Sally and Andrew’s Church wedding at Whitworth Hall
Sally and Andrew were married at the lovely little Whitworth Church, sited adjacent to the grounds of Whitworth Hall.
Andrew, as a member of the Army, chose to stick with tradition and dressed in his formal uniform for the day. After a gorgeous and intimate ceremony, they left the church together greeted by the traditional ‘Arch of Swords’ making their way on over to Whitworth Hall for their reception. Sally revealed to us before the wedding how much she loves horses, she has been a horse woman for many years and wished that she could have included them in her day somehow. During their wedding breakfast, Nigel and I found a nearby field with some horses, we spoke to the owner and after dinner the couple were invited to go and see them. They were over the moon and even though they were not Sally’s horses, I know those few minutes became a wonderful memory for them both. Here is a sneek peak of their day…
Sally and Mike’s traditional English wedding
Sally and Mark chose one of my favorite venues for their wedding day last spring, the gorgeous Guyzance Hall. The informality of the venue and beautiful grounds set the scene for their classically traditional English wedding, filled with lovely touches such as beautiful English garden flowers that smelt as good as they looked for their bouquets and decorations, suited and booted gents – each male guest wearing a black tie and dinner jacket, even a spot of golf after dinner.
Sally and Mike were married in their very local Church, St Mary’s the Virgin in Whickham, they have shared together a cottage only feet away from the Church. It was to be big change for Sally and Mike as only a week after their big day they set of to Singapore together to live out there for some years and perhaps permanently, to be married so close to home in their familiar Church meant the world to them both. After their formal and intimate ceremony they headed back to Guyzance Hall for their reception. They were both lucky enough to enjoy a beautifully sunny drinks reception, heading back inside for their wedding breakfast and the speeches. Sally’s family, mostly all golf enthusiasts headed outside with friends later in the day to enjoy hitting a few balls, the pride on Sally’s fathers face when it was her turn was clear to see. It was a fantastic day filled with pretty accents and lots of fun. Here are a few highlights from the day, I hope that you enjoy looking at them.
Ed and Maria’s wedding day in Edinburgh
We were delighted when Maria and Ed asked us to travel up to Edinburgh for their big day earlier this year. We both first met Maria as a bridesmaid for Jason and Maya two years ago, shortly after she got engaged and they both got in touch to ask us to cover their big day. It was a beautifully warm and sunny day with the most perfect blue skys and not a cloud in sight. They were married in their church, the True Jesus church in Edinburgh with a larger than average number of guests consisting of towards 500 people, with that aside however, the ceremony remained very intimate with a lot of emotion and sentiment. As chinese wedding celebrations take part over several days and consist of more than one large banquet for guests, Ed and Maria decided to add into their itinerary a fair bit of time to simply enjoy walking around the city that they both love with their bridesmaid and best man, before heading back to their home to change for their function at the Carlton. Nige and I got creative with the cameras as we explored the city, playing with ideas using shadows, silhouettes and lens flare to create images with a sense of fun but that would also remind them both just how sunny their special day was. After an ice cream in the park and a walk down the royal mile, we said our goodbyes for now and met up with them later that day at their reception venue, the Carlton, a very majestic looking building right in the heart of the city. Here a few images from the day and a short message from them both.
“Hi Christina & Nigel,
We’ve looked through the photographs and wow! They all look amazing, we really really love them! We are so glad that we took the time to go for really creative shots and have fun with it.”
A few days after their wedding, Ed sent us a daft photograph Des his best man had taken of us while we were attempting to set up for photographs while eating the ice creams that they had kindly bought us. I still remember very clearly the ice cream melting and dripping all over our tripods as we were trying to set them up for pictures and generally having alot of laughs on that lovely sunny afternoon. I thought, why not share it with you… and Des, we’ll see you and Lear in April for your big day.
Claire and Andrew’s portfolio box
Claire and Andrew chose a portfolio box for their Cherish the dress images.
These boxes are a great idea as an alternative to an album. They contain only your most precious few images, each printed to archival quality, carefully mounted by hand using thick white acid free board that has been given a subtle texture to the surface and bevel cut by hand to produce a sloped edge. A bespoke made portfolio box is made with with a black board for the internal, and your choice of image on the cover which has been lacquered to provide protection. The box is finished off with a ribbon to help you to carefully remove your images from inside. The beauty of this is that not only have couples got a very precious keepsake from their wedding, but also an image can be popped straight into frame and hung on the wall until you feel like a change and you can swap it for another. These also make really great gifts for parents after the wedding.
Clare and Andrew’s Cherish the Dress shoot
You may remember Claire and Andrew, two days ago I showed you a collection of images from their wedding day, well they both decided that they wanted to enjoy the experience of getting dressed into their wedding clothes and having their pictures taken once again.
Many couples want to have wedding images taken in different locations on their wedding day or would like to feel like models in a highly stylised photo shoot which requires a lot of time to set up and light. Sometimes this can mean a lot of rushing around for the couple getting from place to place or trying to fit too much into not enough time. This post wedding shoot was an idea to help our couples to avoid the rush, letting them enjoy their wedding day in a relaxed manner with all of their friends and family around them, while still getting a full wedding shoot exactly how they pictured it would be. It is a fantastic fun day where the four of us can go out and get creative with the camera.
The shoot was Brilliant. Booked for only three days after their wedding, the newlyweds arrived at our home for their shoot. Our fantastic hair and makeup artist Julie Pattinson was on hand to style Claire into a similar look to that on their wedding day. When she came downstairs after I helped her into her wedding dress, the look on Andrews face was priceless, he was made speechless again just like he had been on their wedding day when he first saw her, it really was a wonderful moment for them both. We all hopped into the cars and headed into Newcastle city center for an urban styled photo shoot, and then over to Durham to finish off with a more relaxed shoot walking around the old city. Here are a few of my favorite images from the day.
Claire and Andrew chose a gorgeous portfolio box for their Cherish the Dress shoot images, to compliment their Queensberry wedding album. In my next post, I shall show you a few snaps of their portfolio box.
Rachel and Paul’s wedding at possibly the most beautiful wedding venue ever – Allerton Castle
You may remember our post a few months back featuring the lovely Rachel and Paul’s pre-wedding shoot at their wedding venue, Allerton Castle, well the big day arrived and wow what a beautiful day it was. This elegant building is simply perfect for a wedding. Rachel looked every bit the princess on her big day was she walked down the grand staircase with her father into the baronial hall to be greeted by a sea of smiling faces. The day was wonderful, elegant but informal with lots of sunshine and laughter and emotion. Here are a few of my favorites from their stunning wedding day and a lovely email from the happy couple:
WOW!!!!
We absolutely love our wedding pictures and want to say a huge thank you for the beautiful pictures and for capturing every moment of our special day so that it really does tell the story.
We have debated for weeks over which photos will make it into our album and could still argue for any other photo to replace the ones we have finally chosen, but here’s the list before we change our minds – again!!
The day was more than we could ever have dreamed of and you made the photos so easy and enjoyable. You were just there in the background being friendly and blending in and yet managed to get everyone into position and looking where they should be etc so quietly and quickly and then catch some great natural ones in the process too.
We are really, really pleased with the photos and have already been asked for your names to pass onto friends and friends of friends (hope you don’t mind!).
Thanks again,
Rachel and Paul Brooks
Claire and Andrew’s wedding at Langley Castle
Claire and Andrew were married in the spring in Langley Castle in Northumberland with a blessing in the chapel on the roof of the Castle. Here are a few of my favorites from their day. They decided to book one of our cherish the dress shoots for only three days after their wedding on Claire’s birthday. I shall post them soon but for now, here is also a lovely message sent from Claire just after the shoot.
Kallista and James’ big day at Matfen Hall
Kallista and James were married in the lovely Matfen Hall in Northumberland, here are a few of my favorite images from their gorgeous big day.
Leanne and Anthony’s beautifully hot and sunny wedding day at Wynyard Hall
For their wedding day back in April, Leanne and Anthony were so lucky to have what was our first weekend of gorgeous sunshine of the year. I arrived to Wynyard around 2 hours before I was due to meet Leanne for her getting ready shots, and so while Nigel set off to meet the lads at home I decided to take a walk around the lake to take in the views and enjoy the weather – and shoot a couple of venue shots for Leanne and Antony. At the end of my walk, I bumped into Sir John Hall, walking his Labradors. He proudly told me that he had planted one million Daffodil bulbs in the grounds of Wynyard, and with golden yellow blooms almost everywhere you looked, the place looked stunning.
The Bride looked beautiful as she met her groom to be married in Wynyard’s Chapel carrying a bouquet of orange roses, inset with antique and borrowed jewellery which hung down from the flowers as she carried them. Soon the newlyweds were outside enjoying the sunshine and spending a lovely afternoon in the sun with their friends and family before heading inside for their wedding breakfast in Wynyard Hall’s Ballroom. The room had been decorated to coordinate perfectly with Leanne’s orange bouquet, a colour theme which fitted very well with the yellow of the Daffodils and the bright sunshine. They partied the night away in the Conservatory dancing to live band – the Moobs.
Here are a few of my favorite images from their big day:
Model shoot in Newcastle’s Quayside, and the Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery in Gateshead
The Master Photographers Association arranged for us North East photographers to have a day with three models to practice our skills right in the middle of Newcastle, using the Tyne bridge, the Millennium bridge and the Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery as our backdrops. Here are a few of Nigel and my efforts. A huge thanks to the girls and to Helen Russell for doing a lot of the organising. The model’s styling was by Helen Russell, the dresses are from the House of Mooshki, models were Jane, Becky and Emma from Zeebra Model Management, and Lisa Jones did the girls hair and make up.
