Beki and Carlos

The Blessing of Beki and Carlos

Until last weekend I’d never covered a wedding or in this case, a blessing at the Spinnaker Tower but what an excellent place to have one.

Beki and Carlos were blessed at St Ann’s Church which is in the HM Dockyard at Portsmouth. Quite a large church by all accounts and where the Revd Keith Robus greeted me.

They live in Spain but have lots of family and friends in the UK. They flew over specifically to have their blessing here amongst all those who couldn’t make their wedding.

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After the blessing we headed to the tower. Inside it’s huge, much bigger than I remembered it from a visit earlier in the year and even with 80 guests inside there was plenty of room to swing several cats.
Before dinner canapes and drinks were served on the 2nd floor with dinner served shortly thereafter.  Spinnaker Tower is an excellent venue and somewhere I’m considering for my wedding, the view is just outstanding and a perfect backdrop for any event there.

The Spinnaker Tower Portsmouth

Panoramic shot of the inside of Spinnaker Tower

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Beki's dress

The invites

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Revd Keith Robus - a very nice chap to work alongside

Carlos

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The inside of St Anns Church at the HM Dockyard Portsmouth

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The ceiling lights at the Spinnaker Tower

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The views are great up there

The glass floor

The view from the glass floor at the Spinnaker Tower

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Beki gave a speech too

Lauren and Darren

April the 21st was Lauren and Darren’s wedding day at Buxted Park Hotel.

It was an awesome day with a rocky theme running right through it. A table plan made from old concert tickets, a skull cake with purple roses from Choccywoccydoodah, kilts (not so rocky) and 8 wrestlers chanting YES! YES! YES! YES! at random stages during the whole day made up just some of the pieces that brought everything together so well.

First time I've seen this cake from ChoccywoccyDooDah

So we started at Lauren’s parents for her hair and makeup, some detail shots and then I headed off in advance to Buxted Park Hotel in order to grab shots of the flowers and the coat of arms room where the ceremony was taking place.

I like Buxted Park, it’s well proportioned, airy and light in decor and quite spacious. The weather was pretty good too, when the sun went in though we really felt it!

Everything went without a hitch, in part due to Marc Dessaux and his awesome people skills and also because of the wonderful atmosphere on the day.

Fancy putting that there.

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Laurens bouquet (from Ashdown Flowers - www.ashdownevents.co.uk)

Shooooses....

Lauren

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Marc Desseaux - Food and Beverages Manager at Buxted - Awesome chap.

Lauren with her Father

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The wedding was held in the Coat of Arms room.

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Don't look!

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This is pretty much the best place to have the group shot in the grounds of Buxted

I absolutely love this, formal and informal all at once.

See, I do do formals.

Darrens dad

The whole wedding had a rocky feel to it. Didn't mind that one bit.

Lauren and Darren

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Highfield Park Wedding

Highfield Park Wedding – Vikki and Karl

A couple of weeks ago I covered Vikki and Karl’s wedding at St Michael’s Church Heckfield and Highfield Park.

Both venues are very close to each other, literally a 60 second walk away so Vikki started to get ready at Highfield Park itself and then walked over to the church.

The ceremony itself was lovely, the Vicar was a dream to work with (she had lots of humorous things to say to the guests) and despite my walking around the church in my socks and using the 5D3 with it’s new and amazing silent shutter my bag still managed to fall onto the floor undoing all my good work! The timing was ironic too as the Vicar was telling everyone the importance of saying sorry, it was slightly embarrassing but admittedly it did provide even more humour to an already buoyant atmosphere.

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After the ceremony we had an accidental receiving line which went down well and after the confetti we walked around the church the long way to Highfield park. This was because access to the reception was easier at the back and even more importantly we used the open space for formals.

Because it was late Spring and the sun sits lower in the sky I had to backlight everyone (make sure the sun is on their backs). This is the right way of doing things although I was staring straight into the sun.

Highfield Park

After the formals I went off with Vikki and Karl to other areas of Highfield Park for formals and afterwards I went and freelanced amongst the guests.

Dinner and the evening reception followed. The DJ was great and with the first dance was pretty special as both Vikki and Karl are dancers.

It was a great day made even better by the excellent staff supporting the Church and Venue. This was my first Highfield Park Wedding and it was pretty awesome.

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One of the rooms at Highfield Park

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Vikki at Highfield Park

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The Dancefloor at Highfield Park

Jennifer and Liam at Tottington Manor

Tottington Manor – Jen and Liam

There are so many different things that effect wedding photography. The weather, choice of venue and the type of people present all make a difference and contribute to the final output. Then, every now and again you have a wedding where everything just falls into place and you’re in sync with the couple.

Jen and Liam’s wedding a few weeks ago was one such wedding. Ok so it didn’t run smooth, the vicar said I had to stand at the back of the church at all times and the key to the VW camper was twisted but these things were brushed away as nothing and spirits were high all day.

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The venues involved were St Mary’s Church in Sompting and Tottington Manor in Edburton.

The service was sweet, one of the guests played Einaudi on the piano during the register signing and we spent a little time on the church grounds for photos and possibly one of the longest confetti lines ever!

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Jen and Liam had a blue VW Camper and they drove themselves off to the reception at Totttington Manor. This is a pretty awesome place to have a reception with rolling fields in the background and on the day itself there were Daffodils everywhere.

The staff at Tottington Manor were awesome (and still are) and everything went without a hitch.

I stayed until the evening on this occasion and I’ve now some new friends in Jen and Liam, it was such a great day!

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Jen's bouquet

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Tottington Manor

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Jen and Liam at Tottington Manor

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The dancefloor at Tottington Manor

Tottington Manor

The Hong Kong Shoot!

The Hong Kong Shoot

So, doing a shoot 6000 miles away in a country that doesn’t speak your language, doesn’t have any signage you can understand and has a completely different definition of what a Chicken is can be a daunting prospect for many. Yet off we went to shoot for Annabelles Wigs.

It was good to have a team with me for this shoot (lighting was an issue)

With such a deliberate shoot as this where time and money are restricted everything becomes very fast paced and the pressure is on. Time is money.

There were several targets to achieve. I wanted an urban location to say ‘We’re in Hong Kong’, then along to Victoria Harbour for the cityscape in the background and then along to Stanley beach for a tropical look.

There is some serious low light photography fun to be had here

Needless to say with an overseas shoot, not everything went according to plan (nothing does). We had three hours and all went smoothly apart from when we arrived at Victoria Harbour. Smog, everywhere. Literally you couldn’t see more than 30 metres in front of you. With the skyscrapers being a mile away on the other side of the harbour all we had was white in the background so we moved on. It was important to realise when something just isn’t going to work and be a waste of time.

Lots of spur of the moment stuff.....

For the urban side of our Hong Kong shoot it was literally a case of starting outside the hotel and walking along the road, trucks unloading (like the above) took just a moment to do, then 10 metres away there was a wall with posters all over it which allowed for this:

Hong Kong is full of places for urban photography

We then climbed five stories to a rooftop for several shots like this:

I loved shooting on the rooftops

Whilst up on the roof tops I noticed that the builders in China use Bamboo scaffold poles. While these are completely safe (they must be right?) it did make me gasp in disbelief probably because I’m so used to seeing metal ones in the UK.

Scaffold poles made from Bamboo....nuts.

Finally we stopped at Stanley Beach. By this time the mist had partially lifted and the sun became our biggest challenge. Fortunately I did have help from Claire (Annabelles Wigs) and our guide Kennis who assisted with styling and holding the external flashes. Without them the output wouldn’t of been anywhere near as good.

On Stanley Beach with Yan

Victoria Harbour

Buying Camera Equipment in Hong Kong

Now, this is going to serve as a heads up for anyone looking for discounted Camera Equipment in Hong Kong. Firstly new stuff. Generally your best bet is to buy anything you want from sellers on ebay that are based in Hong Kong. Even after shipping and duty it’s still going to be cheaper than buying whilst over there. For example I asked about the price of a Canon 5D3 in Hong Kong and it worked out at the same as the UK (£3000). There are importers in the UK who charge VAT and are still £400 cheaper than this. Lenses are pretty much the same. Even places like Fortress mark up things because people come over expecting to find a bargain when really there isn’t one to be had. I was there when the Ipad 3 was released and you could buy one as long as you spent £300 on screen covers and cheap plastic cases. Same dirty tricks as the UK – Be warned!

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Buying Used Camera Equipment in Hong Kong

In a word, no, just don’t do it. We stayed in a hotel on Kimberley road and literally opposite us was around 10 shops all with used equipment in. It was camera heaven. I was looking for Hasselblad lenses. There isn’t much H series stuff about but loads of the V type. I found two things that I liked but both didn’t work. One was a Canon 50mm 1.0 ‘The One’ which focused fine on the camera but was completely blurred when I viewed the image. They wanted £3400 for this! Then I found a Hasselblad 100mm 2.2 – The autofocus didn’t work. I asked how much it was (thinking I could get it repaired) and they looked on ebay and quoted me the price listed for a new one.

So, save your sanity and avoid buying cameras over in Hong Kong. Or bags or shoes or anything because it is totally expensive. Starbucks, McDonalds and Taxis are the only things cheaper!

After taking this shot down an alley I found I'd attracted a crowd of onlookers primarily wondering what I was doing

Awesome

Just a chandelier

Blasphemy, pure and simple.

Rain on a wedding day

I don’t like rain when I’m working if I’m honest. I know the song goes ‘after the rain comes sun’ but this is England and it usually doesn’t. I think whoever wrote the verse must of originated from Marbella.

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Rain was with me at Gemma and Simons wedding in February just gone. Not that it dampened any spirits though

The venues were Worplesdon Church and then over the road to Worplesdon Memorial Hall, literally over the road which meant there was no time lost in travel. As much as I have a humorous dig at the rain it does make for a diverse selection of interesting photos.

Worplesdon Memorial Hall easily fits 100 guests and is a fab choice of venue, it’s close proximity to the church is really really handy, it’s great when everything is relatively central.

The whole day went without a hitch and everyone was especially lovely to be around, here are some more photos:

Shoes as individual as those wearing them.

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With Gemma's dad being a keen photographer she was quite relaxed with the camera.

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'Right, let's go get him...'

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Inside Worplesdon Church

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Worplesdon Memorial Hall is a really nice size.

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Worplesdon Memorial Hall

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Bleeeaaruurggg!

Paula and Harry’s Greek Orthodox Wedding

I photograph a lot of weddings, lots…. but every now and again something a bit off the wall, a bit new, a little…unusual comes along…meet Paula and Harry.

Now quite honestly I don’t know where to begin but one thing I’m sure of is I won’t forget this one in a hurry!

Harry was unaware of the pink hair

Harry knew Paula was going to dye her hair for the wedding but he wasn’t aware which colour but Pink was the theme. There was a Pink Porsche Carrera as a wedding car too and Paula hand made all the bouquets.

The wedding venue was St Andrews Church in Kentish Town (Greek Orthodox) and this is a STUNNING church. It’s so ornate and colourful inside!

St Andrews Greek Orthodox Church

After the ceremony the guests left for the reception and we went straight into the pub for two double G’n'T’s (them not me!), after that we made use of Kentish Towns finest for photos:

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Then we went to the reception when the normal things like seeing how many people can sit on the groom before he screams, knocking back depth chargers and several disorderly games of Beer Pong took place.

For me, I loved it and was totally made up with the whole day. They were such a lovely couple to work for. Hopefully we’ll keep in touch!

Paula's wedding boots, just hanging around next to Cliff and who wouldn't want to be next to Cliff 'swoon'!

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Paula's Pink Porsche Carerra

Harrry

Zzzzz....

I don't know if I was more surprised over the size of the Chandeliers or the number of bulbs in them.

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Paula and Harry

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Paula and Harry's wedding cake contained a surprise....

Lots of different coloured layers

Harry is under there somewhere!

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Depth Charge!

Boom!

Bang!

Then it went a bit crazy with much fake punching...

...and Beer Pong!

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Featured Post- Spotting the small details

Having been present for, and taken pictures at, quite a few weddings now I’ve developed something of a unique perspective when it comes to noticing the finer details on a couples wedding day. My job concerns the visual, so it is important to be able to notice details and point out the little things that separate typical wedding beauty from exceptional appearances. Small things like a bride’s veil, or the sort of jewellery used, or even the way that the bridal party’s attire matches the bride’s, can have a large impact on the overall appearance of a wedding.

Firstly, more elaborate wedding rings draw the eye quite easily, and can add some personal flavour to any wedding photos. It’s somewhat traditional for the engagement ring to be elaborate and bright, whilst the wedding bands are often less so by comparison. However, people seem to be getting more detailed wedding bands, looking into colorful, or jeweled wedding rings. For example, have a look at some of the beautiful Eternity Rings from 77Diamonds to get an idea of the sort of  bands some are using these days. These more elaborate rings are meant to signify commitment and longevity of connection, and certainly catch the eye.

Another trend that it’s easy for a photographer to pick up on is that men seem to be having a bit more fun with their wedding attire these days. Once upon a time, a simple, classic, James Bond style black and white tux was the absolute standard of wedding attire for men, and few people strayed very far. These days, however, while no one wants to get too colorful or strange with wedding tuxes, except in unusual weddings, men seem more willing to go with something a bit more original – perhaps a blue or white tux, or a no tie approach, etc.

I could go on and on with the different things I’ve seen in wedding style – bridal hair styles, groomsmen outfit gimmicks, interesting shoes, excessive makeup, spectacular dresses – the list goes on. However, from a photographer’s point of view, the interesting trend to pick up on is that people seem to be getting a little bit more adventurous, or experimental even, with some very important visual aspects of their weddings. This certainly makes for interesting visuals, as well as great photographic moments and visuals!

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Diane and Robert were married at St Giles Church and the reception was at Westerham Golf Club.

This was my first time at either venues and the church was one of those light, warm and cosy churches that just shined when the sun came through the stained glass. Westerham Golf Club itself was a surprise. Sometimes, from a photography point of view, club houses, halls or single rectangular spaces can be a problem to work in but not so with Westerham Golf Club. There were windows letting light in everywhere along with a high pitched ceiling (great for bouncing light) and a great view of the course from the balcony which stretched itself along the whole length of the building.

This was particularly handy seeing at this wedding was on the 18th of December last year and it was 4 degrees celsius outside!

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Rachel and Chris at Cooling Castle Barn

Cooling Castle Barn

I finally made it to Cooling Castle Barn, this is a very popular venue owned by Jools Holland and is located in Rochester, Kent.

Because of it’s location Cooling Castle Barn is remote but accessible from all sides. Rachel and Chris were married last October the 20th and as you can see from the image above, we had some lovely low sun because of the time of year!

The Bridal Suite at Cooling Castle Barn

Because of the number of weddings that take place at Cooling Castle it’s highly geared up for them. Not in the conveyor belt sense but in their smooth running.

There are distinct areas, the large garden, the hotel rooms, bar, ceremony area, reception room and dining area are all well defined.

It was also nice to have everyone getting ready in the same place too as I lose shooting time when travelling between locations and whilst getting shots of the boys in prep don’t take up many frames it was still nice to do.

A lovely day at a great venue!

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Rachel and Chris at Cooling Castle Barn

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Rachel and Chris at Cooling Castle Barn

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Cooling Castle Barn Wedding Photography