Oops, I can't believe I forgot to blog about this! VOICE magazine are running a new 'Real Weddings' column over the next few issues and I've been writing it. This is Hannah & David's wedding feature from the January 2012 issue. More to come!
RECENT WEDDINGS
Em & Marc: Wedding Ideas magazine
Thank you Wedding Ideas magazine for featuring Em & Marc's wedding in the latest issue - I love it! It's been fabulously put together and the reproduction of the photographs is perfect, the colours just *pop* off the page! Wedding Ideas is a cute, compact little mag and the focus is on real brides & their weddings rather than lots of editorial models, which is great if you're insatiably curious about real people (or as some might say, just plain nosey!). If you're stuck on theme ideas or sourcing the perfect details & accessories the pages are also crammed with mood boards and supplier information. I'm not even planning a wedding and I've been obsessing over it all morning!
PS. Em is so gorgeous she's going to be in the new Simple skincare advert when they launch in America next year - exciting!
Hannah & Kieran
Hannah & Kieran were married at the Brecon Castle Hotel, overlooking the mountains just above the beautiful Brecon Beacons national park, the perfect location for a Welsh wedding. Cymru am byth! Apparently it’s one of the oldest hotels in Wales. The hotel was built in the early 1800s but I was fascinated to find out there has been a castle on the site since the eleventh century.
This was a small, sweet, family wedding and Hannah was such a cute bride – always smiling, even after getting delayed behind a tractor on her journey to the venue that morning. I've never seen a bride get dressed so quickly in my life! Also, I have to say how much I LOVED her giant crystal pendant. One for me too please, Santa? Strangely enough I didn’t find out until I delivered her wedding pictures that we went to the same school together. Hannah was a few years above me so I never knew her back then, but small world, hey?
Kate & John
July & August were crazy busy for me this year. If I had the ability to magic myself to multiple places at once I could have shot five different weddings on August 13th! I felt terrible having to turn people down but Kate & John had already booked many months in advance and I’m very happy they did too – the wedding was so pretty and the party in the evening was wild!
The entire day was held at the Coed-Y-Mwstwr in Bridgend, an elegant but welcoming Victorian manor house which required some serious country driving skills to get to. I don’t think I’ve ever gripped the steering wheel as tightly as I did in those narrow, winding lanes! There were some lovely backdrops to photograph against there too such as the red brick wall and the teal painted wooden club house in the gardens. It rained a little bit off and on throughout the day but luckily we managed to nip out between showers with Kate even braving the mud to get the balloon shot among the trees.
Kate looked so sweet and nervous coming down the aisle – the shot of of her & John holding hands after her father gave her away is just charming! I love love love all the beautiful colours Kate chose for details & décor too, especially the baby blue vintage inspired bridesmaids dresses and bright coral shoes - gorgeous. Congratulations Mr & Mrs Aubrey and thank you so much for inviting me to photograph your big day!
Check out the ffotobooth from the wedding reception. Don't click if you're easily offended by the sight of scantily clad gentlemen - I told you the night got a little wild!
Meena & James
Happy Birthday wedding to me! I turned 26 eating honey on toast in the conservatory of a pretty little b&b in Nottingham, watching the rain run down the conservatory windows and drown everything in the garden. Oh dear. Rain. I needn’t have worried though – the skies cleared at all the right moments and this stylish, vintage wedding was my birthday present!
Meena & James were so sweet and welcoming and have incredible taste. They live in a beautiful flat near the arboretum absolutely crammed full of vintage treasures… I could have happily photographed the entire wedding in their living room! Meena wore a stunning cream & gold sari for the ceremony and later changed into an Alice Temperley gown (which I have since been trawling ebay for! Take the hem up a foot or two and no-one would ever know it was a wedding dress… maybe!). James was also looking swish in a tweed suit and tan brogues - no traditional morning suits here!
The ceremony and reception were held in a village just outside the city at the 17th century Woodborough Hall. Big thanks to the wonderful coordinator Doug who didn’t have a smidge of evil dragon about him (hooray!) and even helped rearrange the furniture for a photo. The details and décor were fabulous and Meena had collected the most beautiful second hand books & glass wear for the table pieces. In fact, editing this wedding was almost too easy as everything was already perfect (if I do say so myself!) so it was extremely tricky to narrow the selection down to include here. Enjoy!
Emma & Marc
Oh the glamour! The sparkle! Check out the photographs from Emma & Marc's incredible wedding at the Vale Resort in Cardiff. It was such an elegant and luxurious day that just looking back at all the shimmering, glimmering details makes me feel a little bit scruffy!
They were married in the Vale’s conservatory, flooded beautifully with natural light and with pretty views of the golf course (thankfully the golfers were just out of sight!). After the ceremony we were chauffeured (oh my!) across to Hensol Castle to take some photographs (in fact, the staff at the Vale were endlessly helpful and accommodating. I’ve met more than my fair share of miserable old dragons wedding coordinators at other venues but everyone at the Vale went out of their way to provide extraordinarily good service). Em’s dress was beautiful; ruffled, dramatic and very romantic… the perfect gown for such a sensational setting.
Even though it was quite a lavish, sophisticated wedding Em handmade so many fabulous little details; individual place cards with diamante borders, beaded personalised wine glass tags for every single guest, an enormous cake stand covered entirely in diamante... it must have taken forever. But the results were breathtaking – I love it when a bride puts so much personal effort in. She also planned many fantastic surprises throughout the day for Marc and the guests, I really must try to convince her to set up a wedding planning business; Em, you are awesome!
Aimee & Ashley
I'm always up for a wedding with lots of bright splashes of pink so when Aimee asked me to photograph her wedding I knew it was going to be just my cup of tea! Aimee Marie is a blogger, all round creative sort and advocate of everything girly & glittery - you can check out her website here. Ashley is a musician in multiple metal bands, all of which attended the wedding and made for some interesting group photos!
They were married on the border between Surrey and Hampshire and my early morning drive down was almost stereotypically picturesque. Quaint English villages, thatched roof cottages, gorgeous rolling countryside... I half expected Colin Firth to pop out of a bush in green farmer's wellies and tweed slacks! The venue, Northbrook Park, is such a pretty house with beautiful landscaped gardens (& half crazed peacocks!) but sadly they have imposed many many restrictions on where photography is allowed in the grounds, leaving some the most desirable locations completely out of bounds. Sigh... why do venues do this?!
Not to be put out we still managed to take some fantastic shots, my favourites being Aimee & Ashley in front of the log shed, laying down together on the lawn and walking through the trees in a tiny patch of woodland. Not to mention my most awesome signing-the-register picture ever!
Hannah & David
Hello again! Well, I am well and truly in the thick of wedding season. It seems like forever since I last found time to share a wedding here so I thought I’d grab this quiet moment while I can and post some pictures.
Hannah & David were one of my first weddings of 2011 and I couldn’t have wished for a better start to the year… kind, warm, extremely welcoming and have you ever seen a bride with a prettier smile?! They were an absolute delight to photograph.
The ceremony took place on a thunderous, will-it-wont-it-rain Saturday, at St Mary’s Church in Malpas where Hannah’s own parents were married many years ago. As Hannah, her Dad and her best friend since childhood walked through the gates and across the church yard it was easy to get swept away in the emotion of the morning, I really must stop crying at other people’s weddings!
After the ceremony it was all aboard the shiniest VW van I’ve ever seen and onward to the reception at the Newbridge-On-Usk, tucked away in the countryside. We managed to take some gorgeous pictures in the nearby meadows (even had a few shots invaded by a giant bumblebee!) before the wind picked up and the heavens opened then it was back to the Newbridge for drinks & dancing to a fantastic rockabilly band. These are my favourite first dance pictures I have ever taken so for that alone I must thank Hannah & David for having me as part of their wonderful day. I was quite sad to go home actually as I could have happily stayed and danced all night myself!
Oh So Enchanting
Woohoo! Your South Wales Wedding magazine have featured my work across a four page spread in their spring issue. I just received my copy in the post and I'm so excited I had to scan it in right away to share. Thank you again to the delightfully down-to-earth Nel & Paul for having me at your beautiful wedding and for adding many many gorgeous photos to my portfolio! Nel's dress is still the prettiest I've seen and all the natural details really personalised their big day. Check out the feature below and click here if you'd like to see more pictures of Nel & Paul's wedding.
Owain & Stacey (& an exciting campaign)
Owain & Stacey's wedding in late September was a wedding photographer's dream. They were married in a pretty little church in the rolling countryside of St. Brides with an outdoor reception in a family friend's barn which the groomsmen spent weeks & weeks renovating before the big day. Stacey and her maid of honour decorated the barn with ditsy print floral bunting, bright pink & turquoise watering cans filled with wild flowers, chinese lanterns, fairy lights, mini disco balls strung from the ceiling beams and even set up a beautiful archway hung with ivy for indoor photo opportunities should the weather turn sour. They brought in a dance floor and it was extra fun for me as they also hired my boyfriend's covers band, The Cherry Beats who played late into the night. During a break from the dancing we all piled out of the barn to watch fireworks and launch chinese lanterns out across the fields. Perfect!
At the camera shy groom's request I wont be sharing many of the pictures online but here are a few which should give you an idea of what a picturesque day it was.
Owain & Stacey were so lucky to have such a lovely outdoorsy location for their reception and although they opted to have a church ceremony, I just wanted to use this opportunity to mention something potentially very exciting regarding outdoor weddings in the UK. If you follow the trends in wedding photography and read all the planning and style blogs you too may have enviously admired some of the atmospheric and creative outdoor ceremonies of many American couples. Open air weddings are not permitted in the UK. The law states that a wedding venue must have a roof, be moored to its foundations, lincensed by the local registrar and take place between 8am and 6pm. BUT! The Any Campaign are collecting signatures on a petition to request that these laws be relaxed so that marriage can legally take place anytime, anywhere. Imagine the possibilities!
HELLO!
Hello hello hello!
I'm Eleanor Jane and I am an internationally exhibited photographer with ten years experience, working in the UK.
Likes: fairy lights, champagne, handmade invites, bright colours & quirky little touches.
Dislikes: people who hide in group photos, bridezillas and missing out on cake.
