Monday, 11th January 2010
Just before Christmas I had a great day second shooting with Rebecca Honeywell at Holdenby House, Northamptonshire.
Holdenby House is a stunningly beautiful venue, perfect for intimate winter weddings with, gorgeous large open fires and a cosy atmosphere. As Lucy and Alex were married at 3pm we didn’t get chance to use the beautiful grounds as the light had completely gone by the time the ceremony was over, but I did have a sneaky peek when we arrived and they are lovely.
Lucy and Alex had a real country theme to all the details of their wedding, with feathers of all kinds including some beautiful peacock feathers.
Here are a few images from the day:
The stunning Holdenby House
How inviting is that chair by the fire place??! It has a really intimate homely feel with all those photos on the book shelves don’t you think?
Some details from the day:
The bridal preparation room is also stunning, with a beautiful white wrought iron four poster bed, and white floor boards:
I love the crystal buttons! If you have little loops to go over buttons on your wedding dress, invest in a crochet hook it really helps!
Lucy, so beautiful, radiant and full of excitement.
Lucy and her Dad, pause before walking into the warm, intimate ceremony room
And here is the stunning ceremony
If you love the look of Holdenby House you can view details here: Holdenby House.
If you would like to talk about your wedding photography, please Get In Touch.
Saturday, 17th October 2009
Two weeks ago, I spent the most glorious September Sunday photographing the wedding of Julie and Robert at Gaynes Park.
Julie and Robert planned a very beautiful, intimate day with everyone in the family and close friends playing a role.
Julie got ready in the beautiful bridal cottage at Gaynes Park, with her friends, daughters and granddaughters buzzing around. Robert turned up with his best man and friend of 30 years, Dave, and whilst the girls milled around in chaos the boys enjoyed a sneaky snifter of rum from Dave’s hip flask, in the sunshine.
Julies, Stunning bouquet.
Julie sneaking out of the cottage to see what’s going on around her.
Some relaxed shots of Robert and Dave
Dave giving us the green light for the bridal party to leave the house and walk to the ceremony
A little excited impromptu dancing from Becky and Megan, I am just in love with the shadows in this one.
Leaving the cottage to walk to the Orangery for the ceremony, Ganyes park is such a great venue with so many photo opportunities it allowed me to capture two completely different walking to the ceremony shots. I love the first one for it’s relaxed and natural feel and the second one through the autumn reeds for the colour and sneaky view feel it gives.
The happy couple
I can’t get over what a beautiful blue sky we had that day so had to make sure we captured it in all it’s beautiful glory with Julie and Robert.
And finally, confetti and lots of it!
Julie and Robert, thank you for having me document your day, I hope you had a fabulous time in the Maldives I can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back.
Friday, 2nd October 2009
A couple of weeks ago I posted a glimpse at Maja and Toby’s wedding pictures from their wedding in Gdansk, which included more pictures of the stunning city than their wedding. Now that the bride and groom are back from Honeymoon and have seen their pictures, here is a full post from their day.
Polish weddings have many other traditions that you don’t see at English weddings so I have included some of those to give you an insight into the customs and fun of a polish wedding.
We started the day at Maja’s mum’s house where we captured her stunning dress and some details, which I can’t resist posting.
The beautiful bride, ready to blow the socks off her groom!
A hint of England came to the day with the wedding car. A fantastic old London black cab. It’s tradition in Poland that the best man and bridesmaids travel with the bride and groom and so it needed to be able to carry them all.
This is the beautiful church. The only day we had any rain whilst in Gdansk, was on the morning of the wedding day, but a Polish guest told me that this was great news as it meant that if their were tears from the sky, there would be no tears from the bride and it would be a happy marriage.
The surprisingly cool calm and collected groom, not one for having his picture taken, Toby completely relaxed into on the day and I love this shot,
It started to rain slightly so to keep the boys dry before the bride arrived we used one of a pair of arches in front of the church.
No wedding is complete without some bling. In Poland their wear their wedding rings on the right hand, not left, however as they are living in England Maja and Toby have decided to wear theirs on the left hand.
The 3, yes that says 3, registers that need to be signed in Poland to legalise the marriage are signed on the main alter in the church.
When the bride and groom come out of the church, instead of throwing confetti, they throw small coins at the bride and groom to bring them prosperity. The bride and groom then have to pick them up!! (If you happen to be an uninitiated photographer and are busily snapping away you can find yourself getting hit on the head with small coins!!)
The receiving line is then held outside the church, not at the reception. During the receiving line the guests give flowers and gifts the bride and groom and it’s the job of the best man and bridesmaids to collect all of them.
When the couple arrive at the reception, everyone is gathered inside, and the first people to greet the newly married couple are the parents who offer them bread to eat. After some discussion in broken Polish/English, my understanding is that this isn’t just restricted to weddings. In Poland any quests to your home are always welcomed with bread by the head of the house.
After the bread, all the guests gather around the couple in a circle and toast the couple, once the toast is finished the bride and groom must finish their drink and throw the glasses over their heads to smash them. This is to ensure that no one else can drink from the glass and wish them bad luck. (The bride and groom are handed a dustpan and brush to clean it up, to instill good house keeping skills into them, a very rough translation!)
After the first couple of courses for dinner (there is food all night!!!!) it’s time for the first dance, this starts off with everyone dancing around the bride and groom in a circle and then the couple pick out the parents and bring them into the circle to dance with them.
Of course there was lots of vodka, it’s drunk either neat or with a small amount of water, adding anything else is considered – english!
The cake comes out at about 11pm, the room goes black without warning and then a firework display errupts from the cake as it’s wheeled in. Unlike our wedding cakes these are more like gateaux’s with each tier being a different flavour and the ‘icing’ is actually cream based.
There is plenty of energetic dancing and games played throughout the evening.
Instead of throwing her bouqet the bride throws her veil. Blind folded she stands in the middle of a circle of single girls who dance around her while the music plays. When the music stops she throws the veil. Who ever catches it is destined to be the next bride and re-enforce this she then wears teh veil for the rest of the evening.
To find out who she might marry, the groom is also blinded folded and the single men dance around him. When the music stops he throws his cravat, the man catching it must then wear it and have a first dance with the girl wearing the veil.
And then the most chaotic game of the night. To ensure future wealth for the bride and groom and dancing competition is run, where guests pay to dance with the bride and goom. There is a hat for the bride and one for the groom and guests pay as much or as little as they like. Once their money is in the hat, they must take their dance. This results in much hilarity as each person tries to move in to take their dance with the bride or groom. The last person to be dancing with them wins a prize and the then money in each hat is added up to see which member of the couple won too. Maja won on money, Toby had more dances.
For those eagle eyes out there you will see that there is a mix of english and polish money in the hat, as a mixed wedding what ever currency you had to hand could go in the hat.
The party goes on well into the next day, in fact we finally called it a day at 4am!! Having started shooting at midday this was the longest, most energetic wedding I have ever shot.
Maja and Toby, thank you for letting me capture your day. I had an amazing time and loved every exhausting minute of it! x
Tuesday, 29th September 2009
A little reminder that this Sunday (4th October 2009) I will be one of the exhibitors at the Pontelands Park wedding show in Chelmsford.
Wedding shows are a great opportunity to meet with suppliers, have a close look at venues, and get great ideas for your big day, without the pressure of needing to make an immediate decision.
I’ve been working hard on getting together lots of cool things to share with visitors to me at the show and anyone who comes to see me at the wedding show will not only get a warm welcome and answers to their questions, but also a little celebration gift from me.
This event is being run by the very experienced and dedicated team at Main Event CO UK Ltd, here is their Wedding Shows a Brides Best Friend Guide.
WEDDING SHOWS……..A BRIDES BEST FRIEND……….
Think of all the things you need for your special day. Where do you start?
The venue is the most important first decision, so decide on how many guests will be coming and then who can accommodate them?
Is it the fairytale, historic beautiful setting of a castle, period country house or converted barn or the chic modern hotel or restaurant that offers you space and a choice of facilities?
Wedding shows in venues are the perfect opportunity for you to look around, with no pressure to make an immediate decision.
They offer a close inspection of facilities, staff and food options coupled with the added bonus of all the other services and products you will need being displayed with an opportunity to meet the supplier and discuss your requirements .
From the show you can also gain ideas and contacts while you see bands perform, inspect the quality of decoration, stationery, bridal gowns and photographers work and many other important things that mean so much on the day.
The Main Event Co Uk Ltd have dedicated their careers to organising quality shows at some of the most loved, yet sometimes surprising venues, to host shows in the south east.
So come along – See the difference – find suppliers and new ideas……
See the selection of shows and Register on line
www.mainweddingsandevents.co.uk
And because as you all know I can’t post without a picture here is a sneek peek of what your’ll get if you visit me at the show.
Come on now you didn’t expect me to ruin the surprise now did you?! ;o) At least you know you have a choice of black or white.
Come and see me, I’d love to hear about your plans for your special day.
P.S Don’t forget to register and if you know someone else who is planning their big day, use one of the links below to share this post with them. See you soon.
Friday, 18th September 2009
I have just returned from a week in Poland where I had the absolute pleasure of documenting Maja and Toby’s wedding. Toby is my brother and so the week was not only about capturing their wedding but meeting new Polish friends and family.
They got married just outside Gdansk which is a breathtakingly beautiful city, so not only did I come home with all their wedding photos but hundreds (Actually 1000’s but whose counting) photos of this amazing city.
Polish weddings have many traditions that we don’t have at UK Weddings, and I’ll tell you all about them in the full wedding blog post. In the meantime whilst I sort out all the photos here is a sneaky peek at the happy couple and the city of Gdansk. You’ll see the weather was exceptionally kind to us, I have rarely seen blue skies in the UK this summer, so this was a real treat!
Around the stunning central square of Old town Gdansk. All the buildings are very ornate, and although Gdansk suffered heavily in the Second world war. They have rebuilt it from old photos and records to be just the same as it was.
Even the street names are ornate. If you look closely you can see names carved in the original bricks.
Just a couple of images from the stunning and exceptionally large, St Mary’s Church. It’s believed to be the oldest brick church in the world and can hold an astonishing 25,000 people, now that would be some wedding if you filled it!
You have to see this organ to really appreciate it’s size and the detail, truly breathtaking.
And finally, we made a trip out to the coast, to a Polish Spa town called Sopot where they have Europe’s longest pier. Despite the sunshine the Baltic sea was as freezing as you might expect which is why there is only my dad with his feet in the sea!
