Ruth and Matthew's wedding at Statham Lodge, Lymm

In my last post I talked about some of the work I do for the Altrincham and Sale Chamber of Commerce.  It was through a contact there that I was asked to photograph this wedding.  I've done work for the accountancy firm Milner Boardman before, and was contacted earlier this year by Matthew, the son of the Managing Director, to see if I was interested in photographing his wedding this summer.

It was a fairly local affair, with the service taking place at St Mary Magdalen church in Sale. 

Inside St Mary Magdalen, Sale

The highlight of most wedding ceremonies!

Then it was on to Statham Lodge in nearby Lymm for the wedding reception.  I hadn't photographed a wedding there for several years, but a quick visit a few weeks before was very reassuring - still as friendly and professional as it had been last time round.  A special thanks here to Lance, who ran the day smoothly and discreetly.

Ruth, the bride, looked gorgeous (of course!)

As you can see, blue was very much the themed colour for the day.

Blue and pink bridesmaid

This fantastic bridal bouquet was by Eaden Floristry of Altrincham.

They also supplied the table decorations, of course. 

This is the Gainsborough suite at Statham Lodge, where the wedding breakfast was held.  I love the bold colour of the sashes on the chairbacks here - it really makes the shots. 

Ruth and Matthew had wanted some shots in the grounds, which have always been one of Statham Lodge's features.  One of the reasons to visit a venue before a wedding, even if I know it well, is to see if anything has changed since last being there.  One of the first things I noticed when going back was the pergola that had been constructed in the rear garden, as it's an ideal backdrop for portraits.  We got some great shots there - here's one of Ruth posing solo. 

Here are the happy couple together.

The bridal party:

A fnal shot of the happy couple, taken in the evening after the wedding breakfast had finished.

A great day and a lovely return to a wonderful venue.  Congratulations to Ruth and Matthew, and very best wishes for your future life together.



Altrincham Chamber of Commerce at the Cheshire Cookery School

When I'm not busy photographing weddings, I'm busy photographing other things!  I've been a member of the Altrincham and Sale Chamber of Commerce for a few years, and have been photographing their mixers, lunches and events for a couple of years.

The round of networking mixer events began again recently after the summer break, starting at the Cheshire Cookery School.  The School is quite new, an extension of COD Electrical in Altrincham.  A fantastic evening - not only the chance to chat about work (or otherwise) in a relaxed atmosphere, but also the opportunity to watch snacks being prepared prior to sampling them!

And very delicious they were too!

Here's a shot of Andrew and Jason from the Cookery School posing for a publicity shot with Barbara and Emma from the Chamber of Commerce in part of the new building.

And here's another, this time in one of the kitchens on display in COD Electrical.

All the photographs from this and other Chamber of Commerce events are on display in the Commercial & Corporate section of the Client Area of my website. 

Capesthorne Hall and Pavilion

One of the big perks about being a wedding photographer is visiting some fantastic locations.  In Cheshire, that means a stately home and one of the loveliest I'd had the privilege of working at over the years is Capesthorne Hall, just a few miles from Alderley Edge. 

It's a stunning venue, both from the front and rear aspects.

  

Of course, the interior is something special too!

Not forgetting the grounds.

A little over a year ago, a permanent marquee was built in the grounds, Capesthorne Pavilion, which allows this lovely venue to cater for larger weddings than previously.

Earlier in the summer I shot a superb wedding there, which I'll blog at a later date, but here are a couple of images of the pavilion from that day.

I've just been invited by the Pavilion to become their preferred wedding photographer - a great honour, and one that I'm very happy to accept!  I'm putting the finishing touches to a slideshow of wedding images of both the Hall and Pavilion which will be available for any couples interested in booking their wedding there.  If you'd like a copy, please contact either Vicki Thomson at Capesthorne Pavilion or myself at the studio.

To end, here are a couple of shots showing both the hall and pavilion at the end of a fantastic wedding.

Natalie and Tim's pre-wedding shoot

Natalie and Tim contacted me back in December last year.  They were living in Australia and looking for someone to photograph their wedding when they returned to the UK this year.  They found my website through Google, were impressed by the examples of my work, we exchanged a few emails and they asked me to be their wedding photographer!

We finally met in July; our first meeting included the pre-wedding shoot that I offer all my wedding clients as part of the preparation for their big day.  Despite suffering from a slight migraine, Natalie was keen to go ahead with the shoot, which turned out to be great fun.  The couple visited me at my studio on the Arley Hall estate, we dodged the few showers that were around and generally had a bit of a laugh.  Oh, and took some great photos too.

Here are some more shots from the session.

I love doing pre-weds.  It's a great opportunity to see what a couple are like in front of a camera, and helps me in advance of the big day to plan some shots at their chosen wedding venue that will best suit their personalities. 

Their wedding is coming up later this month, on Sunday 26th, at Sandhole Oak Barn near Congleton, a venue which I haven't worked at for a while, but which I'm looking forward to enormously.

It's going to be a great day!

A summer wedding at Arley Hall

With the summer wedding season well and truly underway, I've been a bit busy to blog as often as I should, but these are a few pictures from the wedding of Cate and Nick Barker at Arley Hall, which is where my studio is.

Cate and Nick got married at St. Vincent's in Altrincham and then made their way to Arley Hall for the wedding breakfast and evening reception.

For any of you who don't know Arley, it's a beautiful country house, with fabulous gardens.  See for yourself...

For all of Nick and Cate's guests, there is a 3 for 2 offer on prints from the wedding for 30 days.  Just go to my website and follow links to the Client Area, weddings, and you can review the all the wedding photographs and make your selection online.

Volcanic ash victim's desperate dash to the altar..... at Peckforton Castle

I'm quoting the Warrington Guardian in the title to this blog.

It's been an eventful few weeks here at the studio, so I simply haven't had time to share all the news, but  it was nothing like as eventful as the weeks prior to Jane and Jason Endress' wedding at Peckforton Castle on 23rd April!

Jane and her mum decided to go off to Sharm El-Sheikh for a few days before the wedding, to have a relaxing holiday in the sunshine before the big day.  They couldn't have known what was going to happen next when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano (and, no, I don't know how to pronounce it either!) erupted and their plane home was grounded.  It looked like Jane just wasn't going to make it back to marry Jason if she waited around for the planes to get up in the air again.

However, nothing was going to stop Jane getting back to become Mrs Endress, so she and Jacquie set off with just their hand luggage and jumped on a plane to Italy.  They then got a train from Italy, through Switzerland, to France, where they got a ferry to the UK and, finally, a train home to Warrington!  It took them nearly a week and cost them nearly £1,500, but they made it in time, and here they both are:

As you might imagine, everyone was hugely relieved they both got back and there was a lot of press interest in Jane's epic journey.  The local papers carried the story and a BBC Northwest camera crew turned up to interview the bride and groom on their wedding day, which is certainly a first for me!

Here are a few photographs from the day.  The full album is on the website.

The last photograph of the night:

Lifestyle shoot with Dan Shamim

Time to do some more catching up, starting with a photoshoot that I did last month around central Manchester with Dan Shamim. 

We had a great morning shooting photographs around Castlefield and Spinningfields area of the city.  Here are just a few of the shots from the session that I like.

This was near the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry:

This was in Castlefield:

This was in Spinningfields:

 

Behind King Street:

Off Deansgate:

It was great to get out of the studio and work on location.  It enabled me to look for different colours and textures for backgrounds.  Dan was a fantastic model - very patient, and happy to try out different things, no matter how strange they sounded.  Thanks Dan, and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Thanks also to Peter Marcus Hairdressing for the styling.

The rest of the photographs from the session can be viewed in the client area of my website.