The Memories Thru a Lens Blog

Having been a bride myself I know that most brides would like their wedding to be remembered and be a little bit different to anyone else’s and one of the big conundrums for your wedding day its the favors.

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!

The Randolph Hotel in Oxford to me is a bit of a photographic gem, so when Oliver and Ruth booked me after meeting me at the wedding fair held at The Randolph it really got my creative juices flowing. I exhibit quite a lot at the Randolph wedding fairs and I often hear the people questioning whether they will get many nice photos there, being in the centre of Oxford means that The Randolph hotel is not set in large grounds and does not have manicured laws for your drinks reception or indeed your wedding portraits but don’t let that fool you.

The Randolph is in the centre of Oxford, its inside has beautiful features not least a sweeping staircase and outside is the marvelous architecture which Oxford is famed for, so I believe countless places to get some really artistic and creative wedding photography.

Oliver and Ruth where a fantastic couple to work with, they where happy to follow my lead no matter how odd it might sound; when you suggest a bus stop for a backdrop it doesn’t ring the cord of traditional wedding photos! So I am very grateful that they put their faith in my creative mind and let me know do my stuff.

It was a wonderful day and The Randolph provided a lovely backdrop for their intimate ceremony, so to follow are a few of my favorites from the day… enjoy!

Anyone who is a Harry Potter fan may or may not know that The Great Hall in the film with the magical ceiling was actually filmed at Christ Church College in Oxford, Oxford university is made up of several Colleges one of which is Pembroke College which is where I found myself for Aruna and Claries wedding earlier this month.

Pembroke has its own chapel which is just stunning, the architecture inside is jaw dropping… as was the light, photographers are forever chasing light as knowing how to read light is what makes great photograph.  So when I stood in the chapel and realised there was a few stained glass windows and a couple of reading lights and that was it I knew it would be a challenge.

This challenge was not aided by a vicar who tells me not to use flash, vicars often tell the professional photographer not to use flash which is understandable so I wasn’t too fazed.  Luckily for me I use a Canon 5D which has a fantastic ISO which means less grain on low light pictures.  So after a few practice shots before the bride arrived I was happy.

The reception was at the Randolph Hotel which they travelled to in Inspector Morse’s car which made some cracking photo’s.  

On Sunday I did a wedding fair at The Randolph Hotel in Oxford, arranged by Amada at Prefect Days who is also a wedding planner should you be looking for one… Amanda arranges a very good wedding fayre with lots of suppliers and two fashion shows so I am always happy to attend.

 I find wedding fayre are a really good way of showcasing my work to a wider audience, it’s a hard days work from setting up my standing to talking to potential couples but it is always worth it to me to show off my work.

The Randolph Hotel is also a lovely venue for your wedding the team there are outstanding and the inside of the hotel is very traditional and welcoming, plus if your and Inspector Morse fan the bar is named after him!

There are always several photographers at fairs, which some photographers don’t like as they would like to have the sole attention of the potential couples. I however don’t mind as a little friendly competition has never bothered me.