Once such couple I have had the pleasure to photograph was David and Anna, I do believe the ceremony to be the shortest I have ever witnessed, which is exactly what they wanted.  They chose the Hotel du Vin in Henley on Thames to host their short but intimate ceremony and drinks reception.

The Hotel du Vin is a lovely venue for those who aren’t looking for a church ceremony, its a converted brewery in the middle of Henley and the ceremony room is akin to a barn and even has a mezzanine balcony.  So its certainly true to say the wedding ceremony was packed to the rafters.

David and Anna held very much importance on their friends and family being a part of their day, they even wanted them included in the signature artistic portraits, that I take of all my brides and grooms on their wedding day.  It really did make the images a lot of fun as Davids brother relished being in front of the camera which lead to lots of laughs.

We headed off by the river in Henley and after stopping for an ice cream for the bride, got some really fantastic shots.

Later on it was off to just outside Thame to their friends farm, where they had a huge marquee and enjoyed the rest of their wedding reception with even more guests.

I knew it was going to be a merry reception when I saw the tables, the favors where bottles of spirits and shot glasses!  Needless to say there was definitely a state of joyful exuberance and some very high spirited guests by the time the wedding breakfast was over.

Here are some of my favorites from David and Anna’s wedding day.

Wedding favors are small gifts given as a gesture of appreciation or gratitude to guests from the bride and groom during a wedding reception, and its believed that it started with aristocrats giving a small trinket box filled with sugar cubes or delicate confections, as in this era sugar was an expensive commodity and it was believed that sugar contained medical benefits.  (Can you imagine giving sugar in this day and age people would think you where slightly bonkers and perhaps jealous of their teeth!)

As sugar became more affordable it was replaced with almonds as the bitterness of the almond and the sweetness of the sugar was said to signify the bitter sweetness of a marriage.

Today I think couples have gone well away from sugared almonds as most people don’t like them, except perhaps your Gandpa!

Favors have become a big part of the wedding reception planning and are usually picked to compliment the theme of the wedding.

So here are some ideas for the future brides and grooms who might be struggling for ideas!

At my own winter wedding which was in late December I had tiny stockings for everyone, thanks to my mum who painstakingly made them all….

Another good idea is a lottery ticket like this wedding I covered in Oxfordshire, I would be pretty happy winning a million courtesy of the good friend or relative who included me in their wedding!

A wedding I covered at The Tythe Barn in Oxfordshire gave mini-love spoons.

At snow covered wedding at Missenden Abbey the candy canes went down a storm.

One of my favorites is defiantly sweets and this wedding I covered at The Randolph in Oxfordshire gave everyone their own little jar of jelly sweets.

One wedding at The Friars Court in Oxfordshire had a really great approach to it, the wedding itself by purpose had a very non traditional theme and the favors where no different, the where bags of tablet (a scottish fudge type sweet apparently!) baked by the groom himself in a big basket for guests to help themselves… with a cuddly monkey for the younger guests!

And finally I think we all look forward to a wedding to see our friends or family member tie the knot and enjoy several drinks to celebrate, so what better favor than a shot, this wedding at The Hotel du Vin in Henley went a little further with the favors…. each table was named after a spirt and said spirt was on each table as the favor; but to be sure everyone partook in the favor the name places where shot glasses, I think the tequila table was the first to drain their bottle!

Whether you read my blog all the time or you have just found it, if your a guest, bride, amateur , professional or just enjoy reading the blog and looking at the images please do comment I would love to hear your thoughts!

It was a lovely sunny day which is good and bad, its great because all of the colours there are so vibrant; the greens of the golf course against the blue of the sky, but also not so good because bright sunshine means harsh shadows which is not so good on faces, but I wouldn’t be much of a photographer if I didn’t know how to cope with that.

Im really looking forward to shooting Neil and Charlottes wedding, they are a fantastic couple to work with and the intimate touches in decor they have chosen for their special day will really make for a very special album.

Here are a few favorites from their pre-wedding shoot.

The latest such words are from Calum Scott, who’s wedding I photographed at The Friars Court in Oxfordshire, you will be able to see the images and the story behind their booking me in previous posts.

Thank you so much for our kind words Calum it means everything to me to know I have provided you with such a good service and images which you treasure.

Here is what he said….

We both feel very lucky to have been able to have you as our wedding
photographer, firstly because of your little one’s early arrival allowing
you back to work in time but more importantly because of the talent, skill,
creativity, enthusiasm and professionalism you bring to your work which has
given us a truly amazing record of our big day!  I remember trying to watch
you at our friends wedding a year or so before ours to try to pick up tips,
I recall having to actively look out for you as you seem to make yourself
almost invisible at times – I’ve seen a few who think that the photographer
is more important than the bride! We’ve had all sorts of comments from our
guests too, all saying how amazing your images are but also about how hard
you work on the day.  I think you must have covered a half-marathon round
our venue!

So we now have a fabulous album which really shows off your skill – a
brilliant reminder of the day.  Not only that but because of your package
with the files included we have a massive canvas of our favourite shot
gracing our lounge wall!

Any of my friends who tie the knot and are looking for a really artistic
finished product will be sent your way without a doubt!

Which is why I love getting the opportunity to take portrait photographs with the fabulous blue backdrop of a swimming pool, now don’t get me wrong not all swimming pools are suitable for portrait photography, but luckily for me a local prep school has a Waterbabies class in their glorious and well lit pool, with floor to ceiling windows at either end the plethora of light is amazing.

What child doesn’t like swimming, so its the perfect the opportunity for capturing natural children’s or babies portraits, I know some would argue that the white background studio shots are so vibrant and thats what makes them so popular, but to me the colours you get in a swimming pool easily rival a boring white background.

I just love the blues in this shot…..

Anyone who is looking for a photographer to capture their wedding day of the wonderful memories of their child growing up will often be asked if they know what style of photographer they are looking for; indeed I will often be asked what style of photographer I consider myself to be so that the potential client can weave their way through the field of potential photographers out their and pick the one that best suits what they are looking to achieve in their photographs.

When asked what my style of wedding or portrait photography is I would say I am bespoke and artistic, but why would I say this.

Firstly lets address bespoke; the dictionary definition of this is “made to order” which I feel couldn’t describe my service better, to me each and every client be it for wedding photography or portrait photography is different and deserves to be treated as such.  So I don’t head off to a wedding shoot or portrait shoot with a list full of poses that I use each and every time, instead I judge on the day and the person and adapt how I take photographs to that, so therefore each and every shoot is made to order.

So that brings me to artistic; now the dictionary definition of this is “having a creative skill” do I have creative skill in my photography?  Well that would be a question for my clients but what I do know is that I certainly put my own creative mark on all the images I take.  First its the actual shot being taken, how I do this is something I find very hard to describe I simply look around, look at my subject then look through my lens and out the shot comes.  Luckily for me its the most natural thing in the world to capture a photograph, a skill which I certainly cherish.  Next I edit the photo adding my photoshop magic, I guess this is where my creativity really comes into its own to make the shot a work of art that when my clients see it will love it and be proud to hang in on their walls.

To follow are  some images that I really feel are artistic…. enjoy!

Anyone who has children will know as soon as you point a camera at them, or say smile you get an awkward toothy grin that the child believes is a beautiful smile but for the view of the picture not so much which is why I never tell a child to smile in their portrait photo, I let them do their toothy grin for a few shots to get it out the way, but then the real shoot can begin which is all about laughter and fun. It always helps to have a parent or parents beside me to get the natural expressions which is how we got this lovely like expression on this little ones face.

Its quite a strange feeling when something comes naturally to you, for me taking photographs, weddings and portraits in particular just comes naturally to me, I somehow just know what angle to take the photo from to get the shot Im after, what’s strange about it though is that not everyone can do it and before you realise you have a talent you believe that everyone can just get the photos right, just as you do. Now I’m not saying my friends are bad photographers on the contrary they often take some great pictures but I also know when I take some for them they love the photographs as they don’t feel they could have taken the same shot.

The only trouble is, unfortunately, my friends photos often take a back seat to my work so they normally have to wait a little while to see them, which is what happened when I took some portrait photos of one of my very best friends Jill. Mainly its because I always add a a bit of post processing magic to my photographs and it takes time to get them ready for viewing, I wont say how long it took me to get these portrait photographs ready for Jill as you will all think Im a terrible friend!

Im sure Jill thought they where worth the wait though….