Wow! Photographs rainy wedding at Stirk House

It's been a funny year, weather wise for this year's weddings. There has been a pattern of lovely weather all week and then on the day of the wedding the heavens have decided to open and drop millions of gallons of water on us from a great height.


I once shot  a rainy wedding years ago when I worked for another company. Well actually, I shot dozens of rainy weddings but this particular one stays in my memory.

The bride stormed into the reception venue, snatched a glass of champagne off the tray and stropped off upstairs to the bedroom! She stayed there till it was time for the meal and then later complained she didn't have all the photos she wanted. Oh dear.

Luckily for Bob and me, we only have lovely brides and grooms who's attitude to their wedding is that it is a declaration of their love  and a commitment to spend a the rest of their lives together. And the rain?

"Rain? Pah!  We laugh in the face of rain Hahaaaa!  It's not going to get in the way of our wedding!"

Much nicer attitude in our opinion.

Bob and me have noticed that our vestigial gills have started to develop though  - not a totally unexpected occurence for an English wedding photographer, I suppose.

Carla came along with us again on this wedding, she's really getting the hang of it now and has the makings of a good photographer and like us she loves all things 'wedding'.

Helen and Oliver are our couple in the spotlight today.  Gorgeous inside and out.

The day started with Carla and me going to Helen's for the bridal preparation while Bob went to see the lads.  Do you girls want to see Helen's shoes? Carla's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Oh. My. Lord. They were to die for. Mind you, I probably would have died if I'd tried to wear them!

The girls were showing no signs of pre wedding jitters, in fact they were having a ball. Getting the garter on under all those layers was proving a bit tricky:

As were the boys. Word reached me that Oliver did a great job of getting all the lads dressed and organised in time. Here's a quick lesson in hairdressing:

Bob, meanwhile was outside photographing the beautiful rings.

Carla and I photographed the beautiful flowers.  Details are so important. They are the bits you forget as time goes on so we make sure we get lots of detail photos to keep those memories alive.

There just was time for a last check that everything was in order and a quick cuddle with Dad ( Helen, not me! ) before setting off for the church.

Still the rain lashed down. 

Did they care? Did they heck!

The wedding was at the gorgeous St Peter's Church at Salesbury. 

Helen and her Dad arrived exactly on time. 

 The music started and

 the ceremony got under way.

Sigh. It was lovely.

I wasn't allowed  to the front at this church so all the ceremony shots were taken from the back of the church. 

We've done it!!

After a few group shot sin the church because it was still pouring down we made our way to Stirk House for the reception. Helen and Oliver enjoyed a quiet few minutes in the car.

The bridesmaids got cheeky now they'd done the hard work of the day. Time to chill!  Carla sat in the limo with them on the way to Stirk House. She got some amazing shots.

What?

Can you see them?

Ohhhhn  noooooo!!!!   Not suitable for a family audience!!  Very funny though, here's one to give you the idea.

 

Once we got to Stirk House the party soon got into full swing.  

Everyone just decided to throw themselves straight into it all and have a wonderful time. Of course that means we have a wonderful time as well!  There were times I couldn't shoot for laughing! 

  Dinner time!!

So much confetti in one go. I thought it would never stop!

Aaaww. Aren't they gorgeous. They'd give Posh and Becks a run for their money, wouldn't they?

 Cheeky!

Coo-eee!  Cheers!

 Fabulous cake, so detailed. It was studded with crystals! It was absolutely gorgeous. Carla was walking round saying,"Mum, this is my wedding. Helen's done it exactly the way I'd want it." Praise indeed, Helen.

The speeches were just right. There was a lot of laughter,

just a few tears (actually, quite a few tears)

and a couple of cringes!

All too soon it was time for the first dance.

I don't think they were aware of anyone else being in the room at this point.

 Then:  PARTY TIME!!!

Congratulations, Helen and Oliver. We  wish you many, many happy years together. 

weather watching in Blackburn

I'm keeping a 'weather eye' out tonight. I don't know why because it's not that I can change it if it doesn't do what I like, can I?

Still, I can do a little sun dance in my living room and hope that it stays dry for Oliver and Helen who are getting married tomorrow in Blackburn.  You can join in if you like (with the sun dance, not the wedding).

Many congratulations to them, I'm looking forward to this wedding. Ok, I know I say that about every wedding but I really do look forward to them.

This will be our new assistant's, aka our daughter, Carla's third wedding. She's getting the hang of it now and she's showing all the signs of loving it as much as we do. here she is helping out with a bit of a dress drama at her first wedding.  

She looks scared to death. Mind you, taking a pair of scissors to a bridesmaids dress on her first day in the job, I'm not surprised she looks scared, I'd be petrified.

I once had to sew a bride into her dress an hour before the wedding. I did a very good job of it as well, she's probably still wearing that dress as there was no way it was coming undone, ever!


We won't be having any dramas tomorrow, I'm sure. It's going to be perfect - and with wall to wall sunshine.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and do a sun dance.

Animal Magic

There has been a larger number than normal amount of people wanting their dogs photographing recently. Funny that, I've never advertised as an animal photographer but somehow all these pooches and poochettes have ended up on my doorstep.

They do say never work with children or animals but I've had the best fun in the last couple of weeks. Here are a few of my favourite shots:

I mean, seriously, how cute?  

Two minute photo shoot

I've become the proud new owner of a lovely set of continuous lights for the studio - which means that I don't need to use flash anymore when I'm photographing small children and animals.

I'm sure that using flash  always bothered me more than it did them but even so, anything that makes the studio photography even better had to be investigated.

My first model for the new lights was my youngest grand daughter. She seems to have the attention span of a gnat so we had to work quickly
.
The entire shoot lasted about a minute. It's amazing what you can achieve in just one  minute.

What do you think?  I love my new lights!

Gina and Thomas win the prize

Gina and Thomas got married in March of this year.

Their venue,  Stanley House in Mellor. Now it's lost that 'new' look and has started to develop some real character it's fast becoming  one of my favourites,.

The day was as perfect as we could have asked for in the middle of March. The rain held off just long enough for us to do the group shots outside and have a little stroll round the grounds taking photos as we went.  All in all it was a great wedding.

Normally when brides and groom get their proof images of the wedding on their return from honeymoon, which in their case was in the Maldives,  I tell them they have 6 months to pick the images for their albums, and they take every day of it. After all, it's an important job and you have to know that it's right.

Gina and Thomas came back from their honeymoon and within  one week had all the images picked for their album.

Crikey!

Not only had they picked all the photographs, they'd done a really good job of it and chosen photographs that were very representative of their day. Good job, chaps!

So now their album has been designed and sent to Italy for printing,  less than two months after the wedding.  They most definitely win the prize for the quickest ever picking of photos.

Here's a sneak preview of their album. I can't wait to see the finished article when it comes back.

That's all for now, folks. I've been doing a bit of animal photography over the last week or so. I'll be posting the photographs for you soon.  What's that saying - Never work with children or animals?

David & Charlotte

Things are getting busy at Wow! Towers.

The wedding season is now well under way and the studio has never been busier.  This weekend and next weekend we have family portrait sittings and following that it's playtime for me and the daughter!

I've been mulling around an idea for a few weeks now, we are going to give it a trial run after I've finished work on Saturday. It should be a lot of fun, watch this space!

The latest news is that we now have the client galleries all up and running as well as the e-commerce sorted it it's possible for you to buy prints directly from the website. Technology, eh?  Where would we be without it?

While Bob's been getting on with all the techie stuff  which leaves me colder than a cold thing, I've been doing what I enjoy almost as much as photography - album design.

I've just finished David and Charlotte's album, here are a few of my favourite pages from it:

 Their  daughter is such a little cutie, I could hire her out as a professional bridesmaid. She very nearly is one anyway.  Just a few months after David and Charlotte got married, Charlotte's  Mum got re-married as well, guess who was a bridesmaid?  Got it in one.

Bob and me were honoured to be chosen as the photographers on the day. Of course it was all the same people at the second wedding, it was like meeting up with old friends. It was at the same venue as well so there was more than a bit of deja vu on the day.

Hope you like the album pages, I'll have more for you next week. Bye for now!

Love this weather!!

Ok, I know it causes chaos but you just have to love this weather.

Bob and me should have been at the first wedding fair of the season at Haighton Manor this evening but it has been cancelled due to, you've guessed it, the weather.

Oh well, there is nothing else for it, grab a camera and get outside!

It's a real treat getting out and shooting just for fun.  I'm back in the office now so you can get in touch with me as normal.

The wedding fair at Haighton Manor has been rescheduled for 10th February.

Enjoy the snow while it lasts.