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!

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

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!

Matt is a professional bowman so he ends up travelling all over the world as part of a boat racing team. Yvonne also works in same industry so she gets to travel to some pretty incredible locations sometimes too.

So we met Yvonne and Matt in Matt's home town of Lymington. We were pretty late as some inconsiderate person decided to let their van catch fire on the M4 and by the time we arrived the light was fading very very fast and we were left with very little light to play with!

It was yet another shoot where I struggled on a technical level, but I learnt from it, so there's a silver lining behind every cloud!!
Yvonne and Matt were great company, and I can't wait to shoot their wedding this weekend!
I'll tell you more about them both when I blog their wedding pictures.
I'll also tell you how many wedding rings Matt has.
I'll give you a clue; it's not one.

Enjoy these pictures, and keep an eye out for their wedding pictures pretty soon!

Because these two are such a darned good looking couple, I can't actually show you their faces, instead, you'll see reeds.

Ok, you twisted my arm! Here's Yvonne!

...and Matt. I really love these colors. They look so cool, yet also so warm!

These are all Matt's Boats...I think

Laughing so much your legs give way. It's the only way to laugh!

Can you say "Cheese"? All the best with living this one down Matt!

We used all different types of light on this shoot; shop windows, ambient light, and off camera strobes.
And in this case, we ended up in the middle of the New Forest on Halloween (which didn't scare me in the slightest, honest!) Jess held up the strobe to light their faces and the leaves, whilst Matt and Yvonne's car gave us some nice ambient which created a nice warm halo around them! Cool!

Thanks for being so much fun and hospitable guys! I'm really looking forward to shooting for you at the weekend!

As I said the other day, we all knew that this would be a killer wedding!

I was lucky enough to be at Jasmines house with her family whilst she was getting ready.
I always love the atmosphere at the Brides house. So Electric, but so fun. Rushing back and forwards to the hair dressers, make up being done and girly music being blasted out. (no, I'm not a fan of the girly music, or make up for that matter)
Btw, the incredible Naomi from Angel Face Make up did Jasmines make up

Its slightly different at the grooms place. Fry-ups, Xbox, putting the ribbon on the car, failing to do a good job of putting the ribbon on the car, tieing cravats, failing to tie cravats without the aid of the internet, realising that they should of left the house 15 minutes ago. All good stuff.

The advantage of this job is that you can step back from all the nerves and excitement and be more aware of the emotions, because you yourself aren't actually involved in the emotion, even though you might get caught with watery eyes... =)
It's Fun!

A Classic Citroen picked Jasmine and her Dad, Marcus up and drove to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Craven Arms.
Now get this: We had to stop in a housing estate because we realised that we were running about 15 minutes early! How many times has that happened?!

From the Kingdom hall, the fresh and new Mr and Mrs Morgan along with a gorgeous Mrs Yarrow and Myself went to Stokesay Castle to do our little thing that we do.
That is a beautiful building, and I hope I can shoot there again soon.

We then went back to the reception in Craven Arms where Luke and Jasmine were greeted with a ruptious applause.
Then the Party started and they lived happily ever after.

Congratulations Luke and Jasmine!

Enjoy these pictures, and leave a comment at the bottom!
All of the pictures can be viewed and purchased here



The back of Jasmines silk wedding dress was laden with Swarovski Crystals




A bit of needed moral support from Bridesmaid and a Josephyarrow.com regular,  Mel

Here's Daddy




I don't think this picture will ever age.

In-case you didn't catch the teaser.



How's this then for a proud Mum and Dad?

This book was packed with helpful facts. There, I've written it now!




Jasmine Rocks


"Wow, you've got some really good looking friends Joseph" said Cindy, my previous bride!




Stokesay Castle Had billions of beautiful wild flowers, so I think a little color is in order here




Look who it is everyone!!

OK...Marcus (Jasmines Dad) is a bit of a dude when it comes to Origami.
This was the centre piece for the top table, it was about the size of a small football and was assembled with no glue (true origami uses no glue) If I remember correctly, Marcus asked for this very intricate design from a polish (?) origami expert, who designed it himself, so he's probably only the second ever person to make this? Probably
Now I'm really pusing my memory here...The whole ball is made up of 20? 24 pieces? (I've forgotten) and each piece took about 15 minutes to make and interlocks with the neighbouring piece.
After that very accurate description, I expect all my blog readers to create this and send it me so I can judge them.

And then... (I know, there's more)...on each table was this beautiful floral center piece with roses and peonies and the like, but Marcus had made origami roses and hidden them inside for the guests to find and take home as gifts. We found one in our center piece that was kindly given to us about 5 days after the wedding!! We were so pleased!! =)


Ben was the best man, well done Ben, and congratulations on getting married!


I didn't have any, but apparently, this cake was "off the chain"

Yes, this is relavent

OK..Usher time.
We have L>R
Jimmy
Mr Matthew Ives
Mr John Mark
Mr Tristan Khoo
Mr Luke "The Groom" Morgan
Mr Nathan Sonny Lee
Mr "Hot" Ben
Mr Davy Flavell

Ok...You ready?
Check this out!

No, your eyes aren't decieving you, that picture just happened!
-
Jasmine and Luke chose "Your love gets Sweeter" by Finley Quaye, One of my favorite songs

India rocks out the Charleston.

If you were wondering "Joseph, that picture of Jasmine and the ushers just looks too good to be true, surely something like that needs a whole team working together to make it happen?" Then you'd be right.
Thank you Dan.
On a different note, after checking through this post for typos and things like that, I realised that I hadn't actually edited the next two pictures. All that crazy blur is done completely in camera, no photoshop here.

It was great seeing the kids dance just as hard as the big kids



A suitable and relevant ending to the pictures I think!

Again, thank you Luke and Jasmine for choosing me as your photographer, I felt blessed to be there and be an important part of your day.

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/josephyarrow

-

Time for a load of pictures!!

This was a really important wedding for me and Jess, we've both known Bianca for years. I met Bianca in 2001, and after being friends for so long, Jess had her as a bridesmaid! (so no pressure there then, it's not like her mum AND sister are wedding photographers)

Jimmy on the other hand I've not known for as long unfortunatly, but anybody that truely knows him will tell you what a gentle loving man he is.  How he managed to turn Bianca into this lovey-dovey slushy girl, we'll NEVER know!

Saturday was such an emotional day, the rain didn't put a damper on it at all, but it was a shame that we couldn't go outside much because of the weather.
Hopefully I can shoot there again and take advantage of the amazing grounds of Mellington Hall Hotel.

Just one highlight of Saturday evening was the band that played. They were called Function and I really can't recommend them enough, they were all very talented!
Talk to anyone at the wedding and they'll tell you how incredible they were. Unfortunatly they don't have a website so I can't link to them here!

Bianca and Jimmy, Congratulations to you both.
Seeing you both marry each other was absolutly incredible!

Enjoy these pictures, and please leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
I'd love to hear from you!

Don't worry guys, this is just the Best Man, Dan (and what a best man!)

Here's Jimmy! In Biancas Mum's speech, she was telling us how he had to ask to see Jimmy's ID card because she didn't believe how old he was!


The Florist was incredible!

...as was the Dress..






Waiting patiently...



Bianca's Mum, Tania walked her down the aisle.








Sabina is awesome. Full Stop

This may or may not have been the reason for the weather. Socks modelled by Luke



Did I tell you? Jimmy is a highly decorated Chef, these cakes were his creation.


One of my new favorite bridal portraits...


This was cool!

Megan was an awesome bridesmaid! Well done Megan!!



Ask Jimmy what he's laughing at, perhaps this isn't the place to tell such things!! =)

Brotherly love.

Jimmy's Boys
From L to R we have Matt (who helped me with the crazy grooms-men picture)
Luke (Who is getting married on Saturday, remember their shoot?)
Dan, The very best man
Jimmy
Ross
Sonny
Al, who had everything in charge. Awesome
And Nathanael (Remember the photoshoot with him and his sisters?)
And Bianca's Girls...I think the boys win though, sorry Bianca.
From L to R we have Bianca, Obviously,
Mel, sister of Nathanael,
Sarah, sister of Jimmy,
Sabina, sister of Bianca,
Abi, getting married in November
and a recently married Melly.

Well done girls, you were awesome!

When its raining outside, an indoor group shot is the only option. Very tricky. But thanks everyone for your patience!

How many weddings have you gone to where the first dance was by the 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs'?



Very good friends, Zack and Tristan. Hi Zack and Tristan.



MK won the 2009 dance off. Congratulations! (You'll see MK in a few weeks time on the blog, keep an eye out for him)

Whew!! That was a big load of pictures!
Sorry if they took a while to load, but I really hope you enjoyed them.

Bianca and Jimmy, Thank you so much for choosing me as your photographer, it was a huge honour. Me and Jess had a fantastic weekend.
And thank you to the guests for making it so special for the two love birds.

Jasmine and Luke have a house in a real life toy-town called Ludlow.  They put Jess and Myself up for the night and they were the perfect hosts.
We spent the day looking around antique shops [it's just how we roll]... then we started shooting in late afternoon.

We walked to the very spot where Luke proposed to Jasmine by carving "Will You Marry Me?" into a tree. Very romantic!

Personally, It's not the sort of thing I would do, but only because I'd probably spell it wrong because I'd be stressing over what style of typography to use!
She said YES of course, which was a very good move as Luke is thee gentleman and they make an awesome couple.

We were blessed with beautiful light which only got better and better.
One thing that I only noticed whilst I was editing these pictures, is that Jasmines skin takes to light very well.

There were allot of rape seed fields in the area which I was keen to shoot in, but we just couldn't find one bathed in light, and that was easily accessible, and then I spotted a beautiful field of barley which ...well, just look for yourself at the pictures;

This is for future bride, Lucy! (Hi Lucy)


I'm currently training Jess to become my second shooter. Check out this shot which she spotted!

I don't really remember the last time I used my [impossible to use] lensbaby! Interesting and controversial results...





I love how the light from Jasmines face is reflecting onto Luke's.


This post is sponsored by..."Lensflare"





Jasmine Rocked her Hennes Dress

"Yeh, my Dad used to hang me from my feet over this bridge"

The Field!...See what I mean about Jasmines skin?

You two! Me and Jess had such an awesome weekend, and I think that this ^ field was the perfect end!
Thank you Mr Farmer for letting us shoot in your field without your permission.

Remember, you can have a shoot just like this one, and seeing as I said at the beginning that each time I do an engagement shoot, it gets better and better, it might be a good idea to book one! =)

Contact me if you're interested.

I am a Bristol Wedding Photographer who takes a photojournalistic approach to capturing your wedding.

When I say "Blew" I don't mean a stiff breeze, I mean full on gale force winds. I actually have an injury from the wind.
I chose to walk to the ceremony as it was literally just round the corner from me.

Cassie and Paul had their ceremony at Blaise Castle House Museum which was an utter pleasure to work in. The staff there were beyond helpful, I highly recommend choosing this as your wedding venue.
The actual ceremony was held in the picture room in the Blaise Castle House Museum which is full to the brim of massive paintings of scenes from around the country and the rest of the world including Egypt, Greece, Switzerland and Venice. Most are by the painter William James Müller.
Cassie had six bridesmaids, all dressed in different colors and Kayley, one of Cassie's younger sisters had her wheelchair decorated in flowers and butterflies!

Paul had 10 Ushers which was awesome.
I love the ushers, not just Paul's, I mean all Ushers in general.  They're always up for anything and there always seems to be some device in their heads that makes them malfunction in the most amazing ways when they get together in a group of 3+...so you can imagine what 10 of them are like!

I'll get straight onto their wedding pictures, it's why you're here.
I'm apologising for the amount of pictures in this post, but I don't know why, I hope you'll enjoy looking at them.

If you were a guest at the wedding, leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

Enjoy.

Zack, Harry and urrr...Harry wait patiently for Cassie to arrive.

The Wind blew...

...it really blew, so Cassie was clearly glad to get inside.

And her bridesmaids were attentive all day..






We stepped upstairs to shoot in this room that was just flooded in light, I placed the chair in the shade and rolled off a couple of frames and got this...then I went downstairs to ask permission to shoot there. =)



...you knew it was coming didn't you! Cassie rocks this shot no end...but then again, I think even I would look classy leaning out of a vintage Jaguar.


Weddings just puts everybody in the mood for love, its so cool!



*nom*

A scared Cassie listening to her Dad's speech wondering what he'll say next. Brilliant!!




"You're Fired!!"






A different take on my usual "groomsmen shot" I felt that the extreme editing and wide crop suited the image. Would love to hear your opinion =)

The Bridesmaids are: Daisy

Kristie

Jess

Abi

Gee

And Kayley

Ok...now dance!!

Jump around!

Watching these two dance was uber cool


Zac...Dropping beats all over the place, this guy was awesome, have him at your wedding.



"...Shoulda put a ring on it..."



And finally...this picture. It makes me sad, it reminds me of when Jess left home and her whole family was really sad to see her leave. Zack, Cassie's Brother is a brave little man.

Congratulations Paul and Cassie.
Thank you so much for asking me to shoot your wedding, I had a brilliant time.

If you're getting married, give us a bell and I'll see what I can do.
Take care.
 Joseph

I've almost finished editing Cassie and Paul's Wedding pictures from Friday, and the more I look at them, the more I realise what an epic wedding it was.
Congratulations Guys!
Come back soon for the best from this amazing wedding in Bristol.

Mark and Laura II's wedding is the reason you're reading this post, so I'd better start talking about it.
This was a real fun wedding, they had the sun shining for them on this day, physically and metaphorically.
The amount of good things that their friends did for them to help them out was incredible! The massive amount of great food that was provided was amazing, the wedding cake that was "engineered", the "Bunsen Honeydew Band" and all the little things that made their day the best possible day it could of been for them.

I don't want to sound cheesy, and I don't think it'll be taken that way by Mark and Laura II and their guests, but I was really proud to be part of their day.
One of my favorite parts of the day at this wedding (and most weddings) is the "formal" shots of the groomsmen, most of Marks groomsmen and Best Men had already had the "Joseph Yarrow Group Shot Experience" ...so it was a total breeze and I love the resulting pictures. It always helps when the groomsmen and groom are relaxed and up for anything. It makes me look better than what I actually am! =)

Anyway, Mark and Laura II, thanks a million for asking me to be part of your day, I loved the whole thing and I loved seeing you both so happy. It was awesome.
Enjoy these bad boys:

A freshly married couple! Lovely Stuff!

A new Favorite:

...and you know I'm a sucker for the bride/car shot! =)


A little bit of trespassing never hurt anyone, how could we say no to this field? Thanks ushers for helping Laura over the gate (which was clearly padlocked)




C.U.T.E.


"What?"








Laura II, Mark II, Laura, Mark

I hope you enjoyed those, I'm sorry it took so long to post them, I've been so desperate to get them up online, so now they're up, it's a weight of my shoulders. Good ol' internet =)

If you plan to get married, then I'd really love to shoot your wedding. Contact me for details!

The next thing I'll be posting is Cassie and Paul's Engagement shoot, followed by their wedding, so keep an eye out, I've got some killer pictures from that one! =)

Joseph