Altrincham and Sale Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase

Well, well, well.  You don't hear anything for a while and then, just like the bus, three blog posts come along in quick succession!

So, there I was on Wednesday night at the latest business showcase that the Altrincham Chamber was putting on, as I advertised two days ago.  Put on by the Altrincham Chamber of Commerce and hosted by the good people at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys again, it's an evening where local businesses can talk to other businesses and the public who attend.

Of course, it's the people that make these events, and it was great to meet some new faces among the familiar ones.  A few new faces I photographed were Andrew from  Matchpoint Franchise Consultancy,      Helen at Ice Cream Dub and Mr Ali of Aminah Tandoori (who, incidentally, provided the superb curry on offer that evening).

The next Business Showcase is at the Point, Lancashire Cricket Club on 30th June.  Contact the Altrincham Chamber for more details.

Arley Hall wedding fair Sunday 20th March 2011

This one feels a bit like a homecoming gig!

I've had my studio based on the Estate at Arley Hall for almost three years now, just a two minute walk from the hall itself.  So I love the place!  I love driving there and working there every day, love being one of their preferred suppliers, love shooting weddings there - just love it, period!

Come along this Sunday to the wedding fair between 11am and 4pm to say hello, talk weddings and look at some fantastic images.

Altrincham Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase

Just a quick mention for the next Business Showcase that my local Chamber of Commerce is putting on tomorrow.  It's being held at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys between 5 and 8pm.

It's a great opportunity for local businesses to meet, find out about one another and, of course, start to do business.

As usual, I'll be there photographing the event for the Chamber.  The photos will be appearing in the next edition of the Chamber magazine, Altruism, and I will, of course, be blogging about the event here.

If you want more information about the Altrincham Chamber of Commerce contact them at www.altrinchamchamber.co.uk or call them on 0161 941 3250.

Has spring finally arrived?

Well, it certainly feels as if it might have done!

The snowdrops are out at Arley Hall and this feels like the first properly sunny spring day.

It's amazing what a bit of sunshine does for the spirits, but mine have also been lifted by a brilliant couple of weeks, at home and at work.

Rachel and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary (having been together for 25 years!) last week and spent our anniversary morning watching our son's rugby team go through to the next round of the Cheshire Cup.  Not glamorous, I know, but good fun.

And I need to say a big thank you to the lovely couples who have booked me in the last few days to shoot their weddings: Jill and Mark getting married at Peckforton Castle, Matt and Anna getting married at Holy Angels Church and then celebrating their marriage at Stanneylands Hotel, Lucy and Marcus getting married at Mere Golf and Country Club, and Jennifer and Mark getting married at Peckforton Castle. Great people celebrating their weddings at great venues - I love my job!

And, finally, my week got underway with a bit more good news: I have been invited to be one of the preferred photographers for Capesthorne Hall in Cheshire.  It is a wonderful place to celebrate your wedding and I am really looking forward to continuing to work closely with the lovely staff at the Hall and the Pavillion.

And now, back to designing wedding albums.

February already!

Wow!  Where did January go?

I last posted a week ago, saying I was going to be exhibiting at the Tatton Park Wedding Show at the end of the month.  Since then, I've attended another wedding show and answered dozens and dozens of enquiries.  Where is the time going?

So, a big thank you to everyone I have met over the past three weekends, at Peckforton Castle, at Tatton Park and at Cottons Hotel, a bigger thank you to those who have already made appointments to visit the studio to talk further about their wedding photography, and the biggest thank you of all to those couples who have recently booked me as their wedding photographer!

I still have a few spaces left in my diary for 2011, while 2012 is filling up so if you're interested in meeting please contact me via my website or on 01565 777186.

The Wedding Show at Tatton Park 2011

Just a quick mention that I shall be exhibiting again this coming weekend, 29th and 30th January, at the Wedding Show at Tatton Park.

The Wedding Show at Tatton Park is something of an institution in the wedding world here in the North West.  It's always held on last weekend in January, inside a giant marquee in the grounds of Tatton Park, just outside Knutsford.  Actually, most of you reading this will probably know that, and many of you will be visiting.

This is the fourth year that I'll be exhibiting at the show.  Again, I'm on stand 416, showing off some of the weddings that I photographed last year.  I'm very excited to announce that, in addition to the beautiful Jorgensen wedding albums and Graphistudio wedding books that I've been using for several years, I shall also have some brand new albums by a brand new company.  Folio Albums are a new British company that have brought out a stunning range of fine art albums for photographers, and I'm very proud and excited to be using them.  I unveiled my two Folio albums last weekend at the wedding fair I was attending at Peckforton Castle where the response to them was amazing!

I'm very excited about this coming weekend, and hope to see many of you there.

From Hong Kong to Cheshire

Nean emailed me in November enquiring about a lifestyle shoot for him and his fiance Chrissy.  He lives in Hong Kong and found my details on a wedding website, Wedding Vine.  They would be in the UK for Christmas and New Year, and would I be available to photograph them?  Of course, the answer was yes!   

Nean and I exchanged emails for a few weeks making arrangements, confirming the shoot would take place at my studio in the grounds of Arley Hall and, weather permitting, around the Hall itself four days after Christmas.  I'm extremely lucky to have my studio located within a couple of minutes of a beautiful building like that, and just a short walk from the award winning Arley gardens.  Both make great backdrops for photoshoots.  

Hong Kong tradition is that the bride and groom have a pre-wedding shoot dressed in their wedding clothes.  Chrissy arrived fully made up and with her hair done, accompanied by a huge wedding dress.  Nean had a morning suit to match.  

Nean was born in England so knew what the weather could be like, but it was the first time Chrissy had visited the UK.  The weather on the 29th was mild (+7) compared to the previous week (-11), but it was still too cold for someone used to the warmer temperatures of Hong Kong.  Especially when she was wearing a wedding dress with bare shoulders!  So we began the shoot in my studio, with a combination of classical and more modern shots.  

Of course, the temptation to be photographed in your wedding clothes in front of an English stately home proved too much and so we went outside for a short time.  Chrissy was great, putting up with the cold to get some wonderful shots.

I'm really pleased she braved the cold to help create some fantastic images.  

Nean and Chrissy are marrying in November in Hong Kong.  My best wishes go out to them along with a reminder that I'm still available on their wedding day!