Comments please....!

To new and old viewers alike,

If you go to recent wedding gallery you will see that you can add your own comments. This section will be updated on a regular basis. The comments are designed so that couples, their families and guests can add their own comments alongside the images. This makes for a nice 'guest book' for people to read - words and pictures go very well together and help to give a real sense of the occasion. This is also helpful for prospective couples, who can get a real sense of the experiences from our recent weddings - of which we receive many, many very positive comments, but they are always difficult to capture.

So if your wedding is on the list then feel free to add a comment. We are updating this on a regular basis, so if your wedding was quite recent but is not there yet, then it will be soon...

Also, if you look at album design, under the heading "Gallery", you will see that we have added a few more album designs. This is to give people an idea of what our albums look like. Again, we will be updating this on a regular basis.

We have had this site designed so that we can keep it constantly up-to-date with fresh content - so feel free to come back every so often and see what is new.
with best wishes, Glen

What's Happening at No. 16

Those of you familiar with Newark may have noticed a lot going on at No. 16 Castlegate. This fantastic (and huge) Georgian building, next to Cafe Bleu, has been a hive of activity for some weeks now and we've been lucky enough to play a very small part.

A few months ago I first met Celia and Dean of Public Hair in Southwell. Having built up an enviable reputation as one of the area's leading salons, demand for their services is now huge. Their answer is to transform a fabulous but sadly neglected Newark landmark into a retreat for mind and body and a place to be truly pampered. Public Hair and Spa will offer the very best in Aveda facial and body treatments as well as world class hairdressing.

The work being undertaken to create this oasis of relaxation is on a massive scale and the final result will be truly breathtaking.

You can follow their progress at www.whatshappeningat16.co.uk . In the meantime, here are a few of the shots we took for the website, to create a little excitement about what's happening.

My Doggies

I have 4 small dogs, two Cavalier King Charles spaniels and two small poodles. So all couples that come to my house for any meetings always receive a very warm and loving greeting!

Here are a few pictures of them:-

Hello!

Hi folks, just a quick note to say we had a great time at Prestwold Hall today - we were exhibiting at a wedding show - and if you came along and saw us then Hi. You can see a wedding I shot there a few weeks ago in recent weddings / online albums - Phil and Fru.

We always get really positive feedback from couples at shows and it is nice to meet and talk with other suppliers. We realise that we are not for everyone but it is always nice to meet people who appreciate and value what we do. Our site goes fully live from the middle of next week, which means we will be able to upload fresh content on a regular basis - and that is something we are really excited about. We wanted the new site to be fresh and developing all of the time.

Anyway, it is getting late and I've got a busy few days ahead - heading off to Leeds tomorrow and then Oxford on Tuesday, for some meetings - so it is time to get a takeaway - my folks love Chinese, that is where I am headed next. (for some unknown reason the time on the blog is very strange, it is actually 6:20pm Sunday evening - how peculiar)
best wishes, Glen

Prestwold Hall Wedding Show

Just to let you know that we will be exhibiting at Prestwold Hall wedding show tomorrow (Sunday 28th Oct). Prestwold Hall is located near Loughborough, so if you are in the area then why not come along.

The Barn at Bury Court, Farnham Surrey

This is the venue for Nick and Clare's wedding (see below). It was a real find. Lovely character, beautiful gardens and very friendly staff and owner. Click here to the right to see a slideshow:-The Barn at Bury Court Slideshow

It might take a short while to load depending upon your connection..

Nick and Clare - some beautiful pictures

Nick and Clare were married at Bury Court near Farnham in Hampshire.

Clare had seen one of our ads in You and Your Wedding Magazine and liked the natural style of photography and within a few days of speaking she had booked me to take their pictures - that was a year ago. The wedding was on Sunday 7th October. Clare and Nick were not too prescriptive in terms of their photographs, but they love black and white images and more informal pictures.

It was a bit of journey for me, from Nottinghamshire, but we cover weddings all over and I simply arranged to stay at a local hotel on the Sunday evening.

Bury Court is a delightful location. It was previously a nursery, so the gardens are more than wonderful - they are designer gardens, with beautiful long grasses. It made for some great pictures. There are a few below and you can see more at Recent weddings, under Online Albums.


Nick and Clare told me that they tend not to look good in pictures - I've told them to give up the day job with looks like these (above).


There was a cricket theme to the day, so they had a muster of cricket bats held high to walk under.


Clare just looked stunning, as you can see here.


Some of the grasses and gardens at Bury Court.


Such unusual flowers - which make the cake look fantastic.

Philippa and Mark

Philippa and Mark were married on a beautiful day in September, the 15th to be exact. Philippa had rang me in the January of this year, a few days after she had been engaged and asked if I could take her photographs. I was delighted to be asked, as I had taken her sister's wedding photographs last year, so I already knew the family and she already knew about our photography. I think the wedding date was partly chosen around my availability, which is very nice when it happens, as it is always a shame to be booked when someone you know calls.

They were married in Long Clawson, which is her home village and is in Leicestershire, with a marquee at her parent's home. We love village style weddings, they seem to have a special type of atmosphere.

I was joined on the day by Samantha, which was really helpful as Sam was able to stay at home with Philippa whilst I went off to find the boys in the local pub, before heading off to the church. They are a lovely couple and a lovely family, and we really enjoyed doing the photography.

Here are a few pictures:-


This is a shot by Sam of Philippa's dress, with a beautiful ribbon and bow.


Many of our pictures are candid, where the couple do not know we have taken the picture, like this in church.


This confetti shot, taken by Sam, is just great - what a moment.


We took some pictures of Philippa and Mark together. We like to just set the scene and then catch the moments, like this one.


Here are some of the flowers - the colours were really nice.

Some family snaps

Here are some of my favourite holiday pictures:-


We went to Disney!


Most of my pictures include people, but I have refrained from embarrassing my family too much by posting their pictures here. But this one caught my eye. It was taken several years ago and is a simple, everyday scene – but to me the way the picture was taken turns what could have been a snap into something more.


I like this picture simply because it tells an obvious story – our two dogs waiting very patiently for a walk.


This was also taken on holiday, whilst in Italy. I was standing by a very large lake and was looking for a composition that would make a good picture, which is tricky with large lakes. I then looked down and saw this jetty in front of my nose. It provided what I needed to turn what would have been a rather empty picture of a large lake. I like the black and white image, with the gentle graduation in tones across the picture.


I took this picture whilst on holiday in Maderia. It was a casual picture. I was looking around to see what was the best angle. I was stood above these men and looked down. I liked the composition and light. The picture has a degree of balance to it, to me at least. Composition and balance in a picture are important to me.

Hello!

Hello! Welcome to our brand, spanking new website and my very first blog!

I hope you enjoy spending some time here and that you visit us again as the site grows. There’s lots to come! We’ll be adding images to our gallery and to our recent wedding sections, so you can see what we’ve been up to. We’ll also be adding in lots of other information that we think might interest you, especially if you’re planning a wedding. Keep an eye on the “We Love” section, because this is where we’re going to be telling you about other companies and suppliers that we’ve come across and think you’ll really like. Everything from venues to pianists to mail-order cup cakes.

Hope to see you soon!

Sam

PureLight's New Site

Welcome to the all-new website for PureLight. Samantha and I have been working together as professional photographers since last August and we created PureLight in April this year. So what is it all about, why did we do it and what does it mean for our customers, past, present and future.

We were both working as professional wedding photographers and found ourselves located in the same town, Newark in Nottingshamshire – both of us had recently moved to Newark about 2 years ago. Now it starts with LA Fitness – my wife is a keen member and Sam also went along. They got talking, as ladies do, and had a few coffees together. One thing lead to another, and this led to me helping Sam with a few of her bigger weddings towards the end of last year.

You don’t want to hear all the details, so just to say that we both wanted to create a larger and stronger business, and importantly we wanted to be able to offer a two-photographer team for couples, that is two fully professional photographers shooting at the same wedding.

The experience has been great, we have both learnt a huge amount from each other, and the larger size of business means we can do things that would otherwise be difficult – like this new website. We get some economies of scale that means couples get a much better and stronger business.

So what has the experience been like so far: we have had a great response from couples and people in general. We both want to produce the very best images we can for our couples and we both share a strong passion for photographs that really capture something special. We both want couples and their guests to really enjoy their wedding day, so that the photographs are part of the day but we don’t want them to take over. We both want to exceed our clients expectations and a business that people would recommend again and again.

So I hope you like our new website, we have put a lot of thought and effort to create something different and special.