Mick House Photography

Nadine and Jason's Wedding in Hove

2011-02-28T17:53:00.000Z

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. You can see more of their wedding photographs here: Nadine and Jason's Wedding in Hove

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Becky and Dan's Wedding at Hartsfield Manor

2011-02-06T11:27:00.001Z

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. You can see more of Becky and Dan's's wedding photographs (and the truck) on their gallery: Becky and Dan's Wedding at Hartsfield Manor

www.mickhouse.co.uk

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Amber and David's Wedding at Penshurst Place

2011-01-16T15:34:00.001Z

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. You can see more of Amber and David's wedding photographs on their gallery: Amber and David's Wedding at Penshurst Place

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

www.mickhouse.co.uk
01323 639404
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Easbourne Wedding Fair 2011

2011-01-14T11:55:00.000Z

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!

www.mickhouse.co.uk
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Kelly and Paul's Wedding at the English Wine Centre, Alfriston

2010-12-27T15:00:00.000Z

Two local Sussex weddings in a row is quite unusual for me, one weekend at Pelham House in Lewes, the following weekend just down the road for Kelly and Paul's wedding at the English Wine Centre in Alfriston. Kelly got ready at her Mum and Dad's with lots of family and friends round to help out.

It's just a ten minute drive from Eastbourne to the English Wine Centre and as Kelly arrived I noticed her Dad reflected in the car window:

The wedding ceremony takes place in an old renovated barn. The renovation hasn't been over done so it still feels nicely rustic without giving you the feeling that a goat could wander in at any moment and start nibbling at the floral arrangements. After the ceremony we all went out into the gardens for the drinks reception in the sunshine - the weather was perfect!

There is a large marquee attached to the back of the barn which is the location for the wedding breakfast. Kelly and Paul had decorated it using lots of blue ribbons and it looked stunning. Speaking of stunning, I didn't hear the comment during the speeches that produced this expression, but I'm glad that I got the photograph of it:

We went back out into the gardens later on for some nice romantic shots. At one point it looked like were were in for a beautiful sunset, which would have been fabulous, but at the last minute a heavy mist came off the Downs and put an end to it - even so, we did very well and there are some great spots for Bride and Groom photographs.

Kelly and Paul had a wonderful day and the weather was truly amazing for them. You can find out more about weddings at the English Wine Centre on their website: www.englishwine.co.uk and you can see more of Kelly and Paul's wedding photographs on their gallery: Kelly and Paul's wedding at the English Wine Centre.

www.mickhouse.co.uk
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Karen and Pete's Wedding at Pelham House, Lewes, East Sussex

2010-11-24T09:04:00.000Z

Some of you may recall a previous blog about Pelham House where I first mentioned Karen (painted wedding glasses) and Pete (the dark art of printing). Well their wedding came round all too quickly (everything seems to have done this year) and it certainly lived up to expectations!

Karen, having confiscated the wedding rings from the best man for safe keeping, got ready at Pelham House. Normally at this point I would say something like "assisted by her bridesmaids" but this wasn't quite the case. The bridesmaids actually kept us hugely entertained by trying to figure out how to walk down the aisle, attempts at which started badly and soon degenerated into a sort of march of the animals, with Anna in particular doing a very good impression of a mutant Chernobyl chicken desperately trying to escape the clutches of a ravenous Russian peasant - you may have guessed by now that this wedding was about having fun!

Karen has a moment of quiet reflection, while just out of camera beside her the Eastbourne Players continue working on their production of Animal Farm. Actually the enigmatic, Mona Lisa look is Karen desperately trying not to laugh.

Meanwhile Pete is relaxing with his groomsmen in the bar downstairs waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin, probably the safest place under the circumstances.

In the end the bridesmaids just about managed to get things together and opted for a stately sprint down ths aisle, with much giggling and bouquet waving, followed much more serenely by a very happy looking Karen - it was all pretty cool actually!

After a lovely wedding ceremony we all moved out onto the terrace for drinks and canapes in the sunshine, with a few quick romantic shots before going back in for the wedding breakfast.

Karen and Pete had arranged for a harpist to provide background music during the meal. Have you ever looked at a harp, I mean really looked? It's not just a million strings to get to grips with, there are pedals as well, lots of them. How on earth did someone get around to inventing something that looks like an ornate industrial vegetable slicer and then decide to play it? I'm very glad they did because they are lovely, but was going on in their head?

Speaking of what was going on, I don't know what was happening here either, but it went on for quite a while and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which is all that really matters.

As the evening wore on the boys and I decided to go out for a Reservoir Dogs photo. I always like to hype the guys up a bit for this shot so they look like they own the street, otherwise there can be a tendency for them to come down the road in a little huddle that's more reminiscent of Reservoir Poodles or possibly Dew Pond Field Mice. So we take a gaggle of extrovert sportsmen, fill them with beer, steroid their ego's and tell them to go for it. They did... Lewes police station put out a "Closed" sign, people ran for cover, birds scattered in alarm, the sky darkened. I really should have pointed out that they owned the road apart from my bit though...

Rather than doing a speciality first dance or simply settling for the traditional hug and shuffle, Karen and Pete decided to combine the two. We do the hug and shuffle during the verses and (something along the lines of) the pogo during the chorus. Like everything about them it's pretty off the wall, but it didn't just work, it was brilliant - try it!

About 10pm we wandered down to the bottom of the gardens at Pelham House for the Chinese Lanterns. Although I have photographed these before, this was the first time I had got involved in trying to light them. I don't know if this was a dodgy batch, but it was a nighmare despite being a completely still night. You hold a lighter under a wax patch for serveral minutes until your thumb catches fire. The flame coming from your thumb then starts to melt the patch which drips hot wax onto the back of your hand. If you are very lucky the patch will eventually start to burn, at which point you give the lantern to someone else, dash back up to the house and run your burning hand under the cold tap. Most lanterns only reached the dripping hot wax stage. Eventually we did get some going and very romantic they looked too.

Karen and Pete had a fantastic, fun packed day and as always Pelham House was the perfect wedding venue. You can find out more about Pelham House on their website: www.pelhamhouse.com and you can see more of Karen and Pete's wedding photographs on their gallery: Karen and Pete's Wedding at Pelham House

Wedding Photographers in Sussex

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www.mickhouse.co.uk

Remembrance Day

2010-11-11T09:19:00.000Z

Today is Remembrance Day, so here is a photograph of the War Memorial in Eastbourne taken at sunrise a few weeks ago.

Please don't forget to wear your poppy and observe the two minutes silence at 1100, it's not a lot to ask.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Fairs in Sussex - Seaford

2010-09-24T14:17:00.003+01:00

The 2010 Seaford Wedding Fair is being held on Sunday the 21st of November at Seaford Constitutional Club, Crouch Lane, Seaford, East Sussex. The wedding fair is open from 10.30 to 4.30 and entry is free.

The wedding fair has been organised in association with the One Stop Wedding Shop in Eastbourne, East Sussex and boasts a great range of wedding suppliers including wedding cake makers, florists, photographers, wedding car hire companies, entertainers and much more. Of course you also get the opportunity to see if Seaford Constitutional Club is your ideal wedding venue.

View Larger Map

The local area around Seaford provides some great opportunities for wedding photography, from huts on the beach and a backdrop of Seaford Head, to classic views along the Cuckmere Valley of over the Seven Sisters towards Belle Toute and Beachy Head if you are feeling more adventurous!

The Seaford Wedding Fair looks to be a great event for anyone getting married next year, so make a note in your diary to come along and see what's available for your wedding. If you are interested you can find more information on the Seaford Wedding Fair website: http://www.seafordweddingfair.co.uk/, or alternatively pop into the One Stop Wedding Shop at 20 South Street, Eastbourne, East Sussex

Wedding Photographers in Sussex

01323 639404

www.mickhouse.co.uk

Susan and Graham's Wedding at Rowhill Grange, Kent

2010-09-23T12:04:00.000+01:00

Susan and Graham eventually had their wedding at Rowhill Grange in Kent. I say eventually because they were originally booked in elsewhere on a different date. I won't go into details but due to a series of "interesting events" they decided to cancel the original wedding booking and move to Rowhill Grange instead. Luckily the new date was on a Friday so I was still free. Top tip: Make sure you get everything confirmed in writing!

Panic over, Susan did all her bridal preparations in the comfort of Rowhill Grange before going down to the Clockhouse Suite for the wedding ceremony in her fabulous red and white wedding dress.

The Clockhouse Suite is actually a completely separate building from the main hotel, which makes it feel as though you have the venue all to yourself.

Apart from the Clockhouse Suite, you can also get married outside in the gardens under a very nice gazebo - assuming you are happy to run the risk of our weather of course. It turned out that the weather was pretty good for most of the day with a bit of light rain starting just after we went off to do some photographs in the gardens - nice timing!

Although an old building, Rowhill Grange has been decorated in quite a modern style, giving it a very chic look.

Graham and Susan had a fantastic day at Rowhill Grange before flying off for a wonderful honeymoon cruise, in the end everything had worked out perfectly for them! If you would like to find out more about having a wedding at Rowhill Grange, please visit their website: http://www.alexanderhotels.co.uk/rowhill/

Kent Wedding Photographer

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www.mickhouse.co.uk

Small Copper Butterfly

2010-09-22T16:11:00.000+01:00

I was happily trying to get a photograph of a Banded Demoiselle (a very pretty type of Damselfly) at the River Cuckmere a few weeks ago, just before a meeting with a client. I'd been watching the little thing for a good twenty minutes, finding out where he liked to rest and slowly slithering myself into position.

Everything was just about perfect, he's settled about 20cm away and I'm just getting him into focus when along come "Mr and Mrs we've got a dog that we can't control". I'm not talking about inquisitive, boisterous, friendly doggy here, which would have been irritating but acceptable. This was a barking, snarling, hugely aggressive lump of fur and teeth that for some reason has taken a huge dislike to me.

Superhero Hubby bravely slinks off and leaves his wife to drag the thing away (you must be so proud of him!) and of course by the time it's over the Demoiselle is long gone. It's bad enough having to pick your way through their droppings in some areas without having to put up with mad dogs as well.

As a consolation I did come across some Small Copper butterflies (Lycaena phlaeas) later on though, which are just as pretty as Demoiselles but a different colour (and shape for that matter):

It's quite surprising what hairy (and dusty) little devils they are up close isn't it? It almost looks as though he's waiting to be fed in this shot!

Sussex Landscape Photography

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Maria and Robert's Wedding at Nonsuch Mansion

2010-09-14T13:53:00.001+01:00

Maria and Robert had their wedding at Nonsuch Mansion at Cheam in Surrey, which does sound like an odd sort of name the first time you come across it, although it is close to the site of Nonsuch Palace, built by Henry VIII and long since demolished. Interesting though this fact is, it doesn't shed much light on the origin of the name and if anyone is in a position to enlighten me I would be most grateful.

Maria is from Sweden and a lot of her family had made it over for the wedding and were busy helping her get ready in the bridal suite at Nonsuch Mansion.

Maria was incredibly relaxed during the bridal preparations and great fun to be with. Her hair and makeup were done by Diane Cundell who provides mobile hair and beauty services in Sussex and Surrey. You can visit Diane's website at:

http://www.dianesmobilehairandbeauty.com

Nonsuch Mansion is one of the best wedding venues I have come across, the way it has been decorated is stunning and the service and catering are second to none. It's one of the few venues that you really would struggle to fault - even the wallpaper in the gents is outstanding! You can see some more general views of Nonsuch Mansion on Maria and Roberts wedding gallery: http://www.mickhouse.com/clients/mr120610/

And if you have anything like reasonable weather, there are extensive grounds to have your wedding photographs taken in.

Maria and Robert had a wonderful wedding, with fantastic weather at an amazing venue - it couldn't be better!

If you are getting married in Surrey then Nonsuch Mansion is a venue that should be high on your list, I'm back there for a wedding in a few weeks time and I can't wait. You can find out more about weddings at Nonsuch Mansion on their website:

http://www.nonsuchmansion.com/

Surrey Wedding Photographer

01323 639404

www.mickhouse.co.uk

Please don't step on the bride!

2010-09-06T11:00:00.001+01:00

Just a quick one from Saturday's wedding in Hove, Sussex. You pick a nice out of the way little spot during a quiet part of the evening for some nice fluffy dress photo's. OK, so it's on the first floor just outside the lift, but there's no one around and you get away with it, in fact things are going swimmingly. Until you feel the urge to say something really daft like "Thank goodness no one wanted to use the lift!"

..."Ding!!!!"

Yes, she did stop in time - luckily it wasn't the Sussex Ramblers Association with large muddy boots and awash with several pints of Harveys!

Wedding Photographer in Sussex

01323 639404

www.mickhouse.co.uk

Gritte and Stephen's Wedding at Rosslyn Hill Chapel and Camden Lock

2010-08-23T07:26:00.001+01:00

Gritte and Stephen had their wedding at Rosslyn Hill Chapel near Hampstead Heath and their wedding reception at the Camden Lock Holiday Inn a few weeks ago... actually it was several weeks ago now, I'm desperately trying to play catchup here!

Gritte got ready at the Holiday Inn, ably assisted by family and friends. All the wedding flowers were supplied by Lulu, who wanders streets broad and narrow, selling flowers from a barrow, while simultaneously campaigning to become Mayor of Camden. I don't know how Lulu has got on with her political aspirations, but her flowers were certainly a vote winner.

Rosslyn Hill Chapel is a lovely and incredibly well hidden little place, you really wouldn't have a clue it was there unless you knew about it. Gritte and her family are from Germany and had borrowed the priest from a German Church in London to conduct a lovely Anglo-German ceremony.

Both Gritte and Stephen are very keen archers and their archery club formed a tunnel of arrows for them after the ceremony. The original plan was to use bows as well, but the logistics of transporting bows and arrows on the tube (as well as the danger of arrest) proved a little too much.

The view from the top of the Camden Lock Holiday Inn is really quite spectacular and Camden Lock itself provides some fantastic backdrops - even the graffiti looks cool.

Shy about doing your first dance? Gritte and Stephen's top tip is to wear a cunning disguise so no one will recognise you!

Gritte and Stephen had a brilliant fun fulled day and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for them. The Camden Lock Holiday Inn is a great venue right at the centre of one of London's most exciting areas, you can find more information on their website.

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

London Wedding Photographer

Jane and Antony's Wedding at Eastbourne Registry Office

2010-08-02T21:07:00.005+01:00

Jane and Antony had their wedding at Eastbourne Register Office followed by a reception at Bibendum. Jane got ready at the Pier Hotel, which is on Eastboune seafront directly opposite the pier (yes, I can hear you shouting "The clue's in the name, Mick" but it's never safe to make assumptions).

Jane had her hair done Donna from Crowning Glory, who is definitely one of the best hair stylists around, needless to say she looked stunning! You can see more of Donna's work for a wedding at Birling Manor we did a while back.

The weather wasn't terribly clever this time around, so we did the formal group photographs inside and then spent a few minutes getting a bit more romantic before heading of to the very cool, laid back party atmosphere of their wedding reception at Bibendum, where Jane's Mum played a terrible trick on the happy couple during the speeches. This involved the use of several front door keys and a number of thoroughly wicked accomplices, although in order to preserve Jane's modesty and reputation, I shall reveal no more.

Jane and Antony had a brilliant day with lots of very happy people and Bibendum is a great venue for for smaller family weddings, you can find more details on their website: http://www.bibendum-eastbourne.co.uk/

To find out more about Crowning Glory Hairdressing please visit Donnas website at: http://crowninggloryhairdressing.co.uk/default.aspx

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Eastbourne

Migrant Hawker

2010-07-29T12:41:00.000+01:00

Back to dragonflies again, this time a female Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta), which I found sunning itself on a bush. I did see the male version of the Large Red Damselfly from a previous post, but he really was not going to play ball with the camera.

Don't worry, she's not really stuck in the spiders web:

To get these I had to lean quite a way into the bush, hanging on to it with one hand to avoid becoming one with nature, which left only one hand to hold the camera - normally I would have used a tripod, but it wasn't an option. Camera shake (and there was lots of it given my oddly contorted, one legged stance) was eliminated with a hotshoe mounted SB800 speedlight and a fair bit of luck!

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Commercial Photographers in Sussex

Nicola and Stephen's Wedding at Marylebone Registry and Dukes Hotel

2010-06-14T17:32:00.001+01:00

Nicola and Stephen had their wedding at Marylebone Registry Office and their reception at Dukes Hotel a few weeks ago. Everyone got ready at Dukes but Stephen sneaked off early to make sure he didn't bump into (a very excited) Nicola before the wedding ceremony. I was planning on going over to the wedding on the tube, but ended up taking a taxi with Nicola's Mum and Nan and spend a lovely twenty minutes so chatting with them.

Marylebone is a lovely registry office, quite imposing with it's tall columns and stone lions outside and very nicely decorated inside with lots of marble and wood panels, a nice place to relax before the wedding ceremony gets under way.

As well as big congratulations (and confetti) from their family and friends, there was a fairly continuous stream of football supporters going past (Chelsea I was told) all giving their best wishes to the happy couple.

While there I bumped into a Dutch photographer called Peter Snijders who was photographing his sister's wedding. Peter is a very nice chap and we spent a few minutes nattering about Pockets Wizards, Photoshop CS5, various lenses... the sort of interesting stuff that you really shouldn't bore your clients with. You can see Peter's website here: http://www.petersnijders.nl/

Nicola and Stephen had very thoughtfully arranged for an old Routemaster bus to take everyone from the wedding back to Dukes Hotel for the reception.

Dukes is a little known hotel just around the corner from the Ritz, but people in the know, know it (if you know what I mean). It's a very chic wedding venue (you can get married there as well) with an impeccable level of service and is ideal for smaller wedding parties. you can find out more about Dukes Hotel on their website (the opening photo is one of mine as well).

Nicola and Stephen had a great wedding day and were a lovely couple to spend time with, I just couldn't believe how quickly it went by.

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

London Wedding Photography

Not Enough Blogging

2010-06-11T21:13:00.001+01:00

I popped round to see one of my couples last night just to go over a few things before their wedding and was subjected to a verbal mauling for not blogging often enough! Apparently they look forward to my little updates and want more of them. Obviously I wouldn't dream of mentioning Kaz and Pete by name (whoops!), but just to keep them happy here are a couple of shots from a meeting with Sarah and H.

I'll be photographing their wedding in Hastings on Halloween this year and the legal part of the ceremony is going to be followed by a Handfasting in the woods. Given that my knowledge of Halloween is limited to what I've gleaned from watching old Hammer Horror movies, I have got a bit of research to do before their big day (I was surprised to discover that it's not even Halloween that's the important bit and I'm still not too clear on the handfasting bit).

We had a brilliant couple of hours together, going to the pub, walking through the woods, going back to the pub... it's going to be a good wedding!

Anyway, Kaz and Pete, whose names I will not mention (whoops!) should be happy for a few days now and I must wrap up as I'm off to photograph Maria and Roberts wedding at Nonsuch Mansion in the morning and need my beauty sleep - no comments needed thank you!

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Sussex Wedding Photographer

Large Red Damselfly

2010-05-23T09:40:00.000+01:00

Let's shrink things down even further than a miniature sausage dog. It's finally got warm and the dragonflies and damselflies are making an appearance. Here we have a female large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) having a bit of a rest on a white Spanish bluebell (yes, I know that a traditional English one would have been more in keeping, but explain that to the fly). I couldn't find a male anywhere. Being red all over, the males look even more striking. I'll try and track one down when I get the chance.

Hand held, no flash, Sigma 105mm macro, surgeons hands!

Macro photography of insects gives you a completely different view of them, the details you can see are quite amazing. You do get a nasty shock if a bumble bee flies in front of your lens though, I nearly jumped out of my skin!

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Commercial Photographers in Sussex

More Dog Photography!

2010-05-23T08:25:00.001+01:00

There seems to be a bit of a thing developing here with dog photography, I didn't appreciate how popular it is. I've got a greyhound to do at some point as well, I just hope it's an old lazy one that likes to sit around in the sun all day...

Meanwhile here are some more of the little sausage doggy that goes well with mustard, although he's grown quite a bit since I last photographed him, he must be nearly four inches long now.

These were taken on Eastbourne beach when the tide was out, although he had to be carried over the pebbles to reach the sand as most of the pebbles are larger than him. By lucky chance we discovered that he has a bright future ahead of him as a professional snake wrestling stunt dog:

Head down, tail between legs, this seems to be his "I've been a bad doggy and must be punished" look:

Funky beach dude dog just checkin out the surf:

OK, so I'm grubby, your point is?

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Eastbourne Commercial Photography

Catriona and Mike's Wedding at Rochester Cathedral

2010-05-14T12:18:00.000+01:00

Rochester Cathedral is one of my favourite wedding venues and Catriona and Mike were lucky enough to be able to get married there - you do need to fulfill certain requirements. Catriona got ready at the Bridgewood Manor Hotel in Chatham, which was also the venue for the wedding reception.

Although Rochester Cathedral is incredibly impressive, it's not so large as to be overwhelming, which actually gives it a sort of nice friendly atmosphere.

There had been quite a bit of rain over the previous few days, so doing the group photographs in the garden was not a sensible option - high heels and wet ground are not a good combination. Luckily you are not short on space inside and the steps leading up to the organ make an impressive backdrop.

While everyone made their way to the wedding reception, Catriona Mike and I went down into the crypt for a few shots and a quick Bella Lugosi impression (from me that is - it's a crypt, it has to be done).

The girls from Catriona's hen-night told me that they had "acquired" her lipstick as a joke. This is apparently Catriona's most prized possession (apart from Mike obviously) and she was quite put out to think that it was lost. So before the big lipstick reunion ceremony we decided to take it on a little photo tour - at the bar, cooling of in the ice-bucket, etc.

Catriona and Mike had a wonderful day and you can see more photo's here: Rochester Cathedral Wedding

www.mickhouse.co.uk

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Kent Wedding Photographer

Lady in Red

2010-05-09T16:21:00.000+01:00

Just a quick one this time. I photographed a wedding at Eastbourne Registry Office yesterday and got this shot of the Mother of the Bride getting ready. I loved it so much I had to share it straight away - isn't she great:

I don't have time to do a full post at the moment, but will get back to the rest of this wedding and a few others at a later date.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Eastbourne Wedding Photographer

Nick Clegg Visits Eastbourne

2010-05-05T15:17:00.002+01:00

The Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, visited Eastbourne today on part of a tour of the country to try to convert any last minute waverers in the final few hours before voting starts tomorrow. Eastbourne is one of the marginals that the Lib Dems hope to win and given the number of poster they have up around the town, I'd be amazed if they don't. The current Conservative MP, Nigel Waterson, has made himself rather unpopular with many voters by supporting the introduction of parking meters and traffic wardens in the town. I feel this may well come back to bite him tomorrow...

There was quite a reasonable turnout from the public along with a strong media presence. If the film crews were hoping for a "microphone moment" (just to add a bit of balance you understand), the closest they got was that it kept cutting out every few seconds. This must have been pretty irritating for Mr Clegg, although he certainly didn't show it.

Having seen both David Cameron (very smooth, very convincing) and Gordon Brown (very... well, very Gordon Brown), it was interesting to see Nick Clegg at work. He comes across extremely well.

The only thing that concerns me about Nick Clegg doing so well is the idea of a hung parliament. It's not the politics of it that I have sleepless nights about, it's just that if Gordon were to somehow get back into No 10 he would grin at us. I don't understand why his image consultants let him grin, it's creepy. You could use his grin to frighten bad children (although I'm sure that legislation has already been introduced to prevent this). It's the sort of grin that only Roald Dahl could have thought up. It's like something from a 1950's B horror movie - "The Grinner from the Black Lagoon", "Grinzilla" , "Attack of the Grinning Leeches". I think the answer is to be "tough on grinning, tough on the causes of grinning".

The only minor fly in the ointment for Nick Clegg's visit is that a local Lib Dem activist was arrested last night for allegedly stealing Conservative party posters from around the town - not the brightest move on the eve of your bosses arrival.

www.mickhouse.co.uk

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Commercial Photographers Sussex

Pet Photography - Sort of...

2010-04-28T20:19:00.001+01:00

Actually I ended up spending a day doggy sitting for some friends and decided that I might as well do some dog portraits as they were rather cute looking (the dogs that is).

They were incredibly quiet for most of the day, a lot of sleeping, a spot of light lunch, asking to go out every so often as good doggies do, all very relaxing really.

Things were going well until late afternoon ,when a family walking past had the audacity to stop at the front gate for some reason or other. This sent both dogs into a wild frenzy of running around, jumping up and down and barking their heads off. In trying to catch them and calm them down I somehow managed to get their squeaky toy pig stuck to the sole of my foot, which gave an almighty oink whenever I took a step and whipped them up into an even greater frenzy, this time centred on me rather than the poor family outside. Fortunately Nina helped out enormously by laughing so much that it eventually calmed them down... thank you for that dearest.

On the other hand this little thing is an entirely different kettle of dog - a miniature dachshund to be more specific. Don't let his innocent little face and big googly eyes fool you, he's into everything (particularly tongues into ears) and doesn't he stop for a minute.

I did find it interesting to note that he is exactly he same size as a small baguette though, I wonder if that's why they're called sausage dogs?

Now where did I put that jar of mustard...

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Commercial Photographers Eastbourne

Lorna and Jon's Wedding at St Mark's and Pembroke Lodge

2010-04-14T11:12:00.012+01:00

Lorna and Jon were another nice referral and they had their wedding at St Mark's Church in Battersea with their wedding reception at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. Lorna got ready with her family at a friends flat just around the corner from the church and used a traditional London black cab to get to the ceremony.

St Mark's is a lovely big church and as it was a pretty cold day we decided to do the group shots inside, much to everyone's relief!

With the ceremony over, we were off to their wedding reception at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park and a few evening photo's outside when we arrived.

Pembroke Lodge is a lovely wedding venue, right on the top of the hill with fabulous views over Richmond. One of the most striking features is the lighting that has been installed inside, lots of blue yellow and green which gives an incredibly colourful effect!

The disco was provided by Gareth Walton of GJ's Discos. I had come across Gareth previously at Mary and Nick's wedding in Leatherhead and he is one of the best I have seen, very professional and he really knows how to get people onto the dance floor! If you would like to know more about Gareth's disco services you can visit his website: www.gjsdiscos.co.uk

If you would like more information about weddings and wedding receptions at Pembroke Lodge, you should find everything you need on their website: www.pembroke-lodge.co.uk

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

London Wedding Photographer

Brighton, Canvey Island, Unfair?

2010-03-23T09:53:00.001Z

I'm not trying to be deliberately unfair by posting colour photographs of Brighton, taken on a lovely sunny day at the same time as black and white ones of Canvey Island taken on a miserable wet day, but sometimes ideas just stick in your head.

I went over to Brighton last Tuesday to have a look at the latest wedding albums at the South West Photo Mounts roadshow, so I took the opportunity to grab a few photographs around Brighton Marina, nothing terribly exciting as I was a bit pushed for time, just some general views - you never know when another stock photo of Roedean School or boats in a harbour will come in useful...

Then on Thursday I had a meeting in Essex with a potential client. Having had a far better journey than I expected and a good hour to spare, I decided to find somewhere interesting to look at and ended up in Canvey Island, a decision driven more by traffic queues to anywhere else than any long held desperate desire.

I know nothing about Canvey Island other than it's a bit of an Essex holiday destination, so I was sort of expecting something along the lines of "Brighton on Thames Estuary"... possibly a bit flatter, they don't have the advantage of the South Downs after all... maybe not the architecture, you can't put up a Royal Pavilion everywhere, we'd be overrun with them!

What I didn't expect was what must be the world's largest caravan park, overlooking an oil terminal, and a concrete sea wall... that seems to be about it.

The funny thing is that I actually prefer the shots of Canvey Island, it has a sort of bleak cool that I find quite interesting. What has really stuck in my head is the idea of doing this the other way round, postcard type shots of Canvey contrasted against rather more grim shots of Brighton. Finding the time is another matter though...

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Landscape Photography

Kimberley and Kieran's Wedding at the Cavendish Hotel and Eastbourne Register Office

2010-03-11T11:05:00.003Z

To keep going with a grooms in uniform theme, last Friday saw the Kimberley and Kieran's wedding at Eastbourne Register Office and the Cavendish Hotel. Kieran is in the Army and is currently based in Germany, so once again we had another bride going it alone with all the preparations - although with lots of help from Mum of course.

I picked Kimberley up at midday and gave her a lift to Beauty Basics to have her makeup done (she looked stunning) and then back to the Travelodge to finish getting ready.

Kimberley and Kieran had a lovely wedding ceremony at Eastbourne Register Office in the Town Hall, which is one of Eastbourne's most impressive buildings.

We had a couple of minutes for photographs on the seafront by the bandstand, but the wind was absolutely freezing, so we didn't stay long before quickly scampering into the Cavendish Hotel for their reception.

The formal group photographs are finished, now it's time to loosen the collar:

Being right on the seafront, the Cavendish Hotel is one of Eastbourne's most popular wedding venues and is beautifully decorated - I often arrange to meet clients there as it is a great place to look through wedding albums over a coffee.

Very cool laser effect at the disco:

Everyone had a fantastic time at Kimberley and Kieran's wedding and the partying went on well into the night!

You can find out more about ceremonies at Eastbourne Register Office on their website. If you are interested in having your wedding reception at the Cavendish Hotel, you can find out more details here: www.cavendishhotel.co.uk

www.mickhouse.co.uk

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Wedding Blog Headlines

Tuesday and Gareth's Wedding at Q Vardis, Uxbridge

2010-03-10T08:42:00.004Z

Tuesday and Gareth had their wedding at Q Vardis, which is a very cool restaurant and nightclub just outside Uxbridge, with a river on one side and a large lake on the other, complete with ducks and swans. Gareth is in the RAF Regiment and was based in Afghanistan in the months leading up to their wedding, which left Tuesday a free hand to make all the decisions.

Tuesday got ready at her Mum's house, which her Mum had had decorated specially so it looked nice in the photographs and was assisted by her bridesmaids.

Although it was a very cold day, there was some lovely late afternoon sun around so we took a walk over to the lake for some photographs after the wedding ceremony.

We did have rather a lot of excitement when one of the guests managed to set light to her serviette and threw it to the floor. My first reaction was to take a photo, but I quickly realised that it was about to set light to the tablecloth as well - it really was going for it! So in true superhero fashion I stamped it out instead and toasted the hairs off my leg in the process - hopping round the room yelping in pain rather ruined the superhero look. Obviously I am too much of a gentleman to point the finger of accusation at anyone, but the next time you are at a wedding be careful who you sit next to...

Gareth looking very thoughtful:

Tuesday and Gareth had a fantastic day and were very well looked after by the staff at Q Vardis. You can find out more about weddings at Q Vardis by visiting their website: http://www.qvardis.net/

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Blog Headlines

Alex and Mat's Wedding at Brockhurst School, Berkshire

2010-02-26T10:06:00.004Z

Rewinding a little bit, Alex and Mat had their wedding at Brockhurst School, near Newbury, Berkshire on Halloween last year. Although there was a Halloween theme going on later in the day, Alex had decided against doing the whole black cat and cauldron thing for walking down the aisle and instead wore a beautiful lacy white dress with matching white shoes. She also wore the tiara that her mum had worn on her own wedding day - which I think is lovely!

Alex and Mat are very much into photography themselves and their home is full of photographs from their holiday travels as you can see hanging on the wall here - very good they are too!

Brockhurst School is a stunning looking Victorian mansion and the Great Hall where the wedding ceremony takes place is overlooked by a gallery, which is ideal for setting up a second camera:

As well as providing a games room with a whole host of things to do, there was even a Halloween themed dressing up box which resulted in various guests wandering around dressed as vampires, witches and monsters or appearing to have been stabbed with various nasty looking implements - great fun! To round things off perfectly a couple of bats even came out after dark for a flutter around.

If you would like to find out more about Brockhurst School (which has a very interesting history), you can visit it's website here: http://www.brockmarl.org.uk/

www.mickhouse.com

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Wedding Photographers in Berkshire

Bushra and Mustafa's London Wedding Photography

2010-02-16T18:38:00.037Z

I was out doing some landscape photography one evening when my mobile went off. To most people this is a fairly normal occurrence, but to me it was something of a shock. At the time I had some awful thing that lost signal at any excuse and needed to be switched off and on again before it would recover, had a battery life of about twelve hours in warm weather (twenty minutes if it was cold) and a keypad so small that one finger covered most of the keys - we didn't get on very well, although on the plus side it was a nice bright orange colour so it was quite difficult to lose.

On the phone was Bushra, a friend of Asmaa and Amira's whose weddings I had photographed previously (to Francesco and Adam respectively), wanting to know if I was available to cover her wedding as well. A quick check of the diary when I got home and yes, I'm free - brilliant!

It was a pretty overcast and rainy day when I arrived at Bushra's home, although everyone was in high spirits, especially the children:

There was an amazing amount going on, a real party and even a traditional Turkish drummer and trumpeter doing their very best to deafen the entire street. When we left to go to the wedding car about two hundred yards down the road, I discovered that my shoes had gone missing, or more accurately there were so many in the porch that I could not quickly identify which were mine. So I had a rather soggy and painful squelch down the road in socks with the wedding party and the band - bang bang, toot toot, squelch squelch... Nina managed to find my shoes eventually and then there was a mad dash across London in the rush hour (which is better than Brighton in the rush hour) with the heater on full blast trying to dry my feet out.

Bushra and Mustafa had their wedding at the Regency Banqueting Suite in Tottenham, watched by something in the region of 400 guests - quite an event!

After Bushra and Mustafa had been led into the venue by the band, we were treated to a fantastic display of traditional Turkish dancing, involving lots of jumping around with drinks balanced on heads, scythes being twirled with scant regard for health and safety (great!) and a lot of very loud music.

It was great to see Asmaa, Amira and Adam again, although unfortunately Francesco could not make it. Adam and Amira had brought their little girl along as well and she is gorgeous!

By about 10pm everything was starting to draw to a close, the feet had finally dried out and it was time to start the journey home.

www.mickhouse.com
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London Wedding Photographers

Juliette and Sameh's Wedding at Weybridge Registry Office

2010-01-29T16:07:00.019Z

There is something particularly nice about small family weddings and when the Groom is from Egypt and his entire family seem to be experts at Belly Dancing, it gets exciting, believe me! Juliette and Sameh had their wedding at Weybridge Register Office and the Richmond Gate Hotel.

Weybridge Registry Office is one of the nicer ones I have come across, having quite a large sunny garden and the building itself is an old manor house, with lots of oak panelling and leather furniture.

The trip over to the Richmond Gate Hotel wasn't too bad, the one worry with getting around in this part of London is getting stuck in traffic, but we all arrived at pretty much the same time.

Fabulous cake:

Juliette and Sameh had arranged some great entertainment, with live music (including Juliette's son playing the guitar), DJ and a Mind Boggler called Chris Hare who amazed everyone with mind boggling tricks and of course lots of belly dancing!

The Richmond Gate Hotel is a very nice venue for a smaller wedding and you can find more details on their website. If you like the idea of having a Mind Boggler at your wedding, party or even corporate event, you can learn more about Chris Hare's astonishing mind boggliness on his website www.mindboggler.co.uk!

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
Weybridge Wedding Photographers

Snowy Landscape Photography on the South Downs

2010-01-15T08:09:00.016Z

Hopefully I'll be doing Ben Nevis with some friends in a in a few weeks time, so to start getting the legs in order and shoot a few snowy landscapes I took a hike up over the downs the other day. The depth of snow across the top was quite surprising, well past my knees in places and I somehow crossed Beachy Head Road without realising until I noticed that I was heading downhill and shouldn't be - visibility was pretty poor. There was nobody around and going past the empty pub and Countryside Visitor Centre felt rather like featuring in a post-apocalyptic horror movie, I almost expected to hear the growls of starving feral dogs at any moment. The weather opened up quite a bit around Belle Toute and I managed to get a couple of good shots:

I finally saw people when I reached Birling Gap, a film crew - a spooky coincidence given my earlier thoughts! They were making a black comedy called 'The Edge', which is set in a hotel with all sorts of odd happenings - I will look out for it.

The weather really started to close in on the way back from East Dean and I had to resort to map and compass - can't remember the last time I did this on the Downs. Getting lost wasn't the issue (just head East), but I was keen to avoid taking a route that lost me a lot of height, just to go back up again. I managed to get a position fix before visibility dropped to about twenty metres and spent the next couple of hours in a world of white navigating off the compass about 30 feet at a go.

I came up onto Beachy Brow about 50 metres from where I'd planned, which was a pretty good shot under the circumstances and trudged the last mile home - downhill all the way! The depth of snow had made for quite tough going, but it was a great day and having the Downs all to yourself is a rare event these days.

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
Sussex Landscape Photographer

Tamsin and Andrew's Wedding at the Ramada Ascot Hotel, Berkshire

2010-01-10T11:22:00.035Z

You know that you are at an extremely well run wedding venue when the first thing the reception staff say to you is "Good morning Mr House, the Groom is currently relaxing in the spa pool, would you like me to take you down there for a photo opportunity?" Now that is seriously on the ball!

Tamsin and Andrew had their wedding at the Ramada Ascot Hotel, which is a beautiful 18th century manor house in Berkshire not far from Legoland (possible use as a creche?). The bridal suite that Tamsin used to get ready is lovely and overlooks the hotel grounds with it's ornamental pond.

Andrew and his party had a slightly smaller, but equally lovely suite at the other end of the hotel. All the men arrived within a couple of minutes of us and while I was busy getting covering the groom getting ready I noticed that Nina had been roped into pinning on button holes and straightening ties!

You can use a window in the bridal suite to do the group photographs from, although my favourite is this slightly surreal shot of the bride coming out through the restaurant doors directly below:

I love this photograph of Tamsin (who is incredibly natural in front of the camera). It was taken just after sunset and she is illuminated by a floodlight that lights up one of the trees in the grounds:

The Ramada Ascot is an excellent wedding venue, but what really sets it apart in my mind is Robert, the Event Manager. He seemed to be everywhere at once, but completely unobtrusive and unflappable, always in control of events without appearing controlling, he helped organise the group shots, kept me briefed well in advance of what was happening and most importantly made the day feel like it was very personal to Tamsin and Andrew. If you are interested in having your wedding at the Ramada Ascot (and you will be in very good hands) you can find more information on their Website.

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
Berkshire Wedding Photographers

Sandy and Andy's Wedding at the Windsor Hotel, Worthing

2010-01-10T08:05:00.029Z

This a particularly painful wedding to photograph as I knew that as soon as it was over Andy and Sandy were jetting off for a three week honeymoon touring around New Zealand. I've always wanted to go there and instead I would be stuck in England, working my fingers to the bone over a hot keyboard. Still, you can't begrudge Andy and Sandy (OK, perhaps a bit) as they are such a lovely couple to work with. They had their wedding at the Windsor Hotel in Worthing, which is at the eastern end of the town near the seafront.

Sandy got ready at the hotel ably assisted by her bridesmaids, having stayed there the night before, with Andy and his party arriving at midday to get ready for the wedding.

Although it's quite a small wedding venue, the Windsor Hotel has some interesting gardens with lots of little corners for getting photographs in. It's also possible to get onto the flat roof of the restaurant which overlooks the gardens so that you can do the group photographs from above.

Fascinated by the streamers from the party poppers:

Andy and Sandy had a lovely relaxed wedding surrounded by family and friends and were very well looked after by the Windsor staff. Your can find out more about the Windsor Hotel on their website: www.thewindsor.co.uk

www.mickhouse.com

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Wedding Photographers in Worthing

Annual Report Photography

2009-11-14T16:06:00.010Z

I'm just in the process of archiving off my hard drives and came across this project from early last year. The Woodland Trust had just bought Brede High Woods and commissioned me to photograph it for their annual report. Although it's quite large, Brede is not an easy place to photograph, there are only a couple of places where you can get any sort of overview and even then only as a fairly thin ribbon of trees (I did suggest a helicopter but sadly it wasn't within their budget). With a two week deadline it wasn't possibly to be too choosy about the weather, so a lot of time was spent trudging round the woods in the rain, covered in mud, looking for locations - great fun!

As a bonus I woke one morning a couple of days before the deadline to discover that a bigger than expected pile of snow had been deposited over the South East. It made for a slightly hairy drive to get over to Brede (we're not exactly used to driving in snow here), but you can't turn down an opportunity like that.

The snow didn't last long, the sun came out at about 9.30 and it had pretty much all melted away by midday, but it was lovely while it lasted.

Despite a lot of rain and grey skies over the two weeks there were a few periods when the weather and light were fantastic. In the end the photo's were used on a double page centre spread in their annual report and also on their annual fund-raising campaign brochure, a very nice result for one of my favourite projects.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Commercial Photographers in Sussex

Jodie and Mat's Wedding at Easthampstead Park, Wokinghham

2009-11-03T12:36:00.038Z

I was doing a wedding fair a little over a year ago and had just finished talking with a bride (who's wedding I'm covering in a couple of weeks) when Nina grabbed my arm and said "You'd better come and meet Jodie - she's just booked you", which was a very pleasant surprise.

Jodie and Mat had their wedding at Easthampstead Park, which is a very attractive wedding venue in Wokingham. I hadn't actually met Mat until the day of the wedding as he couldn't make it to the wedding fair, but he is very easy to get on with and has a wicked sense of humour.

At the venue I bumped into a very nice photographer called Mark Lawrence who was running a photo course there that day with about twenty students. They were very well behaved and kept away from the wedding, although it was funny to see Mark every so often, looking like the Pied Piper (with better accessories) leading his troupe the other way along a corridor, loaded down with equipment or disappearing into the shrubbery brandishing reflectors.

Believe it or not Jodie kept telling me how she wasn't very "girly" and felt uncomfortable not to be wearing jeans and riding boots. Now I have no doubt that Jodie looks awesome in jeans and riding boots (and if I ever have to do a shoot for "Horse and Hound" I'll book Jodie to model for it), but there is no way under the sun that anyone will ever convince me that she does not look girly:

How can you round off a perfect wedding day? Fireworks! Nina wouldn't agree with this as she hates them and hid inside as far away as possible, but Jodie and Mat had arranged fabulous fireworks display that went on for ages:

Easthampstead Park is a lovely wedding venue with plenty of space to accommodate group photo's inside if the weather isn't too good and extensive grounds to explore if the sun is out. You can find more information on their website: www.eastpark.co.uk

Mark's photography course looks like it is very informative and great fun, so if you want to brush up on your photography skills you can contact him via his website: www.marklawrencephotography.co.uk

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Berkshire

Anna and Anna's Civil Partnership at Northbrook Park, Farnham

2009-10-21T14:57:00.016+01:00

When we first met up with Anna and Anna at Northbrook Park we knew they were going to have a good day - we just spent two and a half hours laughing! Having a look at my previous work and looking round the venue was very much a side issue to the serious business of having fun.

Fun aside, Northbrook Park is lovely, very light and airy with lots of interesting little corners in the gardens which seem to go on and on. It also has peacocks, which is always a big plus.

Rather foolishly I had assumed that having a couple both called Anna would make my life a little easier. The second that you get them together and say something like "Could you turn to your left a little please Anna... no, sorry the other Anna" you suddenly realise that you were very much mistaken.

I don't think I've ever come across two people more excited about their day. Everyone gets an element of nerves, but mainly they were more like two small children on Christmas morning and at times were literally quivering with excitement.

I think that this photo probably sums the Anna's up best. It's supposed to be a romantic doorway shot, instead they just fell about giggling. We got some traditional ones eventually but this is my favourite:

Anna and Anna's day turned out to be everything we expected and more, everyone had a brilliant time and the weather was amazing. Northbrook Park is a fantastic venue and the service is excellent. If you are getting married in the Surrey area I strongly suggest that consider it and take a look at their website.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Surrey

Nadiya and Nick's Wedding in a Yurt

2009-10-07T19:49:00.022+01:00

Strictly speaking I suppose it was a Teepee on steroids rather than a Yurt (and I realise that you had spotted that immediately), but we started out calling it the Yurt and it stuck. Still it's pretty neat whatever you call it:

Nadiya and Nick had their ceremony at Hastings Register Office with Nadiya looking stunning in a fifties style red and white dress with a red hat and veil and her bridesmaids in black dresses - it worked! It some ways it was quite spooky as Nadiya is so similar to our friend Taz, looks, sense of humour, the things she comes out with, they could almost be sisters.

Once again the weather gods smiled on us, although I get the feeling that Nadiya and Nick would have fun even if we'd had thunder, lightning and hailstones.

And of course the Yurt was well provisioned, you do have to plan ahead when having a wedding in a field:

The children even had a Pinata to play with. These are becoming ever more popular, although I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the Government bans them. I realise that to a certain type of person it may sound a little odd to hang an artificial donkey from a tree by it's neck and then invite small children to beat it with a stick, but before any over-zealous action group starts pressuring No 10 to churn out yet more legislation, please note that children can tell that it's just a game and that beating real animals is a bad thing to do.

Have you ever considered having a ukulele band at your wedding? Nor me... but you should! Nadiya and Nick had the Bohemia Ukulele Band for the evenings entertainment and they are brilliant and play all sorts of things, not just George Formby... go and book them now before you miss out! We ended up giving three of them and their gear a lift back to Hastings in the dead of night and can cheerfully confirm that they are even madder than they look.

Having your wedding in a field is a bit of a risk, but if you have the sort of family and friends that don't worry too much about the weather it does give your day a real buzz with a relaxed party atmosphere. The field doesn't have it's own wedsite so I can't link to it, you'll have to find your own. If you want more details of the Bohemia Ukulele band though, you can see them on their website - http://www.myspace.com/bohemiaukuleleband.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Hastings Wedding Photographers

Victoria and Jason's Wedding at Buxted Park

2009-09-22T18:53:00.011+01:00

It's been a rather hectic few weeks and there is quite a lot to catch up on, so let's rewind to the beginning of last month with Victoria and Jason's Wedding at Buxted Park. Just outside Uckfield, Buxted park is one of the leading wedding venues in Sussex and is extremely popular with couples wanting their wedding in a traditional stately home.

Victoria and Jason were great fun to spend the day with and really went out of there way to make sure their guests had a great time. One of the highlights was the bouncy castle that they had provided to keep the children entertained and once they had bored with it everyone else made sure it didn't go to waste. One of my favourite moments though was finding the increasingly rare cigar shot:

Buxted Park has some great locations for wedding photographs, both inside and out. We were once again lucky with the weather and went for a short walk around the grounds in the late afternoon, in reality you could easily spend the entire day wandering around, but of course your guests might wonder if you'd got lost or been savaged by ravenous squirrels or something.

We also just managed to squeeze in a quick sunset photo, which was followed up later by another wedding party letting off Chinese lanterns into the night sky, a very unexpected treat that luckily didn't result in large tracts of Ashdown Forest going up in flames (although the photo's would have been great!).

The wedding cake was supplemented with some very stylish cupcakes made by her bridesmaid, Lucy. Lucy has just started out the the cake business and from what I have seen of her work she will be a great success, she doesn't have a website yet, but feel free to contact me if you would like her details.

Buxted Park is a stunning wedding venue, or alternatively a very elegant holiday base to explore the surrounding areas of Sussex, you can find more details on their website.

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Sussex Wedding Photographers

Tracy and Graham's Wedding at St Peter's and Shepperton Studios

2009-08-04T08:33:00.015+01:00

The weekend before last saw the wedding of Tracy and Graham at St Peter's Church, West Molesey and Shepperton Studios. Tracy got ready at her sister's house, just round the corner from St Peter's Church and was fortified for the long day ahead with glasses of champagne and a plate of Marmite on toast. This is probably not an obvious combination for breakfast, but I found myself staring at it, salivating like a starving man at a hog roast.

About mid-morning we had a fly-past by the next door neighbour's flock of racing pigeons. Given that we were off to Shepperton Studios later it felt a bit like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", but we all arrived at the church without looking like extra's from a horror movie.

The excellent Rev Peter Tailby conducted a very upbeat ceremony that had everyone laughing in a way that actually served to re-enforce the importance of the day rather than trivialise it.

After the wedding we went down to the Thames at Hampton Court to quickly get a few photographs before heading off to the reception. Tracy and Graham had suggested that I go with them in the wedding car rather than taking mine and trying to park, which was very thoughtful and did make things a lot easier.

Then it was off to Shepperton Studios, which is a lovely and very well run venue. Receptions there are held in Littleton Park House, rather than on a film set, but you do get to sit in the chairs used in Braveheart and bounce on a bed that is also quite famous but I can't remember why.

As well as a very cool looking DJ, Tracy and Graham had an excellent live band called Risk providing music for part of the evening and Tracy took the opportunity to join them on the saxophone. Over the years I have had some very talented couples getting involved in their own wedding entertainment, but a bride playing the sax in her wedding dress is a first - she was brilliant by the way!

All too soon it was drawing to a close, Tracy and Graham had managed to pack quite a bit into their day and it flew by, the weather had turned out fine and everyone had a great time. Shepperton Studios is a great venue and well worth considering if you are getting married in the area and you can find out more information from their website.

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Surrey

Mary and Nick's Wedding in Leatherhead

2009-08-02T20:56:00.011+01:00

A couple of weekends ago I covered Mary and Nick's wedding at Leatherhead Register Office. Mary is originally from Ireland and her family came over for the week before to help her get everything ready, which I believe was quite a party in it's own right. We arrived in the morning in time to go with Mary and her sisters to Sue Jane Hairdressing in Horley and they all came out looking fantastic.

Mary had chosen a lovely white dress from Infinita Brides along with Rainbow Club "Hattie" shoes. The flowers came from Chesterman Florist of Caterham.

The ceremony took place at Leatherhead Register Office, which is a rather attractive old building just off the town centre, with lovely south facing gardens.

After the wedding ceremony the reception was held at the Plough and Furrow in Smallfield which is a traditional country pub, with a very well done contemporary look inside. As a surprise Mary's family had arranged some Irish dancers to come and give a demonstration which was truly impressive and got everyone jumping about - I was jumping about trying to get photographs of them and avoid being kicked!

The evening finished at Mary and Nick's house where they had covered their large back garden in a set if interlinking marquees. This was rather good as it resulted in a number of separate rooms that you could wander through, a bit like Ikea under canvas.

Mary and Nick obviously had a brilliant day, they were both grinning from ear to ear the whole time and I suspect that a lot more Irish dancing went on far into the small hours.

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Surrey

The Wedding of Karen and Marcus in Hove

2009-07-14T20:19:00.018+01:00

The weekend before last I covered the wedding of Marcus and Karen in Hove who are actually a referral from a couple whose wedding I'm doing later in the year. Although most of my work comes from referrals, this is the first one I've had from a couple whose wedding I haven't even done yet!

Karen got ready at home, surrounded by bridesmaids and various helpers, all looked over by a very friendly and slightly bemused best cat:

Although the forecast had not been too good initially, the weather was absolutely outstanding, probably one of the hottest days of the year so far. The ceremony took place at St Michael and all Angels Church in Southwick which it was great to get into as it had become stiflingly hot outside. We then went on to Easthill Park in Portslade for some quick photo's in the gardens and a chance for Karen and Marcus to have a bit of time together before the reception.

The reception was held at the Imperial Hotel in Hove which is right on the seafront. Although the Imperial is a fairly small venue, the staff were very friendly and efficient and the food looked great.

With the weather being so fantastic it was an ideal opportunity to go down onto the beach to get a few photographs as the sun went down while the hotel was being set up for the rest of the evening's entertainment.

In the end Karen and Marcus could not have had better weather for their wedding day, everyone had a brilliant time and we managed to get some fantastic photo's as the sun went down, something of a rarity in England!

www.mickhouse.co.uk

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Brighton and Hove

Ten Years Younger

2009-07-07T17:28:00.010+01:00

Following my previous blog article about the Fabulous in High Heels classes, Sarah Toner invited Nina and I up to Earls Court a couple of weekends ago to help out on her stand at the Ten Years Younger exhibition. I was asked to photograph one of Nina's shoes, produce a promo card from it and churn out 500 copies with about 30 seconds notice:

In the end we could only make it on the Saturday due to other commitments. Sarah arrived late as her PR guru, Jasinta Gordon, had managed to get her an interview with Vanessa Feltz. She then managed to interviews with Sky TV and LA Muscle TV during the day as well!

In the afternoon Sarah gave a demonstration of one of her classes and as we had spent the day whipping people up into a frenzy of excitement the audience were packed in like sardines, even the organisers were amazed at the crowd that turned up.

All in all it was a great day and a lot of fun. The only downside was that I had to wear a badge that said "Mick House - Fabulous in High Heels". Somehow I doubt it.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Sussex Wedding Photographer

Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich

2009-07-06T12:08:00.018+01:00

A couple of weeks ago Nina and I received an invitation to the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich for a taster evening. The evening had been organised by Ruthe Wainman of Marshmallow Media and she had tempted along some of the top names in the wedding industry such as Abigail Sullivan, editor at Wedding Venues and Services magazine, Jane Gillow from You and Your Wedding and number of wedding and event planners like Sharon Taylor and Abdul Momin from Purrfect Event and obviously Nina from Nina House Weddings. Ruthe met us at Waterloo Pier and took us on a river trip along the Thames to the venue at Greenwich.

With such a nautical name and location my (somewhat overactive) imagination had run a bit wild and I was hoping the Trafalgar Tavern would be populated with the sort of grizzled old rum swilling sea dogs that wear eye-patches, have hooks and wooden legs and sport the sort of beard that could hide a small badger. I was to be disappointed on this, it seems that Greenwich is more trendy than I realised and the Trafalgar Tavern in particular is rather up-market.

The lack of Johnny Depp lookalikes was more than made up for by the venue itself, which is very elegant, tastefully decorated and has huge north facing picture windows giving magnificent views over the Thames - ideal for wedding photo's.

We were treated to samples from their latest menu which consists of delights such as Tiger Prawn Skewers, Asparagus Spears with Basil Cream, Smoked Haddock and Quails Egg Tartlets, Salmon Confit, Italian Stuffed Aubergine... it just seemed to go on and on, all of it delicious. The wine list was one of the best I have come across and a lot of thought (and tasting) had gone into it. Sadly I couldn't indulge too much as I still had to drive home.

We had a fantastic evening with some great company and were sent back feeling exceedingly well looked after. If you are looking for a wedding venue in London and (even better) feel like combing it with a river trip, the Trafalgar Tavern is definitely one to take a serious look at and you can find more information on their website.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

London Wedding Photographer

Little Fluffy Clouds

2009-06-28T10:54:00.009+01:00

I had to go into town the other day, something I try to avoid whenever possible as I don't have much patience with the crowds of full-volume baseball caps and 10 a.m. drunks that always seem to congregate in town centres. It was a perfect day so to recover from the trauma I decided to walk home the long way over the Downs. I normally confine landscape photography to early morning and late evening, but with the sky almost completely blue it was ideal for black and white shots and I had planned to do a few landscapes like this:

I soon came across a barbed wire fence with bits of wool blowing around in the breeze hanging from it and spent an hour or so laying in the grass photographing that instead. Two ramblers came over (quietly spoken, wearing floppy hats and completely sober) to say hello and see what I was up to (or possibly check that I was alive - I suppose it did look a bit odd) and apart from that I didn't see a soul.

The first thing Nina said when she saw the photo's was "Little Fluffy Clouds!" So there we are, leftover bits of sheep masquerading as little fluffy clouds, quite a nice mornings work.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Sussex Landscape Photographer

Liquid Art - Photographing Water Droplets

2009-06-19T08:56:00.011+01:00

If you have never seen photographs of water droplets before it probably sounds like a strange thing to do, at least all my friends think it's a bit odd until they see the end result, then they go "Wow!"

Droplets falling into a bowl of water produce amazing structures for a fraction of a second and trying to capture that brief moment in time is surprisingly addictive, you never know exactly what the next one will look like.

The droplets are lit with a pair of Nikon SB800 speedlights covered with sweetie wrappers left over from Christmas. Sweetie wrappers work better than gels because they are not as stiff and can simply be held in place with a rubber band. The downside is that my speedlights now smell of chocolate!

Getting the timing right is very much the trick with this, you do tend to get a lot of missed shots until your eye drops in, but when you do get on a roll the results are worth it!

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Sussex

Back to Pelham House

2009-06-16T09:35:00.016+01:00

I have just taken a booking for next year from a lovely couple called Karen and Peter who are getting married at Pelham House in Lewes. They are a particularly interesting couple to meet as Peter is a sign-writer who used to work in magazine printing, which (believe it or not) is something of a dark art to most photographers. Karen on the other hand paints glasses (drinking ones, not spectacles) and targets her creations specifically at the wedding market. I hope to do a separate blog entry about this in the near future, so I won't say more now.

The last time I was at Pelham House was for the wedding of Emma and Spencer:

Spencer has the coolest name ever - Spencer Rockman - it sounds like someone from the lead role in a Hollywood blockbuster, possibly with someone like Harrison Ford playing second fiddle!

Spencer gave one of the best speeches ever. Very funny, but delivered completely dead-pan, a bit like a friendlier looking version of Jack Dee. Emma on the other hand is one of the bubbliest people you could come across, very much like my friend Emma (who I call Twinkle because she does), perhaps there's something about the name Emma that makes the owner a happy person.

Pelham House is a very stylish boutique hotel in the centre of Lewes, converted from a 16th century town house. It has stunning gardens, hosts a large collection of modern sculpture and also hosts a number of art exhibitions throughout the year.

Pelham House is a lovely and very well run venue and is great for couples looking to have their wedding somewhere a little different, you can find out more details their website: http://www.pelhamhouse.com/index.html, which also has links to a lot of useful local information.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Lewes Wedding Photographers

Public Relations Photography

2009-06-04T10:24:00.013+01:00

With all the excitement surrounding our Government at the moment, I thought I would share some recent photographs of a few members of parliament, just in case they become ex-members of parliament and end up being of rather less interest than they currently are.

First off is Laura Moffatt MP. Laura is an exceptionally nice lady, one of the few MP's that take the time to talk to photographers and as you can see, she is will try pretty much anything to help out with a photo-shoot:

I think I would struggle to persuade Gordon Brown to try a pose like that... actually I'm not sure I would want him to.

Here we have Bob Ainsworth MP having a go in a flight simulator. I had to wait outside when it was "in-flight" due to restrictions on the number of passengers so I don't know how well he did, but I didn't hear any screaming coming from inside and when they opened the door no one had been sick, so I guess he must have done fairly well.

Finally here is John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Defence. I get the impression that Mr Hutton is a very decent chap, with a genuine interest in defence and does try very hard to obtain funding, although given the article in this weekends Sunday Times about yet more defence cut-backs and project cancellations he probably doesn't get as much as he would like.

This is not a political or pro-military blog, but here's a thought. How about every year the names of twenty MP's are pulled at random out of a hat and they have to spend two months with a front line operational unit, no exceptions (even if it's the PM) and no special treatment. It would be interesting to see what effect the risk of having to face the consequences of their own decisions would have on defence policy.

Well, it's election day so I suppose I had better go and vote...

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Public Relations Photographers

Fabulous in High Heels!

2009-05-16T10:42:00.010+01:00

When it comes to making a personal statement high heels are hard to beat, but only if it's done properly. Let's face it, tottering into a room like a new born antelope with dislocated knees, or stomping along with hunched shoulders, looking down as though you are concentrating on trying to crush cockroaches, is unlikely to give the impression you were hoping for. I spend rather a lot of time around brides in their shiny new heels, so I've seen everything from the Carvela Careen to the Westwood Wobble.

However, help is at hand. Nina won a competition prize organised by www.getlippy.com to go on a High Heels Masterclass run by Sarah Toner. Yesterday was the big day and she went along with our friend Jane, both of them having somehow managed to select a single pair of shoes each from their vast collections.

Precisely what went on in the class is something of a mystery (although fruit seems to figure quite highly). All I can say is that the two women I picked up that evening were not the same ones I had dropped off in the morning, Jane and Nina positively strutted to the car with the confidence of catwalk models and the elegance of gazelles, a most impressive sight that really did have heads turning! The individual tuition they received has obviously made a huge difference and there is no doubt that they had a fantastic time, there has only been one topic of conversation since...

So, if you want to learn how to make the right statement on your wedding day, boost your confidence and have a lot of fun at the same time, Jane and Nina's top tip is to visit Sarah's website www.fabinhighheels.com or www.sarahtoner.co.uk and treat yourself to a High Heels Masterclass!

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

London Wedding Photographers

Dance Photography

2009-04-17T09:35:00.009+01:00

A few weeks ago I was asked to photograph a dance school. Dance has always fascinated me because I'm one of those people who can't. I have all the natural rhythm of a frog in a tumble dryer. My style of dancing has been described as a cross between Mr Bean and the Pink Panther, which might sound a little harsh but I have to admit is fairly accurate. So it's interesting to meet people that have a real talent for it, although some of the warming up exercises they do really make you wince!

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Brighton

Beautiful Demoiselle

2009-04-16T09:31:00.005+01:00

From metal giraffes lets go to dragonflies, or rather a damselfly in this case. I don't photograph insects as a rule, it is a specialised area of photography that I'm not really geared up for, but I was out in Ashdown Forest last year and came across a number of these and was determined to get something. As luck would have it I had a Sigma 105mm macro lense in my rucksack, which I normally use for wedding ring and jewellery closeups, but was also ideal for this.

I watched them for a while and they seemed to favour a couple of particular ferns to stop for a rest on every so often, so I mounted the camera on my tripod, focussed on a likely looking leaf and waited. Unfortunately this meant standing knee deep in a rather cold stream for the best part of an hour (with unseen things nibbling at my legs I discovered later). After a short while they ignored me completely and I finally got this shot. Strictly speaking the light is too contrasty to call it a great shot, but I'm quite pleased with it.

From looking at the British Dragonfly website I am pretty sure this is a male Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), although if anyone knows better please feel free to correct me.

If you would like to know more about dragonflies and damselflies have a look at their website http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/ it's very informative, with a lot of useful information. They should be out again in the near future, so I'm looking forward to having another go at photographing them this year.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Eastbourne

March of the Metal Giraffes

2009-04-15T12:41:00.008+01:00

One Sunday morning couple of weeks ago I went Rochester to see one of my clients from last year to discuss the wedding album they wanted. After the meeting Nina and I went for a drive along the coast, looking for somewhere to have a picnic and found a spot looking over towards the Isle of Sheppey, where I took this photograph. Admittedly it's not the most romantic view in the world, I can't imagine that many nervous boyfriends have chosen this spot to pull a ring out of their pocket and ask the "Big Question" but I do like the shot. It reminds me of a herd of giraffe coming down to the water hole at dusk:

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Wedding Photographers in Lewes

Hillary and Mark's Wedding at Frensham Heights

2008-11-25T09:07:00.028Z

Hillary and Mark's Wedding at Frensham Heights School was an interesting one, as I had not heard of this venue before. Frensham Heights is an old country mansion near Farnham in Surrey, that is now a day and boarding school and has the most fantastic view towards the south coast.

This was another wedding where Nina was in her wedding planner role and Hillary and Mark chose me as their wedding photographer.

Hillary works at the Tate Modern, which I always love to pop into when I have the chance as you get to see the strangest things. My all time favourite exhibit was a row of someone's toenail clippings on a block of lard - seriously, I almost collapsed laughing, much to the interest of other visitors who probably felt that the display was a damning indictment of the battery farmed christmas tree industry or something.

I digress, so back to the wedding. Hillary and her family are all from Canada, so Nina had planned a mix of Canadian and English touches to the wedding so that everyone felt included. Not knowing much about shoes, I don't know whether these came from England or Canada, but I could see where they had to go:

I loved the hand positions in this one:

An interesting view...

All the flowers were provided by Euphoric Flowers were stunning as always

The ceremony and reception take place in the main hall, which has a very convenient gallery to shoot from.

I was banned from writing anything on the message tree as my sense of humour makes Nina a little nervous at times, everyone else had a go though.

Frensham Heights School is one of the nicest and best organised venues I have come across, if you are getting married in the Farnham area, I strongly recommend that you have a look at their website.

And obviously when it comes to flowers you would be hard pushed to do better than speak to Victoria and Simon at Euphoric Flowers, they are awesome!

Finally, if you haven't been to the Tate Modern you really should. I can't promise toenail clippings on a block of lard, but there will definitely be something there to brighten your day.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

Farnham Wedding Photography

Barcelona

2008-11-23T16:58:00.011Z

I had a request for stock photographs of Barcelona a few days ago and thought I would share some from at trip there last year.

We met a very nice German chap on the plane who gave us a few recommendations, including one to a fantastic restaurant near the Olympic Stadium with a view over the whole of Barcelona. It really was awesome and the food was amazing.

His other recommendation was to a little local place in the city centre. Cutting our way through the cigar smoke to find a table was interesting, as was the collection of chicken bones scattered liberally across the floor.

Not to be put off, we both ordered paella. This arrived after about ten minutes and the waiter proudly announced "It's real frozen paella you know!". The aluminium trays it arrived in and the fact that you had to use a knife as a chisel to break it into bite sized chunks testified to this. It was more like hard seafood biscuit than paella.

In fairness we probably went to the wrong establishment as every other meal we had was great and we can't wait for a chance to go back.

Mick House Photography
www.mickhouse.com

Islam Expo 2008

2008-10-27T12:49:00.015Z

While on the subject of things Islamic, I ought to mention Islam Expo 2008 at Olympia, which I covered a little while back.

This was a very friendly, colourful and well supported event, with a variety of stands in one hall and conferences during the day with rock concerts in the evening in the other hall. Yusuf Islam was even there for the opening.

The conference part was painfully dull, although if you are interested in speakers such as Tony Benn, George Galloway, Ken Livingstone and Norman Kimber, perhaps it would have you trembling with excitement - each to their own. The rest of it and the evening entertainment were actually very good and informative though.

Some of the music in the evenings was fantastic (although there were also a couple of rap acts as well - sorry, but I really don't get it) and it was great fun shooting from the stage.

I would certainly recommend that people go and see the next one, it is well worth a few hours of your time to see something a bit different and not once did anyone try to convert me.

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
London Event Photography

Amira and Adam's Wedding at The Regent, London

2008-10-16T10:57:00.017+01:00

I had a strange experience last night. I was quite happily watching a programme about the origins of the solar system and nodded off some time before the end. I awoke at 3 in the morning with the television still on and was confronted by Conway Twitty gazing into my eyes and singing about how much he loved me. It really was quite surreal for a few seconds.

More interestingly it did remind me to finish off the Christmas season, with Amira and Adam's Wedding at The Regent, London.

Amira and Adam are friends of Asmaa, Yusuf Islam's (formerly Cat Stevens) daughter. My wife Nina planned Asmaa and Francesco's wedding last year and I did the photography , so a very nice referral, thank you. Hopefully you now understand why Conway Twitty reminded me to mention Adam and Amira's wedding - a sort of bizarre musical connection!

Although the Regent Banqueting Suite is incredibly ornate, the storage room that Amira was given to get ready in was pretty difficult to work with, still, it forces you to get creative. I have this photo up in the hall at home:

This was the first time that I'd seen henna tatoo's up close, they are incredibly intricate and must take hours to do.

Adam does the funniest impersonations of Tony Blair and George Bush you could imagine. He was persuaded to take the stage for a while and had me laughing so much that it was almost impossible to shoot properly.

I hope that one day I wake at 3am and there will be Adam with his own comedy show. Far preferable to Conway Twitty promising me undying love!

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Mr Twitty, you can learn more about him and his music here.

I have always been a fan of Yusuf Islam and his excellent website is well worth a visit.

Finally don't forget to visit Nina's website to learn about her celebrity wedding planning services.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404

London Wedding Photographer

Simons Birthday Party

2008-10-12T08:52:00.017+01:00

Last month saw Simon Bell's 40th birthday party at Westbeach Restaurant, Bournemouth.

I covered Simon and Neal's civil partnership a couple of years ago, so it was great to be invited back to do the party as well. It was even nicer to be remembered by so many people!

As always, the food and service at Westbeach were outstanding.

Musical entertainment for the first half of the evening was provided by the Stromenti String Quartet.

The high-point was Simon joining them on the piano for Shubert's Trout Quintet. If I'd known about this beforehand I'd have brought my didgeridoo along.

Just when we thought that the evening had reached the peak of elegance, events were taken over (pretty much literally) by Cassidy Kane, who has the most amazing voice and is one of the funniest acts I've seen.

Eventually Simon grabbed the microphone and and said it was 12.30 and time to move on to a club. I thought it was about 9.30, so I haven't a clue where the time went.

You can find out more about Westbeach Restaurant on their website and for further information on the Stromenti String Quartet please visit their website.

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
Bournemouth Photographers

Airbourne 2008 Fireworks

2008-09-09T16:18:00.013+01:00

Something a bit more recent this time, the fireworks at the Airbourne 2008 airshow in Eastbourne last month. The fireworks are set off from the end of Eastbourne pier and it is always well worth an evening out as the display is spectacular. Sadly there is a good chance that this will be the last airshow at Eastbourne due to issues with the local council charging £5 for entry to what has always been a free event and running up a rather impressive loss. Anyway, here a few shots.

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
Commercial Photography in Sussex

Jenny and Dave's Wedding In Hellingly and Birling Manor

2008-08-21T09:11:00.021+01:00

Sticking with the winter theme was Jenny and Dave's Wedding in Hellingly and Birling Manor, Bartolphs Hall, East Dean.

Another cold day, but at least it started sunny and stayed that way all day. Jenny got ready at home and when we arrived Donna from Crowning Glory hairdressing based in Eastbourne had just got started.

So it was straight into shooting anything I could find hanging around.

Jenny takes a few quiet moments to reflect alone... or so she thinks! Little did she know that I was hiding in the wardrobe, awaiting just such a moment.

Then the finishing touches are put in place before heading off to the wedding.

The wedding ceremony took place at St Peter and St Paul Church in Hellingly, which dates back to about 1200AD and is apparently built on an old Saxon mound. It was quite a shock to see that Richard Attenborough was planning on conducting the service. I didn't realise he did vicaring on the side. I was tempted to tell him my favourite joke - "What do you call a one-eyed dinosaur... a doyouthinkhesaurus", but he's probably had enough of that whole Jurassic park thing by now.

OK, I was kidding (you had guessed hadn't you?), he is a very nice and enormously helpful chap named Charlie Hill.

We actually wondered whether it was going to snow or not, which would have looked pretty cool, but in the end the only thing that fell was confetti. It's just as well really as it would have made the drive to Birling Manor a bit too interesting.

So without snow we arrived at Birling Manor in the late afternoon. Having done the group shots at the church there was just enough time to get Jenny and Dave on their own before losing the light completely.

This photo give an idea of how cold it was, the bridesmaid's reflection in ice on the swimming pool. Yes, I know it's upside down, but I like it that way.

And here is a shot of Birling Manor at sunset.

St Peter and St Paul Church is lovely at any time of year, a great place if you are looking for a traditional village wedding and you can find out more information here.

Receptions at Birling Manor take place in a large (and very warm) stone barn called Bartolphs Hall rather than in the house itself (don't get the wrong idea, it's a great barn) and it is ideally placed for photographs around Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters, if you have the weather. More information can be found on their website here

www.mickhouse.com
01323 639404
Wedding Photographer in Sussex

Helen and Peter's Wedding at Battle Abbey School

2008-07-30T11:07:00.042+01:00

I think I'll start by re-winding to December, which got rather busy in a usually quiet time, with three wedding in seven days in the last week before Christmas. The first of which was Helen and Peter's wedding at Battle Abbey School.

Being in the middle of December it was, as you would expect, a chilly and overcast day. Helen got ready at her Mum's house in Hastings, which is only a few minutes drive from Battle Abbey.

Helen and Peter are both very organised people (Peter is an event manager) and there was even a plan for the makeup:

I somehow managed to resist the temptation to colour it in "Coco the Clown" style when no one was looking!

After having her hair and makeup done, Helen and her Bridesmaids went through their "Human Maypole" dance routine:

and I discovered that I was not attacked by vampires during the night - yes the mirror still works.

Fantastic looking flowers arrived, although I wish I had noticed the holly before plunging my hand in...

With the preparations covered and positively twitching with the endless cups of coffee (thank you), we were off to Battle Abbey to find the Peter and his team just arriving.

and everyone has a go at arranging the tie...

Battle Abbey is a stunning looking venue and even more importantly it has very efficient under floor heating, they certainly didn't need to put the log fire on. With everyone nicely defrosted, the ceremony got under way.

Then it was outside during a brief break in the overcast weather for a very swift group photo.

The group shot over in record time, we let everyone shiver their way back inside except Helen and Peter, as I wanted them for a few quick shots before the cold turned their skin blue.

We actually got even luckier a few hours later, the sky cleared completely for about 20 minutes just before sunset and we managed to whip off a couple of nice shots before it got dark.

The wedding breakfast is held in the school library, which is ideal if the speeches go on too long. I noticed that the upper shelves on the book cases are not used, probably a Health and Safety issue...

Peter looking as though he's about to burst in to song... Helen looking worried that he might... Helen's Mum hoping it's something by Cliff Richard...

Food for the evening reception was served in the refectory, a lovely pink and white vaulted hall.

Then it was back into the main hall for the first dance.

Hopefully Peter's back was still OK after this...

Then it was time to pack up. There was one last shot to be had though, the entrance to Battle Abbey at night:

Battle Abbey is a great venue for a wedding and obviously comes with a huge amount of built in history. Further information about weddings at Battle Abbey can be found their website