bridal shoot | The Villa, Wrea Green

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to be involved in a bridal shoot at the The Villa hotel in Wrea Green.

Along with some talented photographers, make-up artists, hairdresser, florist & models, not to mention the stunning dresses – we had some fun, in the sun

Here is a selection of images from the day:

Big thanks to photographer Anurag Sharma for organising this shoot & to the other photographers, Emma Bilsborough, Hannah Dornford-May & Roger Moore for the fun & support on the day.

Amazing venue  The Villa, Wrea Green

Stunning dresses provided by Gill Furness at Dreamcatcher Bridal in Kirkham 

Gorgeous make-up by the girls at  Minola Beauty Salon in Lytham

Fabulous hair by Sian Adem

Beautiful flowers by Anne at Margarets Florist in St Anne’s

and our wonderful models  Victoria & Rheagan (who is a brilliant singer & available for bookings)

sneaky peek | wedding | Bristol

Here’s a little image from Saturday’s wedding.

Stunning church, gorgeous bride, handsome groom, lovely little bridesmaids and fabulous guests (oh yes & some men in uniform!)

You won’t want to miss this one – more to follow soon

Molly & Stuart | engagement shoot | Witley Court, Worcestershire

I love ruins & I love doing photo shoots in the ruins – so I was absolutely delighted when Molly & Stuart agreed to mmet me at Witley Court for their photo shoot.

Molly & Stuart live in Bristol so we needed to find somewhere to meet about half way between the both us for their engagement shoot. I found Witley Court on the English Heritage (I like ruins enough to be a member ) website and suggested it as a location.  It was a wonderful, magnificent place – and I would encourage anyone who is in the area to visit.

We were the only visitors on that cold day in February and what a place to have to ourselves. I can imagine that come Spring/Summer when the fountain is switched on and the gardens are in full bloom it will be glorious. But even on a winters day it was very impressive.

Many thanks to Molly & Stuart for braving the cold and their initial apprehensions at having their photos taken. They rocked and I can’t wait for their Bristol (Naval) wedding in April.

lifestyle shoot | children

This shoot is one of my all-time favourites and I cannot believe I never got around to blogging it! I was chatting to some fellow photographers last night at a twitter shin-dig when this shoot came up in conversation. I vowed to them that I would blog it today – so here it is.

The story:

My aunt & uncle were trying to think of a gift to give to the assistant pastor of  their church, and his wife, who was leaving to take up the pastorate of a church elsewhere.  They asked me if I would do a photo shoot of their children as a surprise gift. Of course I would, then my uncle told me there were six children in this family – ok!  - no problem,  I said.

Well – it was definitely no problem, these were the most amazing group of siblings I have come across (bearing in mind I have worked with children for 15 years)

Aged from 3 years to 12 years, five sisters and one brother.

All very different in looks and personality.

They played together, cared for each other, laughed together & had fun together.

Everything that is depicted in these images happened spontaneously and naturally – and I had the most fun!

The most amazing thing about this shoot is that their parents never found out until presented with an album of images 3 months later. Yes, there were tears.

So here is my homage to a bunch of fantastic siblings: Laura, Catrin, George, Lucy, Eleri & Meredith

HINT: if you click on an image you will be able to view it larger

Alice & Tom | wedding

Alice & Tom were married on a cold Saturday in January at Holy Trinity Platt church in Manchester. Unfortunately the church heating had been broken for a few days so it actually felt much colder in the church than outside. However, everyone took it all in their stride and it didn’t spoil a wonderful service, led by the pastor of Alice & Tom’s own church.

After the ceremony, which included great worship led by the couple’s church band everyone headed off to the Lowry Theatre for the reception.

The Lowry is a great modern venue with splashes of fab colour.  The compass room which held the wedding breakfast commands fantastic views of the surrounding area.

Here are a few images from the day:

sneak peek | Sarah & John-Paul

I promised Sarah & J-P a sneak peek whilst they are travelling around New Zealand for 4 weeks!!

The images will be available to view online when they return – until now this is a little taster

portraits | December

The last shoots of the year.

The first was on a snowy day with a lovely family who were up for some fun in the snow. This shoot was also a surprise for dad for Christmas , although he met us all walking down the road after the shoot – oops. We got a quick story together (I was visiting neighbours & Tom was helping me with my bag back to the car which I had to leave on the main road because of the snow) dad didn’t buy that one apparently but instead thought I was a hot tub sales lady!!

 

The last shoot of the year was just before New Year. Rachel & Richard are a bride & groom I photographed a couple of years ago, they have a beutiful baby boy in September & decided to book in a shoot whilst visiting their family at Christmas.  Richard’s sister & her family also came along for a winter shoot in the garden.

portraits | November

I travelled down to Leicester to take some photos of gorgeous Asher & his family.

At the end of November I had a great shoot at Williamson Park, Lancaster with Theo & Pheobe, who were so much fun to take photos of.  This shoot was a surprise for their dad. I put together a slideshow of the images to show dad on Christmas morning – apparently there were tears

portraits | October

My cousin Adam & his wife Sarah booked me for a family photo shoot in October. We met at my aunt & uncle’s house in Bedfordshire & had a 2 day shoot!

On the Saturday we headed to Houghton House in nearby Ampthill, a ruined house which was a great place to play when I was growing up. I love the Autumn colours here which is why I suggested it, however this was a very cold October day & it began to rain so we didn’t stay long!  (poor Elodie was turning blue!)

The following day was much more pleasant so we headed to the woods – which conveniently is over the road from my aunt & uncle’s house.

This has to be one of my all-time favourite shoots, in fact one of my other favourite shoots involves the same woods!

It helps that they are such an adorable family who totally understand my style of photography  :)

portraits | August

At the beginning of August I travelled down to Worthing to celebrate the 30th birthday of my cousin Adam. Whilst at the party I took the opportunity to get a few photos of his sister Anna’s baby bump.

At the end of August I travelled back down south for a family wedding, baby Evan had made his appearance just in time for his week old photo shoot with big sister Darcey