat got married up in Liverpool back near the end of last year, there were still leaves on the trees, bright golden they were.
I had never visited Liverpool before so for me it was quite exciting. Everywhere you turn has some reference to the fab four, (no, not the Backstreet Boys).
Neil and Kat held their reception at the incredible Sefton Park Palm House, a conservatory palm house built in 1896. It was beautiful inside and out, with a huge variation of exotic plants.
At a few times throughout the day I looked out of the window...the whole building is basically a big window to be honest...and noticed 3 or 4 wedding cars drive up to the front gate, brides were getting out of the cars to have their picture taken with the house in the background. I felt quite lucky to be inside a building that obviously was a popular landmark that meant a lot to local people.
During the evening reception I was talking to one of the guests, she said that when she was a little girl she used to come to the palm house on a Sunday with her parents and read the newspaper. It was much warmer in the Palm house than what it was at home. Apparently, it was quite common for everybody to do this, it saved on heating costs!
Now the Palm house has been beautifully restored and it's a pleasure to be inside.

Neil and Kat didn't have the best day weather-wise, It was a typically chilly northern late-Autumn day with lots of showers. Personally, I can't stand the rain, but I do like how rain makes people huddle closer together to try and stay warm and dry under one umbrella. It makes for great pictures. That panic that hits people when the heavens first opens is quite a funny site to record through photographs. Californians might have a steady supply of golden and lush light, but we've got the rain and atmosphere!
I'll keep on telling myself that's how I like it.

Regular readers might recognise Neil here, he's appeared on the blog before along with another couple which I'm very sure you'll recognise.

Enjoy the pictures and please leave a comment at the bottom of the page!

A little while ago, I received a phone call from a lady with an incredible voice. Hints of English, Irish, Italian and French.
The lady was a certain Anna Debenedictis, a wedding, child and portrait photographer now based in Ireland
The good news was that she was due to give birth any day soon, the bad news was that she was due to cover Michael and Rachael's wedding but knew that there was a risk she could pop on their wedding day.
Cue the Mighty Mouse theme song!

So I met up with Michael and Rachael, had an engagement shoot with them, and a little while later I shot their wedding at the amazing Bristol Zoo.
By the way, you can view their engagement pictures a little later...
The zoo was an incredible place for Michael and Rachael to have their wedding. So many opportunities for amazing pictures as I'm sure you can imagine.
With it being England, it rained of course and with me only shooting for a couple of hours we were a little rushed, but we still had a great time.
It turned out to be a really intimate day that was all about family.
I would of love to of stayed around for longer as as usual, I was in my element.

Congratulations Michael and Rachael, you were an absolute pleasure.
Enjoy the pictures!

I knew these two were going to be extra special when they sent me, along with the signed contract, a picture of the wedding cake they wanted and a hand written letter.
Sure, not that unusual, but when my couples do things like that, it gets me really excited about their wedding. It shows that they're passionate about their wedding day too!

We eventually met up in the beautiful city of Bath for an engagement shoot and we hit it off straight away. I remember Ed and Lucy saying that they were both nervous about meeting me, it felt a bit like a first date for them!
"What if we didn't like you?", they asked. Well...there's always that risk I guess!
In case you've not had a chance to look yet, their engagement pictures are here.

We drove the amazing journey to Aberystwyth along the mountain road and met Lucy as she got ready with her Mum and Bridesmaids at home.
After a quick little drive into the town we met Ed at the church waiting to marry Lucy.
Very nice.
On to the reception which was held at the Conrah Hotel which sits in 18 acres of amazing Welsh scenery.
I'd love to shoot there again, it's an incredible part of the world.

I was made to feel so welcome by all their guests which I'm always so grateful for.
My favorite moment?
Probably when Lucy's Nan was dancing to Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire!
Yeh, in fact that might be my favorite ever wedding moment!

Enjoy the pictures, ok?

Congratulations Ed and Lucy.

I must apologise again for the delay in blogging!
Goodness me, I've been busy. I've got some amazing weddings to show you though, so hopefully you've not got too bored of the blog and you'll come back to view some fresh pictures...right?

In the pipeline, I've got two amazing marquee weddings, a very english garden party in Didsbury, a wedding in Bristol Zoo and a beautiful wedding in Wales, as well as a small handful of Bristol Weddings.
I told you I've been busy!

Oh, did you notice the new blog theme?
Colin, my web person has made things look a lot more fresh so I've waved goodbye to the yellow/cream site and I'm letting the pictures speak for themselves more. I'd love to know what you think of it?

I will be replacing the slideshow on the front page with a recent wedding of mine which I'm very proud of (guess which one!)
You may of noticed also, the new picture layout starting from my previous post. It certainly takes up more time, but I love it. Again, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And one more thing...! Colin has made my site iDevice friendly. If you have an iPad or iPhone you'll be scrolling left and right a lot less. The front page will also soon play a html5 slideshow rather than flash. If you understand all that, Great! If not, don't worry, you're not missing out on too much. At all!

On with the pictures then!
Lucy and Adam booked me many moons ago and opted for an engagement shoot after they had seen another couples shoot.
You may remember their shoot in Badminton?
Adam and Lucy were married at the church in the village and moved on to the Hare and Hounds in Westonbirt; an Absolutely beautiful area of England!
Enjoy the pictures!

I've known Mike for a little while but met Gabi for the first time at Rowan and Faye's wedding a couple of months back.

The engagement shoot
We met up at Blaise Castle which you may of seen a couple of times on the blog here, here and here!
When couples ask to shoot there, it's music to my ears! It's on my backdoor step, and it's beautiful there!

We started the shoot in the typical way by having a chat and helping them to see that although I may look like a total hunk in my picture, I'm actually very approachable, as is my camera!

The actual pictures!
Enjoy them, leave a comment and more importantly look out for their wedding on here soon!

You've heard the age-old adage of how your flowers will die, your food will get eaten, your dress will get hung up in the wardrobe for decades, but your wedding photographs will live forever.
I'm not suggesting that without wedding photographs you'll have nothing to remember your day by but there is a lot of truth in that old saying, I'm sure you'll agree.

If your wedding photographs will live forever, how do you go about finding the perfect person to record your wedding day?

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM A PHOTOGRAPHER?

As a couple you need to work together to decide what you both want from a photographer.

*              Come to an agreement on whether you want a lot of formal pictures of your family and friends, or if you would prefer a more candid approach.

*              Would you like lots of pictures of all the details that you lovingly arranged, or are pictures of Grandad laughing at the best mans speech more important to you?

All of those things are important, but you need to work out what is more important to you both.

As an engaged couple, the chances of you spending a large amount of money on glossy wedding magazines is pretty high. I just know!

*              Which wedding pictures caught your eye?

*              Natural or posed?

*              Did the posed ones look almost natural?

*              Have you been to a recent wedding where the photographer impressed you before you even saw the pictures?

Find out who these photographers are! The ones in magazines are there because they want you to hire them, they're looking for more work because they love what they do!

Most photographers have a blog, they're designed especially for you. Look for photographers in your rough area who have blogs and find a few that you admire.

Google this: "[your nearest city] wedding photography blog"

You'll most likely be inundated with a large amount of blogs, some better than others.
If you are looking for someone to cover your day in a photojournalistic way, look on the WPJA for example.

WHAT IS IT YOU LIKE ABOUT THEIR STYLE?

Out of the few photographers that really stand out to you, is there one that you can't keep away from?

*          Try to pinpoint the reasons why you keep on going back to see their pictures.

*          Look for originality and humour in their pictures as well use of initiative.

You don't need an understanding of cameras and lenses for these things!

Can you imagine yourself in their pictures?

If they have a blog, look through all their recent weddings and learn to understand their style.

What is their style of writing like?

You should be able to tell if they have a real passion for weddings!

BE SURE BEFORE YOU BOOK

Try to get to know them through their pictures and style before you even meet them.

*          Before you meet up, ask your photographer to bring a sample wedding album or two.

*          Do you like the album and the layout of the images?

*          Are there other options if it isn't to your taste?

When you meet up, you must both like your photographer as a person. Could you be friends with them? You don't have to become friends with them of course but you do need to be that comfortable with them.
They will be with you on the happiest and most important day of your lives sharing those special moments.
You wouldn't invite someone that you don't like to be a guest at your own wedding would you?

Your prospective photographer needs to be someone who is very interested in you. You'll know if they're being genuine.

Notice that none of the advice I've given is about megapixels and special effects in Photoshop.
If you like pictures with special effects applied, then there is nothing wrong with that. Photoshop doesn't make a bad picture good, in fact it often makes a good picture bad.
I would recommend though, looking for a photographer with images that look as though they will age well; Pictures that aren't faddy.

A few questions you should ask your photographer are:

1.       Will you be the only person shooting our wedding?

2.       Are your packages flexible?

3.       What type of insurance do you have?

4.       Do you have back-up equipment?

5.       What will you do if you are sick and cannot cover our wedding?

6.       How long will it take for us to see the pictures?

Choosing a photographer doesn't have to be hard.
You must simply love your photographers work and have total confidence in them.
If you follow this advice, I'm sure you'll find your perfect photographer that can record your day just as you remember it!

A lie-in and mid-afternoon wedding with much better lighting conditions are of course obvious reasons as to why that day was so good, but the real reason of course was Joseph and Emma themselves. We met up in December in Clifton and I immediately liked them. Such a charming couple.
Their wedding was one of the most relaxed affairs I've attended.

Of course, it's easy to want a relaxed wedding, but to be well organised with it is so important and often overlooked by couples who just want a wedding without all the fuss. It takes skill to do it right. And I've seen it done wrong!

Jessica again was in control of the flipbook and I think she's done an amazing job here.
There was a little issue at the end where someone accidentally knocked into the tripod.

We've been doing these flipbooks at the majority of our recent weddings and they seem to go down so well, all our couples can't wait for us to flipbook their wedding!

I'll go on and on about the wedding in my next post about them. So meanwhile, please just enjoy our flipbook.

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

Finally, something local!

Jessica and myself travel all over the country to shoot weddings, I guess that's just something that you get from being so good looking.
Ah well.

Shooting all over the country does have it's benefits. We've made some new friends and we can stay in contact with old friends too.
But, it tires us out and we can never wait to get back home to our own bed!

Moses and Sabrina are getting married early next month in Thornbury, Bristol. Then on to Caldicot Choir Hall.

Like the majority of my couples, Moses and Sabrina chose to invest in having an engagement shoot around Clifton where Moses popped the question.
You might recognise Sabrina from the Hornby Photoshoot back when it was freezing. You can see the Bristol pictures here and here.

As I'm super busy at the moment (Two weddings this weekend; local too!)...so I won't be inundating you with pictures from their shoot. Enjoy this little collection!

We couldn't believe this sunset when we were shooting next to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Hope you enjoyed

I recommend that you read the above mentioned post before reading this one, it'll just make more sense!
...
I'm guessing you've read it now, I'll continue.

The other day, on the way up to Adam and Lorna's wedding up in the Midlands, I bought Brides Magazine.
I often buy it as I actually enjoy reading it, it gives me plenty of inspiration and being in the wedding industry I think it makes a lot of sense to read the same sort of material that my brides are reading too. I keep on top of some of the trends that I might of missed previously on the interweb.
I also like to laugh at the adverts.

So, like I said, I bought it. £4.90 please. Ouch!
I failed to notice, until I was taking the glossy magazine out of the packaging that there was a DVD in there too.
The Sherlocks upon you will work out that this was likely the same DVD that I could of been featured on as the recommended photographer for my region.

Inside the magazine, lots of pretty pictures, plenty of dodgy adverts (some taking up 5-6 spreads, and one certain company showing a model posing as a bridesmaid who I can only presume previously had a career as a boxer)...but no mention of the scores of information and links found on the free DVD.

I pop the disc into my laptop and follow the appropriate links to find who was the photographer for my region, and I get this;

...Ta-da

This photographer paid £495 for that advert.
Nothing else, no additional links, no extra pictures and no slideshow. Infact, when I typed into everybody's favourite search engine "three acorns photography brides magazine" and even "Thornbury Brides Magazine" (this photographer is based in Thornbury, a little town down the road), nothing came up.
So Brides magazine don't even have the time to put together a simple online directory for their paying customers!

What am I saying?..or not saying for that matter...

I'm not saying that Brides magazine is conning photographers out of money.
I'm not saying "don't invest in having your business listed on their free DVD"
I'm not saying I'm bitter, because I'm not. I consider myself pretty lucky actually.
I'm also not saying that every single photographer  listed on the DVD will get no bookings, they just might...in fact I really hope they do!

I'm saying, if you're a photographer, then research these things first so that you don't end up spending a lot of money on very little.
If you're a bride looking for a photographer, then the DVD might be perfect for you.
Probably not though. It wasn't that good to be honest!
Just use google.

But again, I thank you Conde Nast publishers, and Brides magazine for asking me to be one of your recommended photographers.
Very kind of you...I'm still on page one for "Brides Magazine Recommended Photographer"

hehe...