Katrina and Karl

Carlisle Wedding

We traveled up to Carlisle the day before the wedding,the thought of getting held up on the M6 on the morning of the wedding was too much to dread.The bridal and groom preps where at either ends of Carlisle ,so I stayed and did bridal prep and Leanne took car to groom prep.

After bridal and groom prep,Leanne picked me up and we went to Carlisle Registry Office,and I have to say is the best for appearance sake that we’ve been to,in fact its better than some wedding venues we’ve frequented.The ceremony went well,the room was well lit with natural .We went outside for more shots to make most of the fantastic building.We got both wedding cars together to set up a few shots with different guests and of course bride and groom.The weather was perfect ,you can never rely on British weather so we are always grateful for a dry day at work.

We moved on to the wedding venue, The Hallmark Hotel, right in centre of Carlisle,A grand old style hotel that will host weddings every weekend.The main hall was huge with its wooden floor dance floor.The entrance to the hall had been decorated with an impressive balloon arch.

We took the bride and groom for shots outside,the council building opposite was designed on a castle theme,so we thought that would look good in the pictures.

We photographed the first dance and took more pictures of the guests dancing,then we headed of home.

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Christmas wedding in Wigan

We did the engagement shoot four weeks prior to the wedding at  Macdonald Kilhey Court Hotel in some atrocious weather ,I was prepared for some of the same,the engagement shoots are ideal for setting up your shooting strategy like inside photos if the outside is a big no and timings  of the group shots and the bride and groom shots on the big  day. The venue was two buildings,a custom built one for weddings,conferences etc and the main part was the older hotel with a superb bar area that made indoor shots  easy for me,a large staircase a few grand fireplaces ,perfect. I've been to some places where there's absolutely nothing  at all to take a picture of inside and having to use  my imagination to conjure some decent background .
On the day the weather was sunny but this isn't a guarantee,we went in two cars and took about a hour.We were early so double checked our kit,had a brew and waited for the time to do candid shots of the bridal preparation whilst Leanne checked the venue. I'm not a fan of on camera flash ,looks amateurish and not keen on high ISO for low light,so I've been trying to hold the flash(with radio trigger) up with my left hand and shooting with the camera with my other hand.I cant measure with a light meter so have to have a couple of tries before I pick the right power setting,and to be honest I was really pleased with the results as you'll see in the images I've put up. After the bridal preparation I joined Leanne who had been taking detail shots of Flowers and the set up in the ceremony venue. Leanne was placed at the back of the room and I was at the front capturing the bride and groom close up,between us we'd catch everything.After the mock registry signing we got everybody outside whilst it was still dry and did the group shots with off camera flash,again these are so much better in my eyes than using available light , I mean if you can why not ,it only takes 5 minutes to set up two light stand, two triggers, two speedlights,measure the output fix in the settings to the camera and away you go ,all the shots are easy after that.I like things simple especially when the pictures look so good.
The meal was next followed by the speeches,not my favorite part but they have to be done.By this time it was dark out and chance to do an umbrella shot with a small speedlight fitted in the top of the inside of the umbrella,we've practiced this a couple of times and were confident of it being a success,no worries it was a good shoot. It was really cold out so we did the set up and moved the newly weds in. Here we carried on with shots in front of the beautiful staircase and   then onto  the front  fireplace with off camera flash again,these went extremely well.We had a bit of a rest after this and then onto the first dance with the cake cutting back in the rearranged ceremony room.It had been a long day but as always its a privilege to be part of someone's wedding so close throughout the day and documenting it for them and their family and friends to look back on.inside to the warmth.

Rochdale Town Hall Wedding

The wedding of John and Sharon was on a Saturday in late November at the magnificent Rochdale Town Hall,were we’ve never covered a wedding here before though,as always,we do a reconnaissance prior to it and was amazed at what a stunning building it is.It has the classic Victorian architecture on the outside as does a lot of public buildings of the time do, but inside you have The Great Hall,The Grand Staircase leading to the Exchange,the town hall reception that doubles as the ceremony room on wedding days.We were covering the ceremony on to the first dance,so we turned up well early and got the guests arriving accompanied by two bagpipers,luckily the weather was dry. The bridesmaids came down The Great Staircase first and then the Bride and her son.The ceremony started and a first for us,owls would be used as ring bearers,exciting!

It all went smoothly and was a superb spectacle,the owl did good.After the registry signing everyone went outside to have pictures taken of the owls,and whilst outside I manages to do a group shot of everyone with me being on a first floor balcony,and it still stayed dry.The wedding breakfast followed with the speeches first,later we got the bride and groom outside to do our trademark umbrella shot and confetti shot.Then we got some set up shots on the Grand staircase and further group shots at the top of the staircase. On the reconnaissance we found a spiral staircase running down to the registry office,we thought this would make a fantastic shoot.The evening guests started turning up and the cake cutting started and the First dance proceeded before everyone filled d the dance floor.

Ring bearer Owl flying back to the handler.

Bride and Groom on The Grand Staircase

Confetti shot

First Dance.

Matthew and Franziska get Married

The beautiful Browsholme Hall and The Tithe Barn was the place of today’s wedding ,set in the Trough of Bowland in Lancashire.What a fantastic backdrop for a wedding and certainly makes it easy for the photographer to take some really good pictures .Rain was forecast for the day so we had to plan the outdoor shots between showers,so being quite flexible and ready is a must. The bridal party was getting ready in Browsholme Hall itself,just a stones throw from The Tithe Barn.

Bridesmaids taking some refreshments

As bridal prep places go this is one of the best,the room next door was very stately with coats of arms and suits of armour adorned across the room.We decided to shoot some bridal party pictures in here too.

Bride and Bridesmaids

Luckily the walk to the barn was a dry one ,though umbrellas were at the ready..The Tithe Barn was full of wedding guests,and Franziska walked down the Isle with her dad..

Walk down the Aisle

A beautiful ceremony for a beautiful couple,all went well .The light in the Barn wasn’t the best,but not the worse by far,the latest sensors in the recent Canon cameras compared to the ones I used ten years ago are on a total different level,so low light isn’t a worry like it used to be.

Just Married

Just a short walk away there is a small body of water where we did the prewedding shoot,and we were lucky with the rain but only just.You have to make most of your short time you have with the newly weds,we always have a preset plan of the day for shoots ,where and when,we like being prepared.

Bride and Groom

After the meal and speeches we got ready for the evening party,cake cutting and first dance.the cake was a cheese based one ,a thing of beauty.There’s not enough cakes like this around in my opinion .

Cheese Wedding Cake

First Dance

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