Hillbark Hotel for Graham & Katie's wedding

The weather forecast was different on every channel the morning of Graham & Katie’s wedding, so we knew today was going to be a challenge. Driving to the Wirral the sun was shining the satnav was, for once, working & we just knew it was going to be a great day. On arrival at the stunning Hillbark Hotel in Frankby we were met by a picture of calm & tranquility with Katie having her hair done & the girls chilling. Hillbark Hotel is a great wedding venue, bags of character, spacious rooms & beautiful gardens, add to this a day full of emotion and fun & great images are guaranteed.
A very emotional ceremony followed with not a dry eye in the house, even the wedding cake was in tiers (tiers/tears get it!aargh the old ones are the best) then my worst nightmare, just as I had managed to get all the 100 guests outside in the beautiful sunshine for the ‘all guests photo’ the heavens opened & the stampede back inside began. Luckily apart from one or two downpours at the wrong time the rest of the day was glorious & both Graham & Katie really were stunning & a joy to work with
One of the joys of my job, yes it really is a job, is witnessing moments in time that change peoples lives forever, I really feel privileged to have the best seat in the house watching all the human emotions unveiled in front of me. I’m sure when I do my talks to photographers & say ‘the images are there you just have to be ready for them’ they don’t really believe me but its true & this wedding was a perfect example of that.

Thanks both of you for a superb day, and braving the showers.D.

Image Of The Week

This weeks image was shot at our recent wedding of Graham & Katie at the glorious Hillbark Hotel on the Wirral. Even though this is a beautiful timeless image you have to know the story to fully appreciate the image. The ‘girls’ were getting ready in connecting rooms so I was darting between both rooms getting the images. The bridesmaids room was a little chaotic with makeup, hair, fastening of dresses & shoes, but in the brides room there was just peace & calm (even though Katie probably wont admit it).
Katie’s mum was giving the bride away and I just popped my head around the door and from across the room saw a beautiful image, a mother & daughter at their proudest in a really touching & special moment. The day was bright sunshine & torrential rain & wind but just at that moment the sun flooded the room creating a halo around their heads, Katie turned her head with the slightest of smiles and with thirds in mind I shot the image.
This is probably my fave image of many fave images we shot at this wedding, but its just the simplicity of this image & gives me a warm feeling every time I see it.
I shot this at 800iso to achieve a film like grain to the image with my 70-200L 2.8 lens & its full frame not cropped, that’s one of the things I love about this lens the ability to get me close enough to tell the story but far enough that I’m not there.

Canon D5mkii / 800iso / 70-200L 2.8 / 100th @f.2.8

Ian & Rachel

The brief for this wedding was modern contemporary with little fuss.Ian & Rachel’s wedding was an intimate affair with a reception at the contemporary Magnolia Restaurant inside the Cottons Hotel in Cheshire, a beautiful venue. When Jane & I arrived at the hotel we saw the funky surroundings of the bar and reception & just had to use them to give the images a modern feel. This wedding was a very relaxed affair with Ian very calm & Rachel looking stunning, very much the perfect couple, with pimms & champagne flowing we all had a great day.

Chris & Jennifers wedding

As we come to the end of a busy August, (we have shot 14 weddings this month) its time to show the great wedding of Chris & Jennifer that was held recently at the gorgeous St Wilfrids Church in Standish, near Wigan. I had in 2005 photographed Jennifer’s sisters wedding at the same church so knew just how much fun we were going to have. The day started with a bit of pressure,the groom arrived in a great looking vintage car & whist photographing Chris in & by the car a whisper in my ear said just be careful the car is worth ¾ million pounds, ( yes £750,000.00 lotta noughts & no I didn’t mark it & no you cant prove anything!!)
During the pre wedding consultation a request was made for something dramatic to match the images we shot at Jennifer’s sisters wedding, so after the ceremony I took the Bride & Groom to a local cornfield that I ‘d had my eye on for a few months now, and thanks to the great couple dramatic photos is what we got. As I said in the previous Image of the week (this was Jennifer’s image) I do love cornfields.
This was a great day trying different poses & angles at familiar venues really does get the creative juices going (& blows out the cobwebs) now where’s that black touch up paint!!!!!!

Thanks to you both for everything,was defo worth going to the field.D.

Andy & Chloe at Haigh Hall

Jane & I arrived at Chloe’s to find all in matching outfits & their respective ‘jobs’ on the back with Chloe (with Bride on her back) and the girls in high spirits we knew this was going to be a good day.I left to photograph a very cool Andy & his entourage at a very hot & sunny Charnock Richard Church & the fun continued. The reception was at the magnificent Haigh Hall & a great surprise for the guests with instead of canapés an Ice Cream van just what we all needed. The Grand Ballroom was full of colour & was a very impressive surrounding for great speeches and a football skills competition (yes you read right) needless to say Andy duly won & after medals awarded the party continued.

Thanks again to both of you for a great day.D.

A Military Wedding in Great Harwood

This day started very calm & relaxed,then 20 mins after we arrived exploded with the news that Laura's (the Bride) sister had just given birth to a little girl & the celebrations began from there.St Huberts in Great Harwood is a beautiful church & Oliver arrived looking great in his Royal Marines uniform & boy was there some military 'bling' on show medals everywhere.After the ceremony the reception was a bit closer to home at Kilhey Court Hotel where, even though it was a military wedding with what seemed half the marines there, Laura was determined to have fun (as were all the guests).Great speeches were the signal for a great evening with the bestman showing not only can he give a great speech (ok used prompters for the responses) but also a 'great' dancer.

Thanks to Olly & Laura for allowing us into their big day, oh yes nearly forgot, the brides sister arrived fresh from child birth to the meal with a gorgeous little girl.Officially our youngest guest at a wedding at 8hrs old.

West Tower with Gareth & Christina

Its always a joy to photograph a wedding when you have been recommended to the Bride & Groom & even better when the original couple are involved with the day.A very calm Christina was having final makeup done when we arrived and we were greeted by Mike & Nicola (Brides Brother & Sister in law) who's wedding we shot a few years ago great to see them again.Gareth & the lads arrived at St Teresa’s Church in Up Holland, this church has the friendliest priest I’ve ever met.Another beautiful sunny day as Christina arrived ‘fashionably late’ but was worth the wait,stunning.
On to West Tower in the picturesque town of Augton,we seem to have quite a few booking here this & next year but hey not complaining it’s a stunning venue & really helpful staff (& Peroni lager, result!!!).West Tower has so many great places for wedding photography & the lighting on the day was great.Again superb speeches in a fantastic room, great coordination by these two the whole day was fantastic.

Yes Nicola I have recovered after coffee in a LFC mug,just!!!

Image Of The Week

Sometimes photographers give you all the blurb as how they positioned, crafted, shaped the shot now this is true even of myself, but every now & then you just get lucky & the image appears infront of your eyes. Now before I call this image a ‘fluke’ I wanted the bride to walk along the tractor path for an image from the rear but as she lifted her dress the shape just appeared and ‘BANG’ the opera music started and a stunning image appeared, and being in the right place at the right time (aherm) I shot said image.
Was it a fluke I will let you decide, the ego in me says of course not but Jane ( not one to be competitive) say’s different.
I have just gone thru a weekend of cornfield images and will show them on the blog in the near future, there’s something about cornfields I do love perhaps the colour, landscape, or even the fact my first award was a cornfield image or just memories of summer walks with Jane & the kids.

Canon 5D mkii / 24-70 2.8L / 200 iso / 400th & f8

Stephen & Lyndsey's wedding at Haigh Hall

I was going to call this posting ‘all aboard for Steve & Lyndseys wedding’ but that would just be cheesy saying that though the fact that we all had a ride on the train at Haigh Hall brought out a huge grin on everybody face (including mine it was great, small things eh).Stephen & Lyndsey wanted a fun colorful wedding with Haigh Hall as the backdrop & boy did they get just that with everything going to plan.This was a fun wedding & the colours looked great with the inside splendor of Haigh Hall & Lyndsey & Steve looked amazing & smiled all day but possibly the largest smile was from me, I do love riding on trains (it’s a kid thing,sorry must grow up!!!)

Thanks for the fun (and the train).D.

Image Of The Week

Taken at last weeks wedding of Gareth & Christina at the stunning West Tower, this Image Of The Week is from one of my favourite parts of any wedding,the speeches.I just love how you see the real people,their stories, their reactions (good or bad).
The reason I like this image is at this point the Brides Father was telling the story of how he met his wife (Brides Mum) and the poignant part of the image is the groom playing with his wedding ring,on one side you have the story of a journey the other the start of a story,but still just a fun shot of a family at its best.aargh getting really heavy now here the tech stuff…..shot on my fantastic 70-200L f2.8 lens, this lens gets me in close but not in the couples faces, imagine if I was up close they would constantly be noticing me & perhaps react different but with this lens & my distance nobody knows what or who im shooting and that’s what I love about this lens

Canon 5D mkii / 70-200L2.8 / 125th @ 2.8 / 400iso.