Always the Wedding Photographer...

Never the Bride? Well that's what I'd been thinking until the future Mr Sam asked me to marry him! So, here's my big big news - I'm engaged!

Ok so it may have been a few weeks since my last post but as you can see, I've been busy! Last week Andrew proposed during a fantastic week away on the Greek island of Kos. After an almost perfect day sailing on a bone fide pirate ship (well it's actually a 19th Century sponge boat but it looks like a pirate ship and that's good enough for me) Andrew made the day perfect by proposing.

Now I vowed not to become obsessed with the wedding and all the planning but... well I already have a spreadsheet... and a folder... And as I'm learning, planning a wedding is really hard! Then it occurred to me - I know lots of brides and future brides! So I'm calling on you for your wedding stories.

I thought I'd start with the most important thing of all - THE DRESS! (well maybe second most important - you all chose your photographer first, right?) I'd love to hear how you chose your dress or how you're going about choosing that special frock.

To start us off, I thought I'd share a couple of dresses that I already know about. Here's Bex. Usually I am with the bride as she gets ready in the morning but the first time I saw Bex was when she arrived at the Priest House for the ceremony. I was blown away by how wonderful she looked. I just love her dress! It had a really romantic, vintage look with layers of flowing lace and lots of gorgeous detail, it really suited her perfectly.

Here's Kate. now I'm only showing you Kate from the back as her and her new Groom, Wayne are on honeymoon at the moment, so you'll have to wait until they return to see how fabulous they both looked. However, I couldn't resist telling you about her dress. Kate had her dress made for her after literally dreaming up the design. She went to her designer with an idea after seeing the dress in a dream. The result was simply gorgeous and reminded me of those wonderful dresses we all drool over when watching Strictly Come Dancing. I can't wait to show you more but here's a little taster.

So, you can see I've been inspired but I need your help girls! Where did you find that perfect dress and what was your inspiration?

Sam

Image of the Day - Church Weddings

One of the great things about being a wedding photographer in the East Midlands is seeing all the beautiful old churches we have here.

This photograph was taken at Naomi and Chris' wedding last year. Naomi and Chris were lucky enough to have a wonderful church next door to the Lincolnshire home of the Chirs' parents. This meant they were able to hold their summery marquee reception right next to the place they had tied the knot. Their vicar was wonderful and gave such a moving ceremony. She also allowed us to take a few photographs, as long as we were very discrete, meaning that we could capture this really special moment as Chris slipped the ring onto Naomi's finger. I just love the way she's looking at him! Aw!

Here is another gorgeous moment from Matt and Rachael's Christmas wedding.

Last Christmas we were also invited to photograph Jo and Scott's wedding at the stunning cathedral in Derby. These photographs, taken by Glen, really shows how impressive the building is and yet their ceremony was still very personal and emotional.




Lastly, here are a few images which show how perfect the light can be in an old church and how this really adds a touch of magic to the photographs.

Whenever we're allowed to photograph church ceremonies we work hard to remain almost invisible and not distract from the ceremony itself. The added benefit of this is that we get to capture some great natural moments that really sum up what the day is all about. Sx

Image of the Day - Rina and Amit

As promised, here is another image from the wedding of Amit and Rina. I think Rina felt a bit daft when I was taking this (well I had asked her to hold her veil in front of her face, so you can't blame her). However, I thought Rina had the most amazing eyes and I wanted to create an image that really captured this. I loved the colours in her veil too and felt they would really bring out the colour of her eyes.
















In contrast here are some gorgeous photographs of Rina and her groom, Amit, taken by Glen. As you can see, these are really happy and relaxed photos, allowing their personalities to shine through.

















Finally, here are some more photographs taken throughout the day. Most of the time when we're at a wedding we're simply watching what's going on and seeking to capture those special moments in a way that conveys the mood and the emotion.




























Together, these images
sum up our approach to photographing our gorgeous couples and their wedding days. As you can probably tell, I think we have as much fun at weddings as the couples do!

Well, there was much more than one image today as it was so hard to choose from this beautiful wedding!

I hope you all have a fantastic long weekend. After the Easter break I'm determined to keep up my daily posting so I've got photographs of Church weddings, civil ceremonies and some of our favourite reception venues to show you.

In the meantime, I trust some of you will be getting stuck into those Easter eggs, I know I will be. Hmmmm.... chocolate eggs...

S
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Image of the Day - En Guarde

Good morning! Today's image of the day is a bit of a break from wedding photography. This is my other half, Andrew, who is currently gracing the pages of Lincolnshire Pride magazine as they've run a piece on the Fernwood Sword Club. The Club's been going from strength to strength and after Easter we move to a new home, as we've already outgrown our current location. So we're responsible for a growing number of sword-fighters in Lincolnshire, especially as the latest beginners have all passed their course with flying colours.

See you tomorrow!

Sam
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Image of the Day - Take 2

Hello! Well it won't take the most observant of people to notice that my attempts at posting an image a day were somewhat short lived. Partly, events rather overtook me but mostly this was because Blogger fell out with me. Or I broke the internets. Or something. Either way it's taken me until now to figure out how to post to our blog again, but here I am!

As usual, lots has happened here and I'll be letting you know all our news over the next couple of days. We've been shooting lots of gorgeous portrait photographs, had more brave and beautiful ladies take part in the PureWoman experience and photographed our first weddings of 2009. The image above was taken at Rina and Amit's wedding. I'll be showing you more of their photographs later as they are such a stunning couple whose perfect Leicester wedding took place over two packed days so they have LOTS of great photographs! This photograph was one Glen took at the party a couple of weeks ago and I just love it!

It's clear that the sunshine brings out the romantic in everyone as we've heard from lots of couples getting married next year. It looks like 2010 is going to be another busy year for us with weddings not just around Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands but as far afield as Surrey and London.

Our other big news is that the PureLight photography studio is moving from our home at Hexgreave to Stoke Rochford, but more on that later.

In the meantime, I can't resist showing you one more wedding photograph from Rina and Amit. This time, just because it makes me laugh!



More tomorrow (no, really!)

Sam
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Image of the Day - Modern Hindu Wedding Ceremonies

Hello again!

Last year Glen and I were privileged to photograph a number of Hindu weddings in some beautiful locations. The combination of gorgeous couples, stunning mandaps and emotional ceremonies allowed us to create some of our favourite photographs of the year.

Although the most important elements of the wedding are always present, modern Hindu weddings can vary greatly. Some will have most of the important ceremonies on one day, others will last several days. This makes every wedding we cover unique, as different combinations of rituals are observed.

However, all weddings have at their heart the coming together of two people in love and the blessing of that parntership. This photograph was taken at Meghna and Jignesh's wedding at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Hyde Park in London. I love how their special union as man and wife is shown by the way they are making their offering together, the knot and the chord binding them together and the garlands they have presented to each other.

S
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Image of the Day - Veils

2008 saw veils make a big comeback, and as a wedding photographer, that made me very happy!

Veils have a beautiful way of catching and diffusing light and really help to make a bridal portrait something special. The photograph on the left is of Emma, whose shoes I showed you yesterday. Simply by using the light from a window and her veil, we've created a really contemporary, fashion-style bridal portrait. So you can see, veils don't have to look cheesy or old fashioned.







Veils can add a touch of magic to wedding photographs. Here are some photographs taken at Sarah and Matt's wedding at Norwood Park in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. Their wedding day was pretty windy, and when the wind caught Sarah's veil it gave the pictures a real sense of movement and something of a fairy-tale quality.
















Many of the veils we saw last year were very long and very impressive, a trend which looks set to stay for 2009. A lot of brides told me they had chosen such a big and beautiful veil because it was the only time they were going to get to wear one, so why not go all out? I couldn't agree more! Here's a photograph that Glen took of Caroline at Stoke Rochford Hall, near Grantham, Lincolnshire. Caroline really knew how to work a veil!

Finally, you can have a bit of fun with a veil. Here are Robert and Zoe at Holme Pierrepont Hall in Nottinghamshire. Another wonderful long, swishy veil!









On Monday - Hindu Wedding Ceremonies.

Have a great, snowy weekend!

Sam
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