The ceremony itself was a pleasure to cover. Real emphasis was put on making the marriage strong by making their God come first and by supporting each other and working as a real team. Often I find that church ceremonies aren't personal to the couple which is a real shame as it is such a personal day.
On many occasions, the priest/vicar/officiant has got the couple's name wrong and it's so embarrassing!
To save their own embarrassment, I've often been asked if I know the couples name.
"Sure, I'll tell you if you pay me real good money!"
Of course, there was no shame or mess-ups. Perhaps because my very own brother was best-man. It was very strange having him around, as I'm sure anybody will tell you!

It was a great wedding full of friends, old and new. Many of them previous clients of mine (a term that I hate using) 

Please enjoy the pictures, I know a lot of you have been looking forward to this wedding so if you've seen the pictures, please leave a comment and spread the word!

Thank you as always.

Joseph

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 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!

Back in the winter I met up with Alex and Sian to talk about wedding photography.
They wanted to book me after Sian had found me on the WPJA. I find that a good sign as all my couples who find me through the WPJA know what standard and style of pictures to expect.

They booked me for an engagement shoot.
If you've met me, you know that I wax lyrical about how great these shoots are.
I really do my best to help you relax in front of the camera and if that means acting like a clown then so be it.
When your wedding day comes around, you feel comfortable with me as a person, but you'll also have a nice collection of non-wedding pictures!

We drove to the area where the wedding would be, had a look at the church and Sian's parent's house where the reception would be held.
On our way to The Vale of Glamorgan, the sky looked dreadful but I had remembered that Alex, like me is obsessed by clouds so we enjoyed cloud spotting and thoroughly enjoyed it, no matter how boring and nerdy that may of sounded.

Enjoy this little handful of pictures.
Also, keep a look out for Alex and Sian's wedding on here very soon.
It may of been my favorite wedding of the year so far! It was amazing!

Aren't they a fantastic looking couple?
Both of them are doctors from the very hospital I was born at. True story!

I really enjoyed Alex and Sian's company, we had loads of fun!

I thought I'd try something a little different and shoot in a field of barley. You know, 'cause I've never done it before. Ever

Thank you Alex and Sian.
We had loads of fun didn't we?

I can't wait to blog their wedding pictures. I've been desperate to from the beginning!

Take care and have a good week.

I'm joking of course, i'm not that bad, but last night before we were ready to call it a night, just like a little boy who really doesn't want to go to bed, found every excuse to stay up a little longer.
I did my usual stint of checking every website that I follow to see if any of my favorite photographers had blogged, checked my Twitter, e-mail, facebook. I'll just look at the WPJA site too, I knew I hadn't won anything because I hadn't heard anything from them.
So I was *pretty happy* when I saw that one of my images came in the top ten. EVEN happier when I saw that another of my images had been awarded 3rd place in one of the catergories! I may of screamed like a school girl! I am now very proud!

I've been a member of the WPJA since October of last year, and the amount of booking that I have received has been incredible!
So congratulations to all the other WPJA winners, especially the ones from the UK. It's always nice to see photographers who are nice and close!
Please make sure that you view the other winning photos here. They are all amazing! Honestly, in fact, mine look pig awful in comparison!

Both of my winning pictures are from Owen and Jane's wedding at Clearwell Castle. A venue that I know quite well.
I'm very pleased to be given recognition for the second shot. By far, that room, for me is the hardest room to shoot in. Ever.

At the weekend I shot another wedding at Clearwell Castle.
Remember Jimmy and Louise's photoshoot in Bath?
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 at the weekend, but the great thing about Clearwell Castle is the fact that it always feels so warm there and even if it's rubbish outside, there are so many great rooms to discover!

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!

Unfortunately, so far this is the last wedding of the year. I can't imagine getting booked for another December wedding now!
It's been a pretty busy year and I've loved it, I think I'll post a "best of" like I did last year.

Whilst I edit the rest of the images, enjoy this little teaser.
The full blog will be up in a few days.
Check back soon.

Joseph

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.