Lisa Devlin Photography

We had photographed Natalie before as she was bridesmaid at the wedding of the very lovely Hannah and Ray back in July 2004. I was expecting her to be photogenic as she has great skin and colouring plus a modern glamour. Clare and I were also excited to see her gorgeous dress from Chlöe Mai hanging from the dress hook in the cottage at Upwaltham. It seems that the big dress has officially made a comeback as we have seen a few already this year. I love the fantasy and girlie dressing up aspect to them.
The cottage can be a little dark for portraits so when Natalie was ready, we moved a salon sofa nearer the window and photographed her seated. She looked amazing and it reminded me of the photos taken of Carrie in the Viviene Westwood dress in Sex and the City. The ceremony was slightly delayed thanks to a slight dress malfunction on one of the bridesmaids. Luckily the owner, Nicola was on hand with a needle and thread. Upwaltham in Sussex is a great venue for a relaxed country wedding and as the weather was glorious we took advantage of the beautiful gardens for portraits of Ed and Natalie. There is a cute love seat that has appeared in the cottage garden since our last visit so we used it and also the very graphic barn door in the not very glamorous car park. They were a fun couple to work with as they are quite confident and animated and as usual I managed to rattle through a lot of film.

We were thrilled to be photographing the opening of the new H&M flagship store in Brighton’s Western Road. On Wednesday, Clare and I started by photographing the empty shop, which is enormous and houses their entire range in children, men’s and womenswear. The space has been designed beautifully and has lots of visual interest and quirkiness. We took some shots of their very funky staff and then it was time for the party to begin. Due South did a magnificent job of catering the event with unique canapés and locally inspired cocktails. Local indie band The Maccabees did a DJ set and over 1000 invited guests took advantage of 20% off shopping. Before we left, we put the cameras away and indulged in a spot of shopping. Sometimes this job is such a strain! The official opening was today at midday and there was a very long queue all hoping to get a goody bag and voucher worth up to £100. I met a lovely group of girls who has £270 worth between them, that they were sharing and having a lot of fun spending. It is great to have a retail outlet in town with a slick, spacious interior with reasonably priced clothes that are not piled up like a jumble sale. It is definitely my new favourite shop.

We started the day at the gorgeous Hotel du Vin in Brighton, where the bride, Jo was getting ready. She seemed very calm and as there was quite a few of us in the room, it was good that it was the largest suite. The day was being filmed by Digital Magic www.digi-magic.co.uk who were great to work with. As she got ready, Jo told us the story of her wedding dress which she had seen over two years ago in Pronuptia but had hesitated to buy it so early. Later she set her heart on buying it and had quite a time trying to track it down. She then had a secret pocket sewn into it to hold family mementos and some crystals.

Transport for the day was tuk tuks which were lots of fun, if a bit bumpy especially for my pregnant second photographer, Clare! During their intimate ceremony in the Royal Pavilion, Jo and David recited vows that they had written themselves and their harpist, Fiona Hosford, played beautifully. As the weather was glorious, we all walked to the restaurant, The Coach House, for champagne and mini fish and chips. From there we got back in the tuk tuks with the film crew for some photos on the palace pier. Frank has posted some film on his blog http://dmweddingvideos.co.uk/blog/?p=109

Jo and David are a lovely couple who made aure that their wedding day was fun and a bit of an adventure for all those involved. We have a great set of photos that I am looking forward to showing them tomorrow.

It was a glorious day when we arrived at the Ravenswood in Sussex for Claire and Lee’s wedding. We started with some shots of the house against a perfect blue sky and then met the groom with all of his Ushers and the Best Man. They were only slightly nervous and happy to pose for some pre-wedding photos. It was busy in Claire’s room with three bridesmaids and the Mums but we managed to get some great images of Claire getting into her fairytale dress which was from Chloe Mai in Steyning. I wanted to take the Bride and Groom down to some lovely old ruins in the grounds for their portraits, which turned out to be quite hard to locate. But Claire was a great sport even though we had to navigate some muddy woods. It turned out to be a stunning location with perfect light and the pictures are very beautiful. Their humorous cake, featuring a groom kneeling at a bride’s feet while she stood with hands on hips, was made by Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton.

Jo and David first met while cycling on the Downs, so their venue was perfect for their humanist wedding. A field at the foot of Devil’s Dyke was a very dramatic setting for the Nordic Tipi or Giant Hat Kåtas that they had hired from www.beautifulworldtents.co.uk for their reception. As the weather was perfect they opted for an outdoor ceremony. A white 4×4 was on hand to ferry guests down to the tent and they sat on benches draped with animal hides. It was a very personal ceremony that Jo and David had helped to write and included a song from a group of their friends.

Inside the Tipi was decorated with lots of fairy lights and beautiful flower arrangements that were inspired by the country setting. The wedding cake was a dramatic croquembouche covered in fresh fruit and some amazing food was served by the friendly sussex caterers, Food Glorious Food www.foodgloriousfoodsouth.co.uk

Despite her elegant wedding gown from the O Zone in Brighton, Jo was game for climbing over a gate into the Dyke for some relaxed portraits of them both. The tent really came to life after the sun went down. The sides of the Dyke were lit up and there was a large fire pit for guests to mingle around. As we left, the guests were in full party spirit and a mini camp site had been set up so they didn’t have far to stumble when it was all over.

Fiona and Arthur had a strong colour theme of purple and yellow which carried from the bride’s purple dress from Alfred Angelo through to the beautiful sunflowers that featured everywhere. The florist was a friend of Fiona’s and she did a great job of bringing the hotel to life. The corridor to the orangery was lined with pots of lavender and all the chairs had a sunflower tied on the back. The ceremony was held in the library, the drinks were on the lawn and the meal was in the orangery. As it was a Thursday, Buxted was quiet and it felt exclusive. The couple own the Patisserie Valentin in Heathfield so Arthur had made the wedding cake, which I imagine tasted divine.
We took most of the portraits in the herb garden, which is a less obvious location than the house and went well with their theme of lavender. It was a very relaxed day and just felt so lovely to have some sunshine!

Clare has finished designing the Queensberry album for Simon and Michelle’s very beautiful, rainy wedding from the summer. They have gone for an overlay design in 15×12 and we were very pleased that they have gone for a full photofront featuring an image of Michelle waiting to get out of the car at the church. It is a timeless and ethereal picture which was made even more atmospheric by the rain misting up the window. To view the slideshow you need Quicktime which can be dowloaded for free at www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
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Have spent today at the lovely Studio Nine in Hove photographing furniture for Steve Baines-Holmes. He has been designing and making unique pieces using oak and formica which are retro but functional. Steve is also  a great carpenter and has done some work on our house and I still have a few projects in mind for him! He can be contacted on 07771751370 or steve.baines71@ntlworld.com

Product photography can look like the simplest most straight forward thing to do but it has its own challenges. However it is great to get into the studio sometimes and have complete control over the lighting. As ever we were looked after by the amazing photographer James Pike who hires out his well equipped studio www.studioninebrighton.co.uk

This week I have been working with the boys at Pollen to produce a book for weddings at Buxted Park, showing how the different rooms look when set up. So I have been going up to weddings there this week to photograph the tables and the rooms. It is incredible to see the difference in how couples set their themes and how important those finishing touches can be. The chair covers really lift the place and add a lot of light into the room. They can also be personalised with sashes in your colour theme, with labels for guests names or flowers such as Clare’s little herb posies on the back of her chairs in September. Pollen have expanded their hire business to include vintage candelabras, birdcages, even floral jugs and teapots! Dex is so full of ideas and enthusiasm that it is quite inspiring.

The book should be complete in the next couple of weeks and will be shown to couples thinking of getting married at Buxted Park. They had an evening this week just for last minute bookings so that seems to be a big trend this year. Click on the link below to see the current version of the book, especially if you are thinking of getting married at Buxted this year. If you cannot open the book, try downloading www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

pollen-slideshow

There is a definite increase in last minute bookings but Matthew and Andrew are one of the latest bookings we have taken as they only decided that they wanted a photographer a couple of weeks before the wedding. They realised that the Pavilion is such a stunning venue and they wanted to make sure they had some good photographs from their day. We have been challenged by most of our December weddings due to the lack of light and as this ceremony was at 5pm, it was already pitch black when coverage began at the Pavilion. The guys seemed very nervous but the lovely Mr Love was their registrar and he created a calm and warm atmosphere for the ceremony. 

All the guests enjoyed an exclusive tour of the Pavilion as it was now closed while we took portraits of Matthew and Andrew in the fabulous Music Room. They were keen to have a laid back party so there were not any formal line ups. We tried to make sure that we had reportage shots of most of the people and some groups of their friends and family. Clare and I left as the caterers, Due South were putting out an amazing carvery that smelled delicious. We finished by taking an outside night shot of the Pavilion which looked very dramatic.