Leading up to Good Friday the weather was not looking very good, but as I was packing my gear into the car the sun was shinning, looks like is going to be a great day for Sarah and Andy. The St Michaels Manor is only 5 Miles from my home so it wasn’t a very early start. I arrived around 8:30 and meet up with Helen Griffin of Helen Griffin Photography who is Second shooting with me today.

First order of the day is to get a few Venue shots in the bag before too many people are about and the light becomes too harsh or as we are in England it start to rain. Next order of the day is coffee, can’t start work without my ‘cup of joe’. After the coffee I ran through the days times and events with Helen, as I hadn’t shot here before a took a walk around the gardens and House to pick out some locations for the group shots, bride and groom shots etc. plus some backup locations just in case of rain.

Today’s wedding would all be in the same venue, no rushing from bride prep to church to reception. I gave the bride a call and after a short wait she was ready to go to Hair and Makeup. So here we go another long day as a wedding photographer starts.

Here are a few images from Sarah and Andy wedding day. As you see the rain held off and I had a great day shooting the wedding, congratulations to Sarah and Andy, many thanks to Helen for doing a great job as my second shooter and a thanks to Paul, Helens (partner/and her second shooter).

The 15mm f2.8 fish eye is a great littlt lens in small spaces, but make sure you don’t get your feet in the shot.

A bit of HDR fisheye, starting to get cold and cloud over.

Dating back to 1540, Down Hall in Hertfordshire was a wonderful wedding venue for Cheryl and Chris to get married in. As you can see from the photographs the weather was perfect, well at least for the bride, groom and guests, for us photographers a outdoor full sun drinks reception can cause a few problems what with the huge contrast different between the bride in white and the groom in black.

Bridal prep was blast as usual, its always fun when you get all the girls together doing hair and make-up, some of the stories you hear! Cheryl had a open door policy at the hotel, I think mostly because it was such a hot day and what with hair dryers,curling tongs going full blast for a couple of hours, anyway this meant that we had a constant stream of friends and family popping in to congratulate the bride, which can make for some great moments to capture.

Here are just a few images from the wedding day, I will post more on my wedding site when I get time click for more. Hertfordshire wedding photography.

A proud dad getting ready to walk his daughter down the aisle.

I though I would try something different for my group shot this week.

It’s embarrassing story time again! this time the bride.

Not to be left out the groom gets his embarrassing story.

October can be a very unpredictable month for a wedding, Jo and Ian’s at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire was no different but this time the weather gods where smiling, in fact they must have had the biggest grin ever because it was the hottest day in October for 100 years at nearly 30C.

Brocket Hall is only 3 miles from home so I didn’t have a long journey, which is always nice; I started with some detail shots just to warm-up, Cake, flowers, the building & breakfast room etc. Today I was shooting with Deborah Newton as my second shooter, a very talented children’s photographer but this would be her first wedding, but what a wedding to start with, we had a great venue, the best weather in 100 years, a beautiful bride, opera singers, fireworks and a terrific band.

Bridal prep is always fun, a mix of girly chit chat, champagne and diamonds, but today we had a full house today with the bride, two bridesmaids, friends, hair and makeup, two photographers and a videographer, oh and a four poster bed.

Here are just a few images from Jo and Ian’s wedding at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire.

Jo’s Hair and Makeup by Shahnaz “themakeupgirl“.

Jo gets her man.

The First dance

Now a dance with dad.

It was an early start for me as Devika and John where getting married at ‘High Noon’ which meant hair and makeup for the bride and brides maids was in progress when I arrived at 8:00. The wedding was being held at Tewin Bury Farm Hotel a 17th century farmhouse with its converted farm buildings set amidst idyllic Hertfordshire countryside.

This is a tale of two weddings, Wedding one: Devika and John got married a few months ago in Mauritius ( the home of the now extinct Dodo), where Devika’s family and friends are from, I talked to bride about the wedding ceremony and it seems to be a much messier affair compared to an English ceremony, both the bride and groom get cleansed by rubbing turmeric into their skin and hair, and then they walk around a fire seven times, there’s a lot more to the ceremony then these two events, blessings, prays, flowers etc, but these two stood out the most of all to me.

Wedding two: the return match happened on 29th July, this time in England, and nobody would be rubbing turmeric into anybody, I don’t think that the bride would have liked her elegant ivory wedding dress modified with a bright yellow spice!!  Although the colour of the dress was a break with tradition Devika did hold onto a little bit of home her Red High heels. The Brides maid took up the red theme looking stunning in custom made Red Silk dresses from Mauritius. One more suprise for her family and friends was that the top tiar of the wedding cake was made with the inside layers of sponge in Red,Blue Yellow and Green the colours of the  Mauritius flag.

Here are a few images from the day.

Although brides in Mauritius traditionally wear red wedding dresses Devika did hold on to a small bit of home with her Red High heels

Devika showing off her red high heels to the girls.

Now here’s a first for me both the groom ‘shown above’ and the best man had their speaches on an ipad, it seems that not even a wedding is safe from apple.

Father and daughter reflecting on a great day.

Just spent a very pleasant morning at Tewin Bury Farm with Devika and John shooting there engagement, they are getting married here on 29th July. I haven’t shoot a wedding here before so I had a good look round today. Devika and John’s wedding is outside so full sun could be a problem! but this is England so the weather could do anything on the day.

Tewin Bury Farm is an old 17th century farm just outside Welwyn Garden City the venue has lots of nice out buildings and a river, so some great locations for the wedding day photos.

For all you F1 GP fans, Tewin was once the home of are very own Lewis Hamilton.

A few weeks before the wedding, on a lazy Sunday morning at Croxley Green in Hertfordshire I took Zoe and James out for an hour or so to do an engagement shoot. The shoot had two purposes in mind, to get to know the couple and to get an image that they could use for a guest signing board.

Signing Boards seem to be get more popular these days, replacing the more traditional “Signing Books”. Anyway I first took them to an old brick alleyway between some local shops, Zoe and James looked a bit confused, I think they thought how can this possible work we need some nice pictures. I reassured them “trust me this is a great place, we will get some great shots here”.

I took a set of images in the alleyway then we moved just round the corner to some old garages, once again I said “this is great”, I shot another set of images. The next location was a local park so we did the normal walking, holding, kissing shots. At the end of the shoot they both said that was fun.

Here are a few shots from the day, the first shot was the one that they used for there signing board, it was taken by the old garages and they loved it.

This weekend I shot a wedding of two parts; Hayley and Ross got married on 12^th May in Las Vegas and had their reception in Royston Hertfordshire, two places worlds apart, Royston can trace it roots back to Roman times, Las Vegas Established in 1905.

Even though the reception was separated from the wedding via more then 5000 miles and 2 weeks here in Hertfordshire we had the ‘Full Monty’ Bridal prep, Groom prep, Bridesmaids, best man, drinks, cakes, speeches, dancing and lots and lots of fun.

And a first for me we had Bridal and Groom prep in the same room a the same time, we had two panics the groom had forgotten his tie, good job this happened here in the UK, lucky the best man came to the rescue and did a quick trip to pick it up from Ross’s house just down the road. The second, once again with the groom, lose buttons on his waistcoat, many thanks to Joanne one of the bridesmaids who came to the rescue.

Here is a small selection of images to give you a flavor of the reception of Hayley and Ross at the Banyers Hotel in Royston.

Almost the ‘Full Monty’ from Ross!

A Very proud Dad.

Bridesmaids cutting a grove on the dance floor in their 1950 polka dot swing dresses.

My First wedding of 2011 was on a overcast and chilly January day at Moor Park Golf Club, Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. Moor Park is a Grade I listed Palladian mansion set within several hundred acres of parkland and a great venue for a wedding, and for you golfers it has two challenging courses.

Natalie and Andrew where getting married at 2 o’clock which for me as a photographer could have been a problem with light, but all went well the light held until 4:30 and I got some great shots.

With a 10 o’clock start for hair and make-up we had plenty of time for some bridal prep shots, and then had time to take advantage of the rooms and staircases at Moor Park for some more great images.

With a break from traditional the groom would not be waiting on his own for his bride to arrive, as the couple decided to walk up the isle together. This gave me an optionality to do what the Americans call a “First Look“, I set Andrew up in one for the bedrooms with some good lighting and his back to the door, Natalie then walked in and tapped Andrew on the shoulder he turn to look at her for the first time as his bride, click a great emotional moment was captured.

Hair and make-up was by Shahnaz Walford ‘the make up girl’ simple but elegant.

The “First Look”

‘Fireworks, 9:30, January’  It’s a lot colder and darker then it look.

Back in December the features editor of  ”Your Herts and Beds Wedding Magazine” was ringing local Hertfordshire Wedding photographers and asking if they had any memorable wedding that year, the thing is that all my weddings are memorable but one did spring to mind. The wedding of Laura and Russell Pert back in October, this wedding matches the magazine perfectly as the wedding was in Hertfordshire and the reception was in Bedfordshire. The service was at St Nicholas Church in Harpenden, we then changed county for the reception at Luton Hoo.

“We Speak to some of the region’s most talented wedding photographers to reveal their favourite big day shots”

Well Grounded

Shot on 9th October, 2010, this image of Laura and Russell Pert by Peter Hearl is a beautiful image taken at Luton Hoo — and a favourite of Peter’s. He tells us: “I love this shot because it captures an intimate moment betweed the pair, and it was the only time in the day that they could steal a walk together through the stunning grounds.”

Here is a wedding update,

I have just found this video on YouTube of Jean Mare and David’s Wedding.  A Wedding I shot last August at St Nicholas Church in Harpenden. The Video was shot by Aardvark Wedding Films a very professional and friendly team of videographers and great to work with.

I hope you enjoy it.

p.s sorry they did catch me on video, but only a couple of times.

Wedding Highlights – Jean-Mare and David from Aardvark Films on Vimeo.