So last Thursday Serene, Gavin, Kylie and I got together to take the best engagement shoot photos ever in the New Forest. We were blessed with some gorgeous sunshine, epic locations, colours and wild ponies. It’s a good thing the sun did actually set because I could have gone on all day. Serene and Gavin flew over from Singapore, back to the UK where they first met at university. We met up at their hotel where Kylie worked her magic. After tea we headed out in to the warm sunshine for some couple portraits.

Back in the day I went to university in Southampton – quite close to the New Forest area. I often drove through it and thought it would make an incredible location for photography. So I jumped at the chance to photograph Serene and Gavin there. It was great to meet them both and hang out with such nice people. My job is often a happy dream. After we had exhausted what the New Forest had to offer we headed to a pebbly beach for a few photographs at sunset.

Thank you SO much for the shoot and I wish you both the happiest wedding!

Joanna and Nick’s wedding at Babington House was incredible. Memorable. Chic. And so much fun to photograph. It ranks highly as one of my all time favourite venues (yes I do keep a list!) It turned out to be a beautiful sunny spring day, with a little wind. Warm enough to stand in the sunshine. The ducks were out walking around in the gardens and the sky was very blue. Taking photos was a joy.

I started photographing the bridal preparation and had the chance to meet InParlour makeup who did a great job. Joanna wore a beautiful Reem Acra Eternity gown from Brown’s Brides and slipped on Manolo Blahnik shoes to match. Flowers by Passion made the most beautiful wedding bouquets. It was great to hang out with everyone in the morning, and whilst it’s unassuming it has to be one of my favourite parts of the day.

I’m a big fan of Coral and so I loved the bridesmaids dresses from Colette Dinnigan (and Christian Louboutin shoes.) The guys suited up with suits from Indochino and looked every bit the part. Having so many people get ready at Babington House made getting a few extra photos of the guests quite easy. Also, there is something to be said for having your own little private chapel on site. Whilst it’s not really a quirky venue it sure has a lot of charm. It’s the kind of place where you can take wide landscape photographs as well as detailed shots and it all fits together beautifully.

My favourite photos of the day? Seeing Joanna and Nick walk out of the little chapel with big smiles into the sunshine. It’s a big moment walking down the aisle together and to be greeted by such a beautiful day was a great moment. The speeches were epic. It was if they had been professionally written and rehearsed. Each one said something different and there were so many great moments to capture. I was pleasant surprise to see Nick and Joanna hit the dance floor with some sort of quick step fast moving dance. Even better was to see everyone’s reactions. The band (whose name escapes me!) had everyone up – and as you can see the dancing was full on.

Thank you so much to the staff Babington House who looked after me so well. I hope to Photograph another wedding there sometime soon! An even bigger thank you to Joanna and Nick. Thank you SO much for having me. I won’t ever forget your wedding day. Here’s to first love.

It was great to head down to Brighton last weekend and hang out with Laura and Darren. I’ve not been to Brighton before but I’ve always heard such good things. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a colourful city in both personality and architecture. We were blessed with sun and plenty of wind. Thankfully we found shelter in a few unsuspecting locations. We walked along the pier, the beach, next to rubbish bins, through a Jaguar car display, up steps, down steps, parks, colourful streets and through a nationalist protest. The usual engagement shoot locations really.

Here are a few of my favourite photographs from Lizzie and Keith’s wedding. Two of the nicest people I’ve met and it was a pleasure to share the day with them. Even though the weather wasn’t the best, their smiles made everything a joy to photograph. I started off the day at Homewood Park where they both got ready. Lizzie wore a beautiful Jesus Peiro wedding gown, matched with the most amazing Badgley Mischka wedding shoes. I know I’m a guy, but I have to admit to being wowed by them and I make no apologies for the amount of photos I took of them.

Keith, being scottish, kilted up and bought the scottish influence to the day. Whiskey, bagpipes and Dorset Ceilidh were all photographic highlights for me. One of my favourite moments of the day was photographing Keith opening Lizzie’s present to him in the morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite a reaction, least of all from best man Rob.

It was fun to work with hair stylist Becks Simpson and makeup artist Sarah Brock in the morning and Flowers by Passion made the, um, flowers!

The importance of family was clear through the day with different personal touches. Lizzie’s brother played the organ during the wedding service and he also designed their wedding stationery. That’s a pretty talented brother to have! Keith’s mum made all the male button holes and Lizzie’s Aunty Mary made the wedding cake. Whilst I didn’t sample it, the four tier baked wonder looked pretty incredible and one of my favourite photographs is of Lizzie’s mum and her friends admiring it.

Lizzie and Keith also had a Groovybooth in the evening for extra silliness. I love these and it’s always fun to get a few extra reportage photographs of the behind the scenes of it all. Thank you both so much for having me there with you. I hope these photographs bring back all the great memories of the day for years and years to come.

Caroline and Duncan came to Bristol – here is a little snapshot of our shoot in 5 frames. I do have a little story about Duncan who suffered a dislocated elbow and a few stitches above his right eye – but photoshop covers most of this. What a gorgeous couple – I’m really looking forward to their wedding a little later this year in Cambridge.

Paul and Nicky had a shoot in North Somerset a few weeks ago. The sun shone and the sky turned blue. I really looking forward to their wedding in a few weeks time. They have a rodeo.

I just love the shot above. For me it sums up Stacey and Lee’s wedding at Old Down Manor perfectly. The happiness, the laughter, the prettiness, the cheers and the children running around. I also love the heart shaped piece of tissue just next to Stacey’s head. It’s a small detail but it helps make up a great moment.

So here are a few of my favourite images from the wedding at Old Down Manor. It was a beautiful celebration and we got really lucky with the weather. It was actually a lovely, lovely day. Stacey and Lee decided to both get ready at Old Down Manor – which was great because it meant I could photograph them both getting ready with their respective entourages. For an observer like me it’s great to watch and capture all the different dynamics. The different groups and the emotion/nerves that happen in the morning. A big thank you to Becci from Bijoux Wedding & Event Planning who I met in the morning. She made and set up lots of pretty decorations and flowers for me to photograph. With beautiful natural pinks, peach, whites and greens of spring.

It was great to meet Leesa Goodway who did great job with Stacey’s makeup and work again with Helen Farley hair stylist extraordinaire. Stacey slipped on a Maggie Sottero gown, had a quick glass (x2?) of Champagne and headed down to the ceremony. There were lots of readings, and, Stacey and Lee prepared personalised wedding vows to read to one another. I always think this can be a great way to personalise the ceremony. Whilst I’m no great writer myself it can be so nice to say a few personal words to the person you love on the biggest day of your lives.

After the ceremony drinks were served. Pete Josef played piano and sung throughout the reception. I really love hearing live music at weddings (another perk of the job) and there’s a beautiful simplicity of having a solo pianist perform. I caught one of my favourite photographs of the day, which is a shot from above looking down on to Stacey and Lee who were standing next to the piano. As I remember it, it was one of the first moments ‘alone’ that they had to speak to one another. From the space around them it’s easy to see how busy the room is, and they’ve turned in towards one another to have a moment. It was a very brief moment, but it’s really interesting to see how these moments become  memories.

I plan to make a few more regular blog posts to share these features but I also post links via my business Facebook page if you’d like to keep up to date.

The first is Laura and Ben’s wedding at Goldbrick House which was featured on the b.loved wedding blog.

Sophie and Max’s wedding at Haslebury Mill was featured in the July 2012 edition of Wedding Ideas Magazine – it made a 9 page extravaganza (although I’m only showing 8 here because the ninth couldn’t be neatly fitted in!)

 Anna and Rob’s off-beat wedding made it in to South West Bride. Their wedding was spectacular so it was great to see them share a few planning tips.

Many details from Pinar and Rich’s wedding were featured in You & Your Wedding. If you like cake – check it out!

Pinar and Rich’s wedding also made it on to one of my favourite wedding blogs, Rock My Wedding.

And at the very start of 2012 Jen and Ben were published on Rock n Roll Bride. It was a perfect fit.

In January 2013 Luke and Jess were featured in sister publication from Wedding Ideas called Realbrides (apologies for the poor scan!)

Sarah and John came to Bristol and bought the fun. I’m really looking forward to their wedding a little later this year, even more so now I know them both a little better. We were so lucky to have sunny weather for the shoot – hopefully this is a good omen for their outside ceremony (fingers crossed!) It was great to get out and enjoy the warm sunshine with them, take photos and laugh as the red balloons eventually floated away from the ‘secure’ knot we tied. Thank you both for a lovely afternoon. You were both excellent models! Can we do it again next Sunday?