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Monday 28 February 2011

Nadine and Jason's Wedding in Hove

When I went into Nadine's room at the Landsdowne Place Hotel in Hove to cover her getting ready, the first thing that happened is one of her bridesmaids apologised for not saying hello! She had seen me loitering outside (I was a bit early) and thought I was the photographer but didn't like to say anything in case she was wrong. How lovely is that? In fact it set the tone for the whole day - genuine friendliness with an afternoon tea and Brighton beach party twist! 



The Wedding took place at St Philip's Church in Hove, which has one of the most impressive interiors I have come across. Nadine and Jason had arranged for a red London Routemaster bus take take all the guests to the church and then and back to the Landsdowne Place Hotel for the afternoon tea reception.



Happily filled up with sandwiches and cakes everyone then went down onto the beach for games of cricket, boules and the like. Nadine, Jason and I took the opportunity to have a quick walk to some beach huts for photographs - love the sunglasses!



 In keeping with the English beach holiday theme, the menu's were on "Catch of the Day" chalk boards and of course Fish and Chips had to be an option, peoples names were painted onto pebbles as place cards, even the wedding cake was made as a beach hut, it was all very cleverly thought out and looked wonderful! 

The Landsowne Place Hotel has some great locations for interior shots including one of the few where lense flare from the chandelier actually worked to my advantage: 




Nadine and Jason managed to pull off one of the most cleverly themed weddings I have seen and it was obvious that everone had a brilliant time. 
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Sunday 6 February 2011

Becky and Dan's Wedding at Hartsfield Manor

This time we are off to Surrey for Becky and Dan's wedding at Hartsfield Manor. Becky got ready at her Mum and Dad's house in a very calm and relaxed environment, excited without any sign of nerves. Her stylist doesn't normally do bridal work and only did it as a favour. In fact she generally works on TV and movie productions and really likes doing the more unsavoury stuff - think Baldrick (although he's not one of her's) and you get the idea. Knowing this would have given most brides the jitters, but there was no need to worry, Becky looked wonderful!



Hair and makeup done (without a fake boil in sight), Becky set off for Hartsfield Manor in a lovely traditional bridal car. As a surprise she had arranged for Dan and his Groomsmen to be picked up by a massive American monster truck. It really was a beast and the last couple of miles to Hartsfield Manor is quite tight, so anything coming the other way would have got something of a shock!



 After the wedding Becky and Dan went for a drive around the grounds in the bridal car (with me running up and down the road after them), rather than the monster truck, much more traditional. Although the weather wasn't great, the rain held off until the evening so we managed to get a few outside photographs. Luckily there is no shortage of places inside to work with, so it wouldn't have been too much of a problem.





Becky and Dan had a lovely, elegant and easy-going wedding surrounded by their family and friends, it really was a great day for everyone. 
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Sunday 16 January 2011

Amber and David's Wedding at Penshurst Place

Off to Kent this time for Amber and David's wedding at Penshurst Place, one of the most beautiful wedding venues I have been to. The wedding flowers came from a fantastic florist called Eden, which is just around the corner from me, so I had agreed to bring all the flowers with me on the morning of the wedding. I hadn't appreciated quite the volume that needed to be picked up and I made the journey to Kent looking like a mobile Chelsea Flower Show.

Amber got ready at the Tonbridge Wells Spa Hotel, which is a very impressive wedding venue in it's own right. Amber did her own makeup and had her hair done by The Hair Fairy - she looked stunning! You can find out more about The Hair Fairy on her website: www.thehairfairyhomehairdressing.co.uk



Then we all went off to Penshurst Place for the wedding ceremony in the Baron's Hall. It would be very hard to overstate what a fantastic venue this is, everything about it, the buildings, grounds, service and organisation are all wonderful and personal - that's not to detract from anywhere else, but if you want a stately home wedding in Kent then Penshurst Place should be high on your places to visit list.



Although the weather in the morning was lovely, it was pretty obvious that things were going to change in the afternoon, so we had a brief tour of the gardens for some romantic shots before moving on to the reception.





Rather than having their reception at Penshurst Place, they decided to have it in a huge marquee at David's Dad's house. The weather decided to give the marquee what must have been it's toughest ever test, it absolutely bucketed down just after everyone arrived and the rain seemed to go on and on. Amazingly not a drop of water got in, which is a great credit to Compass Marquees: www.compass-marquees.co.uk

The catering, including a hog roast, was provided by Super Event based in Heathfield, East Sussex, one of the most well known and highly regarded caterers in the south east. Despite the weather doing it's best to make things as difficult as possible the team from Super Event were brilliant and the food and service were fantastic. you can find out more about Super Event on their website: www.superevent.co.uk

As you can see, moving a bride around in the rain is something of a logistical nightmare:
 


Amber and David had a fantastic day and and are great fun to be around, even the rain managed to add to a real community atmosphere in the marquee. 

If you are interested in having your wedding at Penshurst Place you can find more details and contact information on their website: www.weddingsatpenshurstplace.com/index.html


Friday 14 January 2011

Easbourne Wedding Fair 2011

Well this was a busy weekend with a two day wedding fair at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne.  Normally I wouldn't bother blogging about something like this - I have enough trouble keeping up with other things, but this was quite exceptional.  I don't have a photo of the Winter Gardens to go with this, so here is one of Eastbourne Pier at sunrise instead:


This was the first ever wedding fair to have a live wedding in the middle of it - yes, a proper real wedding with registrars, not a pretend wedding.  How on earth the team at the One Stop Wedding Shop managed to organise a two day event with over 100 exhibitors and  arrange the venue license (it's also a brand new, never used before, wedding venue) and all the planning associated with a wedding is beyond me, but they pulled it off handsomely!

I didn't get a chance to see the wedding itself, although everyone who attended the wedding fair was invited (hard to keep them out under the circumstances), but I did go to see the fashion after much persuading.  I've seen dozens of wedding fashion shows and in general they are all pretty much the same, some better than others (which is a mild understatement), but this was more like a dance show where the performers happened to be dressed in wedding attire, it was fantastic!  

There are a few photographers in the UK that I keep a close eye on because I like their work so much, but there is also one videographer called Leo Ferenc who I did a wedding with a couple of years ago and was so impressed by what he does that I have been watching him ever since.  We haven't done a wedding together in between, but he was exhibiting at the show and we managed to spend a bit of time catching up which was great.

The real treat was meeting a couple who came in to see me just because they like reading this blog.  We're not talking autographs or anything (although signed copies may be available next time) but it really was rather flattering - so thank you! 

The biggest thank you has to go to everyone at the One Stop Wedding Shop for putting on such a great event.  You can find out more on their website:  www.onestopweddingshop.co.uk

You might also want to take a look at Leo's work on his website:  www.perfect-day-studios.co.uk  If nothing else you must turn your volume up and watch this one - Kiss!