Enjoy.

I've decided to inject a few more personal posts every now and then on here, so expect to see a few holiday pictures and personal work.
When prospective couples meet up with me for the first time, they often say how they feel like they already know me because I like to have a little chat on here, so now you'll be able to see what I get up to when I'm not at a wedding. (yes, there are such occasions)
I've got some holidays and engagement parties to blog about which will probably do the blog no good but I know it won't hurt.
Who knows? You might even see a picture or two of me. Lucky you!

Today's wedding is of Ian and Lucy, the couple who I had blogged previously with their engagement shoot in Bath covered in snow.
I've enjoyed selecting their pictures for this blog, I'll try to explain...
As a member of the Wedding Photojournalist Association, at weddings I put almost all of my effort into seeking out moments that are happening throughout the day. Sometimes the moments are big and other times they're ever so subtle.
It's easy to a certain degree to walk around with a nice bit of equipment taking pictures of the flowers, dress, shoes, cake, table decorations and more flowers, and in fact I do take pictures of these things because the Bride has put a lot of thought into planning these little details to make their day special.
To me, the most important things are the moments that are easily forgotten about.

Ian and Lucy's wedding was almost perfect for them.
Why "almost"? With the heavy snow, some guests simply couldn't get to the wedding and the wedding wasn't going to be a 200+ guest affair to start off with so things were very intimate. Perhaps the smallest wedding for me to date?  (Making up 1/44th of the guests can be a little scary to be honest)

Below is a very strict selection of real moments that I loved capturing. The majority of them aren't groundbreaking moments, instead they make up a honest representation of a fantastic day that was all about the closest friends and family.
Sure there were some details, but I'm taking a jump here by just showing you the people rather than the things.

Next wedding, I won't go on so much about how I think moments are more important, I'll keep quiet!

I hope you enjoy.

As usual, it was an absolute pleasure to shoot at Priston Mill in Bath, especially when it was as laid back as James and Rachael's wedding.
James, along with Rachael, work as editors for a magazine so it's always great to work with people in the media!
How Rachael ended up with working in the same company as James is a completely different story but I'm sure he'd love to tell you!

I loved how James and Rachael chose Priston mill as their wedding venue, despite none of their family or friends being from the area. They simply wanted to do things their own way and luckily their guests were totally on board!
Bumping in to some of the guests the day after in Bath was brilliant!

James and Rachael loved the area and agreed that when they're ready, this is where they'll get married.
A couple of years down the line, with a beautiful daughter, they kept their promise to the Mill!

After the wedding, I received an email from James checking to see how I'm getting on with the pictures, attached a picture of me at work which you'll find on my twitter feed, and I quote: "We had a great day, although my brother in his slightly drunken wisdom decided to pick me up and then fell over... he's still on crutches! Other than that, good fun!"

Good times.
Enjoy the pictures and leave a comment at the bottom.
If you're interested in having your wedding at Priston Mill then I can do nothing but totally recommend it.
The food is incredible and the staff are some of the most attentive I've ever worked with.
I'm sure James and Rachel will vouch for the Mill.

Right then, Mark and Amy got married a couple of weeks ago! Congratulations guys!

A beautiful couple as you will either soon realise, or you already knew because you're one of their lucky close friends, or you've been good and you're a regular reader of the blog!
Mark is a design engineer at Dyson, a company who have done incredibly well and are now a household name, Amy is a lawyer in the city. Not gonna mess with Amy!
I met with Mark and Amy several months ago, they were on the look out for a photographer and found me on the WPJA website.
I know that when a couple finds me through the WPJA I still need to do my best to sell myself but being associated with that organisation certainly takes out a lot of the hard work. Couples know what standard of images to expect.
I liked Mark and Amy straight away.

They booked me and we arranged a photoshoot in the city. Take a look at the pictures if you've not seen them yet.

When they got married a couple of weeks ago, it was beautiful weather! Infact, it was perfect!

Amy got ready at Conygre Mews in Bath; just 10 minutes drive from Priston Mill.
I was thrilled to find that Amy and her girls were the first bridal party to ever get ready there.
It was a really beautiful cottage lovingly restored and the owners showed their faces too; super nice people! Thank you.

Before you enjoy the pictures (or maybe after, thats your prerogative)...check out the special flipbook of the ceremony that Jessica and myself produced. It's just a bit of fun!

Amazing bouquets by Natalie Anne.
Amy's bridesmaids were brilliant! Well done girls.
Here's the man of the hour with Nicola.
I love shooting people's hands. They really are story tellers!
Disclaimer: This is not the Bride, no. But this little girl was the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Mark's best men keep an eye on him.

Amy's hands are tiny! I really like this picture.
Again with the hands...look at Marks! And notice how Ben, Marks younger brother is keeping an eye on him. 
Amy's Brother was so proud to give her away. 
I'll have to find out the name of the gentleman giving the ceremony, but he was hands down the nicest man for the job.
One of Mark and Amy's friends gave a reading of a slightly adapted version of "A Lovely Love Story" by Edward Monkton. (google it)
Did Mark only just realise how tiny Amy's hands were? I don't know, but I love this picture.
Congratulations!!

Mark and one of his friends practise their secret handshake. Word!
I love me a good veil!
Thanks for being a great bridesmaid Nicola, and for keeping me busy during the wedding breakfast. You are one funny girl!
I'm just going to let you sit and watch this for a moment. Don't leave it too long though, I don't want your screen saver coming on and spoiling the mood.
Mark is a real smiler!

Mark gets some brotherly love!

Speeches!

Oh, this was just disgusting. Apparently, this dirty little creation was taken everywhere on Marks stag holiday. By the look on Mark's face, he doesn't find it as repulsive as what Amy does. Bless.
"You seriously want to name our first-born E.T.?"
Isn't Mark a super handsome groom? And I think Mark will agree with me that Amy looks incredible!
With Mark and Amy's engagement pictures, we put together a guest book, and by the looks of it, it went down very well!

What a wedding!
Thank you so much for choosing me to be with you almost all day. You and your guests made me feel so welcome, I actually felt a little sad leaving.
Enjoy your lives together guys!

Last weekend I shot a wedding on another absolutely beautiful day just outside Bath. At one point I actually rolled up my sleeves; partly because I was a little warm, but mostly because I wanted to show what a rock and roll photographer I am. It's just how I roll.

Mark and Amy really couldn't of had a better day, Priston Mill really is the best place around for a luxury wedding with a relaxed feel.
Being just 45 minutes away from home, I can't begin to tell you how great it is to be in bed not too long after taking your last picture of the night...nay, weekend!

I think that's enough moaning from me about how I shot 24 hours at the weekend, I won't mention it again!
Today's teaser is another wedding flipbook created by Jessica.

We aimed to shoot one at Owen and Jane's Wedding but unfortunately I forgot the tripod. Sorry guys!
Although this is only our second attempt at a guestbook, I think this is the best by far. But of course, it's Mark and Amy's friends and family who make the video.
If you've got time, watch it a couple of times because I can guarantee that you'll notice something new each time. We've watched it countless times, I'm surprised the video hasn't gone viral yet!

We'll do these videos a couple more times just to make sure we're doing everything right before we offer them as a little something extra for our couples to enjoy. After all, the Bride is the last to arrive and the first to leave, so she misses out on all the action. It's nice for her to see every little detail.

Enjoy it!

I was feeling full of a chest infection and all the things that come along with it, and it was a really gloomy cold day in Bristol, but Mark and Amy brought a little touch of class to the cold city, their company was very warming! In fact, the sun even came out to play. Which was nice!

After the shoot with Mark and Amy, I'm really looking forward to their wedding at Priston Mill even more!
Make sure you keep an eye out for their wedding on here a little later this year!

It was a great way to get to know them a little bit more.
These shoots are the ultimate way to get used to having your picture taken!

Enjoy this little collection of Mark and Amy in Bristol!

First we stopped behind the tobacco factory and took advantage of some ACERONE work.
As a fan of both graffiti and photography, ACERONE is the perfect antidote for me!
Work like this can be found all around Bristol, it really makes me proud to live here.

See what I mean about bringing a little class to Bristol? Lovely stuff!

Oh, didn't I tell you? Mark and Amy can levitate. Proof:

And Mark is an incredible dancer! ;-)

The clouds went, which made us happy, and a little warmer.

We found this ugly background so we decided to get a little dark and moody with some harsh lighting.

But Mark cracked! Brilliant!

I love these colors on the harbor-side 

Incase you missed the teaser the other day...

Great words!

One of my favorite pictures. Just simple and sweet.

And Amy's face in this picture! Brilliant!

When Mark and Amy aren't levitating or dancing, they like to shoot energy balls from their faces.

And we'll finish here with a little bit of warmth. Thank you to the Big Issue vendor who blessed us with some colorful comments to make us blush!

We shot around the Bristol docks for some grungy textures but ended up in the Millennium Square area of Bristol to make use of the artificial lights and cool architecture.
It was a little strange doing a shoot in my own city. It's very rare that I'm this close to home, I'm usually doing an engagement shoot in a field in Shropshire, a forest on Halloween or on a farm in mid Wales! I loved it though, it's great to welcome in the wedding season with a couple like this!

This photo was taken at the Lloyds building on the floating harbor in the centre of Bristol.
Mark was saying that this is a world famous spot for skaters and although there was just a handful of skaters around they were more than willing to help out. Cheers guys!

Look out for their wedding at the end of the month and of course the rest of their pictures from this shoot very soon. Mark and Amy are getting married at the beautiful Priston Mill, just outside Bath. I'll be there a few more times this year, so that'll be good!

On a side note, Mark ran the Bath Half Marathon yesterday, not sure how he did yet though!

Enjoy!

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!

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.