Sarah readily admits that she ‘Has a thing for Gingers!’ Not only is the groom a redhead, but so were each of the four bridesmaids. Their colouring looked gorgeous against the soft blue fabric of their dresses. Since they first met just over a year ago, the couple has kept every cork from the bottles of champagne that they have drunk and this set the theme for the wedding day. They used the corks for place names and named the tables after brands of champagne, with the kids sitting on the Babycham table! The ceremony was in the very beautiful St Mary de Haura which is just around the corner from their flat. Despite a mix up with the wedding cars causing a delay to the proceedings, it was a very lovely service with an amazing rendition of Ave Maria by bridesmaid Kay. We had just enough time to make the most of the sunshine and go to the beach for some photos before the reception at the Royal York in Brighton.
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Archive for May, 2010
Brighton Wedding / Sarah & Andrew
Sunday, May 30th, 2010A Tale of Two Weddings, Part 2 …..
Thursday, May 27th, 2010Two best friends, two weddings. This time the roles were reversed with Clare as chief bridesmaid to Leanne for her gorgeous wedding to the lovely Simon. The ceremony was at St Marys in the grounds of Buxted Park but we traveled to the utterly incredible High Rocks near Tunbridge Wells for the reception. This is one crazy place but very inspiring for a shoot. It is a bit like a little piece of Australia in the middle of the English countryside with a steam train running past every now and then. As Clare had been up there a couple of months before for a wedding, she already knew that there was no way a bride could get up to the top in bridal shoes so Leanne had sourced some very cute pink wellies which became a feature of the photos but didn’t affect how elegant she looked in her wedding dress.
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First Anniversary Shoot / Rebecca and Pete
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010I am just loving doing engagement sessions at the moment. It is great to get to know a couple before the wedding day and work with them to concept a set of images that sums up what they are about. This, however was my first anniversary shoot and it was for the very lovely Rebecca from Rock My Wedding and her husband of one year, Pete. They had some great photography from their wedding but felt that it was such a busy day, there was actually not very much time for the romance. This set me thinking about how insane it is for us photographers in the UK getting so little time at a wedding to come up with the magic and capture the essence of a relationship with often as little as ten minutes. So if an e-shoot is all about the prelude to a wedding and the excitement of being in love, then the anniversary shoot is all about the marriage. Rebecca and Pete are clearly crazy about each other and put a lot of thought into the props for the shoot, but it is their everyday love and devotion to each other that shines through in the images. We started in a 50s style diner. One of the shots they were keen to get was of the wedding rings as this had been missed, so I put them on the ketchup and mustard bottles. Very appropriate as apparently Rebecca drowns most of her food in red sauce, even a roast! The lovely Mr Casey at Pollen provided an 11th hour bouquet of red roses to match Rebecca’s fabulous prom dress and after a quick change in the back of my car, we went on Brighton Pier. Yes, the weather was rubbish but this is England and what better excuse for a bit of hugging than a blustery stroll by the sea.
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Vintage Engagement Shoot / Stuart & Lauri Part 2
Saturday, May 15th, 2010Gorgeous as I think this Vintage e-shoot is, the real star of the day was Stuart and Lauri’s beautiful son Oscar. He is as cute as a button and twice as bright. He was also very helpful on the day, taking charge of shaking the blossom tree when we needed the petals to fall. He is very excited about Mummy and Daddy’s wedding day and I can’t wait to hang out with him again.
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Vintage Engagement Shoot / Lauri & Stuart Part 1
Friday, May 14th, 2010Lauri and Stuart are having a laid back vintage inspired wedding in July which involves a picnic in Southover gardens in Lewes, Sussex. So it seemed fitting to have a picnic e-shoot and I have been wanting to use the last of blossom that is around, just as it is falling from the trees. In a mission to find a suitable location with just the right blossom tree we ended up in Lewes and set up in the same gardens that they are using for the wedding picnic. It really is very pretty there and it was great to get to know more about these guys. For anyone that follows me on Facebook, Lauri is the Shoebox Bride (!) and I have split this shoot in two parts as there is a whole other, very important part of their story ……..
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A Tale of Two Weddings, Part One……
Thursday, May 13th, 2010Shooting a wedding photographer’s wedding is quite a challenge but luckily Clare, my second photographer was very laid back and of course I was thrilled to be part of her big day. I hadn’t realised that Clare was a secret glamour-puss and her fantastic dress from Blessings in Brighton was very sparkly and slinky. She seemed very calm but I think it all felt a bit surreal for her after helping so many other brides get ready. She looked truly beautiful and I was incredibly proud of her. She had three very sweet little flower girls and the morning seemed to whizz by. Suddenly Susanna, one of our other photographers was there to drive them to the Seattle in her very funky, very decorative soft top Beetle. The flowers by the talented Mr Casey from Pollen were gorgeous posies of old fashioned garden roses, wild orchids and fresh flowering herbs. They looked and smelled sensational. The Maid of Honour, Leanne’s dress was from Monsoon and looked fabulous. Clare had a theme of English Eccentric meets the Orient which was inspired by the ceremony venue, the Royal Pavilion and was great for the wedding photography. The reception was at Bartholomew’s Barn in the Sussex countryside and looked splendid. We had fish and chip canapes and fortune cookie favours. At dusk they released some fire lanterns which went off for miles. Such a very lovely day.
Sussex Wedding Photographer / Hazel & James at Ashdown Park Hotel
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010There might have been quite a few rain showers but there was still a great atmosphere at Hazel and James’s wedding in the beautiful Ashdown Park Hotel in Sussex and it had little impact on the wedding photography. The dress from Browns Bridal collection was incredibly elegant as was Hazel’s specially commissioned pearl jewellery. Apart from the veil, she may well have been preparing for the Oscars as the look was 1930s screen siren meets modern laid back beauty. Hazel choose a pair of gorgeous Christian Laboutin sky high heels for the daytime and had a killer sparkly pair for the evening. Gemma, the bridesmaid was extremely lucky as she got to wear a stunning couture gown from the amazing Brighton designer Joanne Flemming
As the rain simply would not leave us alone, we used the grand covered entrance to the hotel for all the group shots and had a well timed dry spell for portraits of the bride and groom. For some unknown reason, their meal was brought forward by an hour so we had to work quickly but managed to squeeze in some elegant shots in a window seat. Their gorgeous cake was by the very talented Zoe Clark and there was a Beatles theme to the table decor. This is one of my favourite vintage inspired weddings to date.
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Engagement Shoot Sussex / Sarah & Andrew
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010One of Sarah and Andrew’s first dates was on the Pier in Andrew’s home town, Worthing. We rearranged this engagement shoot 3 times as we all wanted lovely early evening light to shoot into. Sarah loves all things vintage and a bit shabby, which really sums up the Worthing seafront. The wedding is later this month at a gorgeous old church near their flat and then the Royal York in Brighton. It has a champagne theme featuring corks that the couple have been saving ever since they first met, can’t wait!
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