Four weddings...

Here are some photos from four more weddings from last year. Now that I've photographed my first wedding of 2012 it's about time we put some of these online!

First is my lovely friend Hannah, who married her fiance Joe in Frinton on sea, with a wonderful reception at her parents home farm. Hannah and Joe are two people who are rich in friendships and love, and the number of family and friends who came to celebrate was huge! Also, they can really sing in that church, I couldn't help but grin.

James and Jess were married in an intimate ceremony at Highbury Hall. Jess is a wonderful character - these sneaky shoes hidden under the dress are totally in keeping with her fun spirit!

Such nice, seasonal decorations for the tables. I think it took them hours to collect these perfect leaves!

John and Gill's wedding was in Nuneaton, with a reception at the Royal Court Hotel in Coventry. This was my first outing for the remote pocket wizard flash system, which added a little something to lots of the portraits we took later in the day.

Finally (for now) Nigel and Judi were married in December, in St. Patricks Earlswood. It was so great to see the family all involved in the day, and they are such a sweet couple it's been such a pleasure working with them. The reception was held at the very stylish Compton Verney, where families posed amongst portraits of generations from many years ago.

Only two more weddings from last year to talk about!

Ten Strangers

A couple of weeks ago some friends from Birmingham love photographers met up for a little urban photo challenge. We set out from the cathedral to meet and take pictures of complete strangers, all over the city centre. As a wedding photographer it comes fairly naturally to talk to people I don't know and make them smile, but it was an interesting project to keep the eyes peeled and look out for interesting people I wanted to nab. I was amazed how few people didn't want their photo taken too.

Here's just one. I took many more but our target was to choose ten good portraits. You can see my ten strangers here.

A few more from 2011

Since it's Wednesday, I thought I'd put a few pictures up on the blog. These are pretty rrrrrandom shots from five weddings last year. But hopefully they'll give a little flavour. I've got loads of weddings that haven't yet been on the blog. I promise this is entirely down to me being busier taking pictures than showing them to people - there were some really gorgeous weddings in 2011.

Simon and Helen's lovely family ceremony at Nailcote Hall, starring their cute little doggies, collectively known as the hooligans.

Stephen and Rebecca were married at Hampton Manor, and at the end of the day had me bring the photobooth for some ridiculous shots of them and their guests...

Richard and Amie's wedding was at Wadenhoe House. It was beautiful, emotional, and raining. Sposa bagnata sposa fortunata!

And Ash and Laura were married at Ardencote Manor in September...

There'll be more to come soon!

Steve and Andrea (Yay)

My first memory of Steve is from 1991. Bryan Adams was dominating the charts, shell suits were in fashion, I had never kissed a girl before and Laser Quest was about as good as life could EVER get. On our first day at Big School we stepped through the grand front doors at Ranelagh (which we wouldn't officially be allowed to use again) and our respective Mums pushed a couple of nervous little lads in itchy new blazers towards each other, assuring us that we had been best friends years ago at playgroup or something.

This MAY have been one of those Mum-Magic moments, but whether it was true or not, it certainly worked. Steve has been more like a brother than just a friend to me for pretty much my whole life. And I'm truly honoured to be his JBM (joint best man) slash photographer on the 4th of February.

On the day I'm hoping to have a good friend take many of the wedding photos so I can be 'in it', but I'll take as many as I can, and so last weekend I went to stay with Steve and Andrea and we had a little practise and a giggle at Beechfield House in Beanacre near Bath.

No two ways about it, I love this sweet couple very much. I can't wait for the big day. NINETEEN SLEEPS!

Happy New Year!

I know it's a little late, but a very happy new year to you! I hope 2012 is everything you want it to be and more. As expected, the week of Christmas was totally packed and totally fun, and I'm excited about the year ahead.

I have an idea for a new year's project/resolution. Apart from marrying Rachel McAdams obviously. But it wants a bit of tinkering first. I'll let you know when it's ready!

This photo has nothing to do with anything, but look how pretty it is.