Brighton in the sunshine - a pre-wedding shoot with Petra & Ian

Last Thursday I had the great pleasure of spending a day at the seaside shooting pre-wedding images for Petra and Ian, who tie the knot later this year. I haven’t been to Brighton in a while so it was nice to see the place again - on one of the hottest days of the year so far! Starting at the seafront on Madeira Drive, we walked along the lines of the electric railway, past the quirky shops under the arches (spotting and posing the couple with a VW split-screen camper van in the process), onto the pier and finally into the winding streets of the town itself.

Petra was quite nervous to begin with but warmed up nicely as the shoot went on. Petra - when you read this - you had nothing to be nervous about, you look stunning in your images and I hope you love them!

A detail-packed wedding at Ardoe House, Aberdeen

Zaa and Yannis were finally married yesterday in Aberdeen at the prestigious Ardoe House Hotel. I say finally because they’ve already had two ceremonies - one in London and the other in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where Zaa hails from - but yesterday was the legal wedding and what a wedding! The weather was beautiful (and there was me with a suitcase full of warm and wet weather clothing) and Zaa had spent hours on wedding blog Style me Pretty looking for ideas of details to make their wedding totally unique, some of which are some shown here. I loved the pairs of flip-flops laid on for ladies to wear for dancing!

On the way to the Riverside to do some portrait shots, I spotted an old run-down fisherman’s shack which I knew would make a great backdrop for some funky images - see what you think…oh, and what about those gorgeous shoes?


Liz and Kevin’s wedding at the Grim’s Dyke Hotel

I used to work in the same company as Liz and when she’d heard I was now a wedding photographer, she got in touch and booked me for her wedding, which took place last weekend. She and Kevin are both mad keen into fitness and met doing an extreme race a couple of years ago. The location for the wedding, the Grim’s Dyke Hotel is tucked away within its own beautiful grounds in North West London and was the home of W.S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

The grounds were in full bloom on the day, and even though the weather was hot and humid, we avoided any rain - thankfully, as there was a barbeque on the lawn after the wedding ceremony! Liz and Kevin kindly made me a guest during the evening, which allowed me to catch up with some friends from the days when we all worked in Harrow on the Hill.

This a detail of the fierce-looking fireplace in the main ceremony room. What’s it meant to depict….the devil or a friendly fawn…?

Pre-wedding shoot with Hayley and Roberto

A few weeks ago, I and my husband were walking a 12 mile route (for fun, you understand…..) and it happened to take us through the glorious village of Much Hadham - a few miles fom our home. As we walked along the High Street, which is very characterful, I made a mental note to remember it would be perfect for a summery pre-wedding shoot. Cue Hayley and Roberto - a couple whose wedding I will be shooting in August - who rang a few days later to arrange their pre-wedding session. I suggested Much Hadham - they loved the sound of it and a few evenings ago we met up and I got shooting!

Although Roberto was born in England, his family are Italian. This means he will be supporting England and Italy in the World Cup. Booo!

Pre-wedding shoot with Claire and Ollie

PHEW! We arrived back from holiday last Saturday and I pretty much hit the ground running with a wedding and two pre-wedding shoots all booked in for the same week. One of the pre-weds was Claire and Ollie, who will be married in August this year. They suggested a place I hadn’t really heard of before - Stowe Park in Buckinghamshire. It’s a National Trust property and features within its grounds some of the most stunning Georgian buildings I’ve ever seen - and I love love LOVE Georgian!

The weather was really, really awful on my drive up there. As I arrived, however, the rain stopped and allowed us two hours of clear (but grey) conditions - perfect light for a photoshoot!

Here are some of the images from the shoot…