I spent a few days at Saint Audries park near Taunton, Somerset for Elizabeth & Lee’s wedding last week and what a fantastic wedding it was too. I had been looking forward to it for a while as it was a bit out of the ordinary. Firstly I spent almost 3 days with the Bride, Groom and guests. Elizabeth wanted a really intimate wedding which felt more like a holiday with all of her friends (and me!) This gave me a lot of time to get to know everyone there which I really enjoyed. I was also shooting the entire wedding in black and white. I love black and white images and think they lend themselves very well to weddings as it is easier to see emotion and feelings when you strip away the colour but I had never attempted to cover an entire event in monochrome. It may seem a little strange having no colour images from your wedding but it fitted perfectly with the black and white theme for the wedding itself.

On the day of the wedding all the guys enjoyed a morning of Laser clay pigeon shooting, shame there was no break in the rain but it didn’t seem to dampen their spirits at all. Meanwhile the girls had cupcakes and Champagne, I certainly know where I would have rather been!

All the way through the preparations, Elizabeth was full of smiles and laughter and was soon ready for the wedding with the help of her bridesmaids. Lee waited nervously in the Orangery where the ceremony was due to take place, the light in here was fantastic as you will be able to see from the photographs below. The smiles and laughter continued all the way through the ceremony and for the rest of the day, right into the evening. After the first dance the dance floor was never empty and I was even treated to a few “dance off’s” (fortunatly I had been warned the guys were likely to get all competitive after a few drinks so I was ready, camera in hand!)

While a little out of the ordinary, I thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth & Lee’s wedding and after spending so long with them and their friends I cant imagine their wedding any other way. I with them the best of luck for the future but I’m pretty sure they won’t need any luck.

St Audires park wedding, Clay pigeon shoot Bridesmaid prior to the wedding Guest relaxes prior to the wedding at St Audries park Bride and Brides laugh prior to their wedding Bridesmaid getting ready at St Audries park, Taunton Bride making final alterations prior to the ceremony Groom makes his way to the orangery at St Audries park, somerset Bride and Bridesmaids watch guests Groom waits as Bride arrives Bride and groom kiss during the ceremony Bride and groom laugh as they sign the register Bride and Groom celebrate being Man and Wife Bride and Groom outside St Audries Park, Taunton, Somerset Bride and Groom portrait at St Audries Park, Taunton, Somerset Bride and Groom laugh after their wedding breakfast The dancefloor at St Audries Park after the wedding.

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A couple of weeks ago I got to cover another wedding up in Leeds. This time we were at the fabulous Oulton Hall in Rothwell. The hall is set in a pristine golf complex and has some of the most amazing rooms that I have photographed in for a long time.

We covered both Bride and Grooms preparations and it would appear that Jess and Durham are perfectly matched as they were both laughing and joking from the moment we got there until we left at midnight. Its wonderful to see a couple so in love and it always seems to be infectious  as the dance floor was covered with happy couples, both young and old.

I have featured more portraits than usual, I always like to include a few from the day but the ones Bryn and Myself captured in the evening were too good not to show here.

I hope you enjoy them.

Once again these images were processed in Apple’s Aperture 3 and I am continually impressed with the colours coming out of this software.

Bridal portrait before wedding Bride walks down the isle Close up bride and groom portrait Groom hold bride close in portrait Confetti shot 1st dance Bride and groom relaxing portrait bride looks into the camera

I covered Anna and Stephen’s wedding two weeks ago at one of my regular venues, Chillington Hall in Brewood, Staffordshire. I have more information on Chillington here.

I met Anna and Stephen at one of the venue’s ‘Open days’ and we got on straight away so I was very happy when they booked me for their wedding. Anna got ready in one of the bedrooms of the historic house whereas Stephen got to fly-in via helicopter, he certainly made quite an entrance.

The ceremony was beautiful with the light streaming in from the side windows, I really do enjoy shooting at Chillington as there are so many locations to take wonderful photographs. I was only with Anna and Stephen for a few hours so we had more of a focus on group shots and portraits. We got some fantastic shots on the great staircase.

Both Anna and Stephen were great on the day, both were bubbly and determined to enjoy the day, we left them as they sat down for their wedding breakfast and I’m sure they partied long into the night!

Here are some of my favourite shots from the day.

I had the pleasure of photographing Jackie and Paul’s wedding a couple of weeks ago in Birmingham. The ceremony was held at Birmingham register office and the reception at Jury’s inn on Broad Street.

I met up with Paul and Jackie just before they left for the register office, they were both in great spirits and remained that way all day, even through the rain that came down, fortunately it eased off for the walk down to the ceremony, the group shots and the walk back.

One thing that really stood out were the speeches, Paul and Jackie invited guests to come up and say a few words and it is rare I hear so many heart felt words, everyone that stood up delivered a great speech which are a lot harder than they look!

I hope you enjoy the photographs.

I have just been informed the post that contained my review of 2009 has disappeared from my site. It was posted during the server change which is maybe where my post has got too!

Anyway, here is the reposted review of 2009 in movie form

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This is a short video of some of my favourite shots of the year.

This list is by no means exhaustive, I had to keep editing the list down so I could bring the video in under six minutes. I think it is a true reflection of my work this year though and I’m very proud of it.

Last week I spent the afternoon shooting Lizzie & Paul’s wedding in Warwick. I started off covering Lizzie’s preparations at the Warwick Arms then moved down the road to the Lord Leycester Hospital, Its a fantastic old building dating back to the 15th Century.

We had hoped to spend a few hours in Warwick getting some great portraits of the newly married couple but unfortunately the great British weather didn’t oblige us although it stayed dry enough for us to get some shots down by the river at the foot of the castle.

For the reception we moved to a small central restaurant called 7 Square. The restaurant was beautifully decorated and a perfect size for the wedding. I often comment how much I enjoy winter weddings because of the soft, low light. Well this wedding was no  different but it was really pushing the limits of what was possible without using flash. Throughout the whole day, apart from the portraits in front of the castle I was running at 3200ISO to avoid using flash but I think the extra effort was well worth it as the low natural light gives a 3D effect to the images.

I hope you enjoy the images.

Martyn