Gorgeous girls, big white dresses, some pretty hot grooms and my lil' cousin's wedding

Hello there!

As many of you have let me know, I've not been keeping up with the blog terribly well lately! All I can say is that I've been so busy with so many fabulous weddings, I've not had time for anything else!

This includes planning my own big day - so to everyone who's told me how organised they are for their wedding next year - "you're making me nervous!" However, Mr Sam and I are now getting into planning mode in earnest. I will bore you... I mean fascinate you with all the news just as soon as I have some!

As for now, well wedding season is coming to an end but what a brilliant season it's been, we really have had some great weddings to photograph. As usual, you'll find lots of photographs of our recent brides and grooms in our "recent work" gallery. You'll see they're a bit of a gorgeous bunch so a "big thank you" and "m'wah" to everyone who invited us to be a part of their day. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Now of course all of our brides and grooms are special but there is one very special couple who aren't in the gallery just yet, so I thought I'd share some of their photos with you. Who are these stunning individuals? Why it's my own little cousin Anna-Louise and her new husband, Paddy!












We had such a wonderful weekend with them and it was just the best thing to see them get married. Especially as Paddy has felt like a part of the family for years, so it was nice to see it made official!

Milans Commercial Shoot

Hello again,

Just thought I'd give you a break from weddings and wedding photography and share with you one of our favourite commercial jobs. We work with a wonderful company from Leicester called "Milans" who, amongst other things, supply the most beautiful scarves and pashminas to stores like John Lewis.

Yesterday was the shoot for Milans' Spring and Summer 2010 catalogue and I was lucky enough to be joined by fab photographer and friend of PureLight, Paul Saxby. Usually I shoot these jobs with Glen but when he wasn't available, Paul very kindly stepped in. Working with other photographers is such a great way to grow and develop new ideas and is always good fun too! I've never worked with Paul before and it was such a pleasure to bounce ideas around together and his creativity and skill really added something special to the shoot.

Milans are great to work with as their products are just gorgeous and they have a favourite model, Sara, who is so brilliant, we always know we're going to get some great shots.

Completing the team for these jobs is Jane from Yellow Duck Creative, a graphic designer based in Melton Mowbray. Again, this is someone I'd never worked with before and, as you'll see, she's done a fantastic job.

Always the Wedding Photographer...

Never the Bride? Well that's what I'd been thinking until the future Mr Sam asked me to marry him! So, here's my big big news - I'm engaged!

Ok so it may have been a few weeks since my last post but as you can see, I've been busy! Last week Andrew proposed during a fantastic week away on the Greek island of Kos. After an almost perfect day sailing on a bone fide pirate ship (well it's actually a 19th Century sponge boat but it looks like a pirate ship and that's good enough for me) Andrew made the day perfect by proposing.

Now I vowed not to become obsessed with the wedding and all the planning but... well I already have a spreadsheet... and a folder... And as I'm learning, planning a wedding is really hard! Then it occurred to me - I know lots of brides and future brides! So I'm calling on you for your wedding stories.

I thought I'd start with the most important thing of all - THE DRESS! (well maybe second most important - you all chose your photographer first, right?) I'd love to hear how you chose your dress or how you're going about choosing that special frock.

To start us off, I thought I'd share a couple of dresses that I already know about. Here's Bex. Usually I am with the bride as she gets ready in the morning but the first time I saw Bex was when she arrived at the Priest House for the ceremony. I was blown away by how wonderful she looked. I just love her dress! It had a really romantic, vintage look with layers of flowing lace and lots of gorgeous detail, it really suited her perfectly.

Here's Kate. now I'm only showing you Kate from the back as her and her new Groom, Wayne are on honeymoon at the moment, so you'll have to wait until they return to see how fabulous they both looked. However, I couldn't resist telling you about her dress. Kate had her dress made for her after literally dreaming up the design. She went to her designer with an idea after seeing the dress in a dream. The result was simply gorgeous and reminded me of those wonderful dresses we all drool over when watching Strictly Come Dancing. I can't wait to show you more but here's a little taster.

So, you can see I've been inspired but I need your help girls! Where did you find that perfect dress and what was your inspiration?

Sam

Image of the Day - Church Weddings

One of the great things about being a wedding photographer in the East Midlands is seeing all the beautiful old churches we have here.

This photograph was taken at Naomi and Chris' wedding last year. Naomi and Chris were lucky enough to have a wonderful church next door to the Lincolnshire home of the Chirs' parents. This meant they were able to hold their summery marquee reception right next to the place they had tied the knot. Their vicar was wonderful and gave such a moving ceremony. She also allowed us to take a few photographs, as long as we were very discrete, meaning that we could capture this really special moment as Chris slipped the ring onto Naomi's finger. I just love the way she's looking at him! Aw!

Here is another gorgeous moment from Matt and Rachael's Christmas wedding.

Last Christmas we were also invited to photograph Jo and Scott's wedding at the stunning cathedral in Derby. These photographs, taken by Glen, really shows how impressive the building is and yet their ceremony was still very personal and emotional.




Lastly, here are a few images which show how perfect the light can be in an old church and how this really adds a touch of magic to the photographs.

Whenever we're allowed to photograph church ceremonies we work hard to remain almost invisible and not distract from the ceremony itself. The added benefit of this is that we get to capture some great natural moments that really sum up what the day is all about. Sx

Image of the Day - Rina and Amit

As promised, here is another image from the wedding of Amit and Rina. I think Rina felt a bit daft when I was taking this (well I had asked her to hold her veil in front of her face, so you can't blame her). However, I thought Rina had the most amazing eyes and I wanted to create an image that really captured this. I loved the colours in her veil too and felt they would really bring out the colour of her eyes.
















In contrast here are some gorgeous photographs of Rina and her groom, Amit, taken by Glen. As you can see, these are really happy and relaxed photos, allowing their personalities to shine through.

















Finally, here are some more photographs taken throughout the day. Most of the time when we're at a wedding we're simply watching what's going on and seeking to capture those special moments in a way that conveys the mood and the emotion.




























Together, these images
sum up our approach to photographing our gorgeous couples and their wedding days. As you can probably tell, I think we have as much fun at weddings as the couples do!

Well, there was much more than one image today as it was so hard to choose from this beautiful wedding!

I hope you all have a fantastic long weekend. After the Easter break I'm determined to keep up my daily posting so I've got photographs of Church weddings, civil ceremonies and some of our favourite reception venues to show you.

In the meantime, I trust some of you will be getting stuck into those Easter eggs, I know I will be. Hmmmm.... chocolate eggs...

S
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Image of the Day - En Guarde

Good morning! Today's image of the day is a bit of a break from wedding photography. This is my other half, Andrew, who is currently gracing the pages of Lincolnshire Pride magazine as they've run a piece on the Fernwood Sword Club. The Club's been going from strength to strength and after Easter we move to a new home, as we've already outgrown our current location. So we're responsible for a growing number of sword-fighters in Lincolnshire, especially as the latest beginners have all passed their course with flying colours.

See you tomorrow!

Sam
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Image of the Day - Take 2

Hello! Well it won't take the most observant of people to notice that my attempts at posting an image a day were somewhat short lived. Partly, events rather overtook me but mostly this was because Blogger fell out with me. Or I broke the internets. Or something. Either way it's taken me until now to figure out how to post to our blog again, but here I am!

As usual, lots has happened here and I'll be letting you know all our news over the next couple of days. We've been shooting lots of gorgeous portrait photographs, had more brave and beautiful ladies take part in the PureWoman experience and photographed our first weddings of 2009. The image above was taken at Rina and Amit's wedding. I'll be showing you more of their photographs later as they are such a stunning couple whose perfect Leicester wedding took place over two packed days so they have LOTS of great photographs! This photograph was one Glen took at the party a couple of weeks ago and I just love it!

It's clear that the sunshine brings out the romantic in everyone as we've heard from lots of couples getting married next year. It looks like 2010 is going to be another busy year for us with weddings not just around Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands but as far afield as Surrey and London.

Our other big news is that the PureLight photography studio is moving from our home at Hexgreave to Stoke Rochford, but more on that later.

In the meantime, I can't resist showing you one more wedding photograph from Rina and Amit. This time, just because it makes me laugh!



More tomorrow (no, really!)

Sam
x

Image of the Day - Modern Hindu Wedding Ceremonies

Hello again!

Last year Glen and I were privileged to photograph a number of Hindu weddings in some beautiful locations. The combination of gorgeous couples, stunning mandaps and emotional ceremonies allowed us to create some of our favourite photographs of the year.

Although the most important elements of the wedding are always present, modern Hindu weddings can vary greatly. Some will have most of the important ceremonies on one day, others will last several days. This makes every wedding we cover unique, as different combinations of rituals are observed.

However, all weddings have at their heart the coming together of two people in love and the blessing of that parntership. This photograph was taken at Meghna and Jignesh's wedding at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Hyde Park in London. I love how their special union as man and wife is shown by the way they are making their offering together, the knot and the chord binding them together and the garlands they have presented to each other.

S
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Image of the Day - Veils

2008 saw veils make a big comeback, and as a wedding photographer, that made me very happy!

Veils have a beautiful way of catching and diffusing light and really help to make a bridal portrait something special. The photograph on the left is of Emma, whose shoes I showed you yesterday. Simply by using the light from a window and her veil, we've created a really contemporary, fashion-style bridal portrait. So you can see, veils don't have to look cheesy or old fashioned.







Veils can add a touch of magic to wedding photographs. Here are some photographs taken at Sarah and Matt's wedding at Norwood Park in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. Their wedding day was pretty windy, and when the wind caught Sarah's veil it gave the pictures a real sense of movement and something of a fairy-tale quality.
















Many of the veils we saw last year were very long and very impressive, a trend which looks set to stay for 2009. A lot of brides told me they had chosen such a big and beautiful veil because it was the only time they were going to get to wear one, so why not go all out? I couldn't agree more! Here's a photograph that Glen took of Caroline at Stoke Rochford Hall, near Grantham, Lincolnshire. Caroline really knew how to work a veil!

Finally, you can have a bit of fun with a veil. Here are Robert and Zoe at Holme Pierrepont Hall in Nottinghamshire. Another wonderful long, swishy veil!









On Monday - Hindu Wedding Ceremonies.

Have a great, snowy weekend!

Sam
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Image of the Day - Shoes!

Hello!

I've been trying to think of new ways of using the blog and interesting, weddingy things to tell you about. I thought it might be interesting to show you a different photograph every day, one that shows some aspect of weddings and wedding photography. And here it is "Image of the Day" (insert fanfare here). Let's see how long I can keep this up for....

Being a girl, where else was I going to start but SHOES! Don't worry, I'm not about to launch into a Sex and the City style homily on the virtues of Louboutin and Blahnik. But I have seen some gorgeous wedding shoes I'd like to show you.

2008 introduced me to a new name in wedding shoes - Diane Hassall. Designer, Diane Hassall has created some stunning designs and each pair is handmade to the bride's specifications, making them even more special.

Also, they come in a really nice box! And if you're like me you're a sucker for anything in really nice packaging.


The ones at the top belong to Emma, who married James in December at Belton Woods and the pair on the right are Sarah's, who wore them at her Norwood Park wedding earlier last year (both were Lincolnshire weddings). I can report neither had sore feet by the end of the day, despite the killer heels!


Wedding shoes don't have to be white: here are a couple of gorgeous examples of gold and silver shoes. As you can see, Jimmy Choo is still a firm favourite!















Tomorrow - veils!

Sam
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Calling All Musketeers!

Hello!

Well it's now February (and f-f-f-freezing). If you're anything like me that steely determination to become a paragon of fitness and virtue has seeped away. Never fear, help is at hand, with a unique way to keep fit whilst learning how to be the next C'pn Jack Sparrow.

A couple of years ago myself and Andrew (him indoors) decided we wanted to learn something new and do "something" vaguely sporting. We found a fencing club in Nottingham. We'd started out looking for dance classes, well I did, hoping to turn Andrew into the next Anton du Beck, but Andrew had different ideas and thought that attacking each other with swords was much more our style. It turns out he was right. Since then Andrew has started our very own club, right here in Newark on the Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire border. And now we're recruiting a brand new team of budding musketeers to join us in our new beginners' course.

Fencing is immense fun, and surprisingly hard work! It also looks pretty cool, which always helps! And it's a great way for couples to let off steam together. There's nothing like a sword fight to restore domestic harmony.

The Newark Advertiser has run a feature on the club, which you can find here

So what are you waiting for? We're taking new members up until 10th February and you can find more details here: www.fernwoodswordclub.co.uk or email us at fernwoodswordclub@hotmail.com

Sam
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Great Wedding Venues

I can always remember one of my daughters said that she chose her wedding venue because she wanted some great wedding pictures. That seemed an odd statement at the time because of course venues don't sell photography - at least this was not what she meant. The choice of venue was important because of the pictures that it would allow.

We are privileged to work in some great venues, both across the East Midlands and further afield. A good venue will provide sufficient space for your guests and inside rooms should be spacious and ideally with high ceilings. Natural light is important and look out for venues that are designed in such a way to allow lots of natural light to come inside.

Thinking of locations for any formal pictures is also important, both inside - if the weather is poor - and outside. It is also helpful if there are some more discrete areas for a few pictures of the bride and groom, away from the crowds. It is unlikely that a venue will be perfect in every respect - but most of all think about how the venue will work with your wedding day and whether it has the look and feel you are wanting.

I have just updated our We Love... pages with details of a number of wedding venues that we love. I can't express just how important the venue is to your photography. Here are a few pictures and you can see more at our We Love... pages

Barn at Bury Court, in Surrey


Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire


Holdenby House Northamptonshire


Norwood Park, Southwell, Nottinghamshire

Holga's Trip to Prague

Hello!

A while ago I posted some photos I'd taken on my trip to Prague. However, it wasn't just my beloved 5D that came with me, I also took my Holga for it's first trip out.

For those of you wondering, a Holga is basically a very, very simple camera made entirely out of plastic. You focus it by choosing the picture of one person, three people or a tree. Choosing your aperture is a matter of choosing the picture of the sun, or a cloud. As you can imagine, there is a lot of pointing the camera at things and hoping for the best.

Much of what came back from the lab. was, frankly, rubbish! However, there were a few shots that, with a bit of Photoshop TLC, were magic. There is a "sweet spot" in the lens, which means only a certain point is ever in focus, the camera leaks light onto the film creating weird artifacts and it's incredibly easy to double expose frames. The results are photographs that you simply couldn't create any other way.

Now I'm really tempted to crack this open on a wedding! Don't worry, I'm not suggesting replacing my thousands of pounds worth of digital kit with a camera that cost... oh I think about £15. But I do think it could create some really beautiful and original wedding photographs. So, next time I find myself with a spare moment during a wedding, I may just get out my Holga...