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.

Graham & Heathers Wedding

Well Im posting this blog after a crazy 3 wedding weekend but Im smiling, still!.Our first of many full day weddings and the day again started on a high & just went higher, the weather forcast wasn’t good but glad to say they got the forcast wrong, beautiful weather, perfect for the colourful parasols (great pic).The stunning Heather arrived by Horse & Carriage with guests whispering WOW to be given away by a very proud father who managed to take more photos than me.On to the reception great speeches even from a very nervous bestman all complimented by a great evening party from a fantastic band.The guests were really eager (so was Graham) to hit the dance floor (even found myself dancing & taking photos,oh so wrong!!, in the words of the mad general in the film Apocalypse Now DAVE DON’T DANCE!!!)

On my travels......

Regular blog watchers will know that I'm really enjoying my personal work more, taking photos for fun is something that Ive not really done for quite a while (even left holiday pics to the kids).The other week we visited the Imperial War Museum in Manchester seemed like a great day out until was dragged around the Lowry shops. Architectural photography has never been my strong point & never will but I do have a soft spot for modern art & modern architecture in particular,even got into an argument with fellow 'tourists' because I didn't want to visit the coliseum, and this was my first visit to the quays.The Museum is visually stunning outside & great to photograph (& free to enter. good times:-))but the ever present wedding photographer in me was choosing locations for an up & coming 'Rock The Frock'

But then again I could have just been photographing the sun for fond memories!!!!

Image Of The Week...at last(sorry)

This weeks image was shot last year at Greg & Fionas wedding in Southport and was one of my favorite images of the year (even though the judges didn’t even put it in the final top ten of the awards,crazy!) anyway moan over, this is probably the most nervous moment in the Brides life & the proudest of a Fathers when they walk up the aisle. What do I love about the image, well what’s not to love I feel it has everything, pride, emotion, anticipation & even a little fun with Dad holding the flowers looking a bit like jeeves, and all by accident. It was a overcast rainy day & I wasn’t allowed to photograph from the front of the church only the rear so was waiting for Bride & Dad when just at that very moment the sun came out and formed a halo around the subjects & an image that was a looking like a buskers song suddenly turned into an opera (metaphorically speaking…ooohhh big word alert, thanks spell check). This image was shot on my beautiful Canon 1D MKii with a 70-200L 2.8 lens @ 640 iso.The high iso has given a grainy film like feel to the image & this could be another reason why I love this image so much, I’m really just missing film.

Canon 1D mkii / 70-200L f2.8 / 640iso / 1/100th / f2.8