Tracey & Grant's Wedding - Stafford

I had the pleasure of shooting Tracey and Grant's wedding on Saturday - the day started off pretty bad in terms of weather - I was in my study looking out at hailstones at around 10am !!! But it did get better after that - a few little drops of rain here and there, but nothing major.

So we headed off to their house where Tracey and her bridesmaids were all getting ready. Tracey's Mum and Dad were there too, having travelled from the South to be there.

As soon as we started shooting details, Tracey got very excited, exclaiming "they're photographing my dress !" and "they're photographing my shoes !" LOL - I do love it when my brides are relaxed and excited :)

So here are a few of my personal favourites from the day ... if you were a guest at the wedding, the images will be uploaded to client area once Tracey and Grant get back from honeymoon - they have asked for password initially, so if you wish to view please contact them for the password.


The girls decided on matching morning wear ...
Tracey had managed to trip and fall downstairs leaving a massive bruise on her right foot - a touch of inspiration from me and there was pale makeup applied - voila! No bruise :)

Tracey's shoes ...

Tracey's little cat had passed away in January this year - so it made sense that she should be the 'blue' for the day - Tracey just had to have the little cat close to her on the day ... very touching.

The processional - as captured by my assistant, Jan, from the balcony ...

Signing the maiden name for the last time ...

Tracey's flowers were simply elegant ...

Finally - the cake smash (only Tracey though - Grant knew better than to do it back :))
Gill x

Wedding Rings

I love jewellery - well, don't all us girls :) But I especially love wedding rings and engagement rings. Every bride who come to see me gets the "ooh, let me see" as soon as they sit down - I can see the groom sitting rolling his eyes and thinking, yeah, just don't ask how much - ha ha !

I also love shooting them on the day, so here are a few selections for you to ooh and aah over ...

Gill x

Kim & James's Wedding - Somerford Hall

I met Kim and James last year and was absolutely delighted as always that they booked me for their wedding photography.

The day started at their home where Kim, her bridesmaids and her Mother were all getting ready. The girls had kicked James out the night before and had all stayed for a pre-wedding party - a couple of hangovers were lurking around, but thankfully not for Kim :)
I started out shooting some details of the dress and shoes, flowers etc, as well as capturing the banter while the girls had their hair and makeup done.

We then headed off to St Michaels Church in Penkridge, where we set up ready to capture the ceremony. The church is an old stone-built church with beautiful stained glass windows and side aisles. it also has a balcony which gives us photographers plenty of scope for different angles. Add to that a really cool and funky priest, we just knew it was going to be a great day !

Kim and James were very traditional about their wedding, which meant straight out, with guests following behind, straight into their limo then off to the venue.

I followed closely behind to ensure I was there when Kim and James got out of the car - on the way there, we drove through sideways rain which meant we parked up and waited for it to finish before we could get out of our cars !! The venue was Somerford Hall in Brewood - a besutiful building with large spacious rooms with plenty of light flooding in through the large windows. Which was just as well as it was a pretty miserable day outside !

Gill x

Jon & Mark's Album

You may remember me posting about Jon & Mark's civil partnership in March - the guys were quick off the mark with their image choices which meant I was able to design and build the album quickly too. I am off to deliver it (reluctantly, I don't want to let go of it) today so I thought I would post a few images of it so you can all see what a beautiful album it is - I think they are going to be chuffed - I know I am :)


Gill x

Photography Get Together in Nottingham

I am a member of an online forum - the Digital Wedding Forum - and a few of us decided to get together on Sunday night - some of us had met before, others hadn't, so it was great to put faces to names. We ended up in the Red Lion in Bottesworth - a beautiful village east of Nottingham. Here are a few photos of the motley bunch - some of these were taken by Paul Dale so I need to credit him with the copyright :)

I'll start with the lovely Sam - she was checking out my camera longingly - we both shoot Canon - this is my 1D Mark IIN - we both have 5D's but the 1 is just gorgeous ! I did manage to prize it out of her hands - reluctantly :) I think Paul took this one with his Fuji S5.

Sam came along with her business partner, Glen ... they have recently joined forces and the partnership is working well - they are a great team. This is another of Paul's on the S5.

This is David - he came across from Boston where his photography business is based. Ditto on the S5.

Our host for the evening - Carl !

Then it was my turn for Paul's camera - this is me with my 'long-suffering' husband in the background !

And after the 4th glass of wine - well, enough said :)

I did take the pub quiz rather too seriously LOL

And a rather poor attempt at 'sultry' - trust me, I feel much more comfortable being BEHIND the camera ...


Some of my own photography follows ... a lovely shot of Sam ...



Paul being accosted by a lady who probably should have gone home long before ...



Paul hugging a cushion - no, I don't know why either ...


And attempting to be a rock star - with a pen !

Ooh - something technical - this is what is known in the business as A Better Bounce Card (ABBC) - it is designed to bounce light from the flash and is free (something that is quite rare in this trade LOL) - basically you make it yourself in the correct funnel shape and then attached it to your flash with elastic bands ... the light can be controlled by folding down the top end or, as Paul is demonstrating, by having it straight up. Very cool.

Of course, Paul is kissing the ABBC, not the Canon flash - obviously !

I love the fact that, even though we are all competitors, we can get together, have a few drinks, lose at the pub quiz and talk photography - from marketing to techniques to business to kit to ... the conversations were varied to say the least :)

Gill x

Album Designs

I love designing albums for clients. I have just finished one for Mark & Jon this week and it prompted me to post about my various designs.

I use photoshop to design my albums, working up layers and using backgrounds to really tell the story of the wedding day as it unfolded. I ask the bride and groom to choose their favourites (and any they don't want collaged) for the album and then I design it - I rarely have changes, but do allow up to 5 changes for free (changes sometimes take longer to do than the original design !!).

There are 3 formats I work with - landscape, portrait and square.

Here are a couple of pages from an album I designed last May - this was for a mammoth 16x12 inch black leather album - in landscape format. This is the opening page (I managed to prize the rings from the best man and placed them on a church pew a few moments before the bride arrived) ...


This next one is a sequence taken after they signed the register - they had forgotten I was there and were larking around - then Will spotted me ! The background is a shot of their order of service.


I always use an 'opener' to my albums - this is usually a symbolic shot with some text - very simple - just names and date. This was for a wedding in Rugeley last September - the album was black portrait A4 size with black mounted pages ...

I always place the bride's hands over the grooms - they are usually much prettier :) This is another one from the same album - you can see I use a similar style but I like to make each album unique ...


The bride had seen a similar 'jumping' shot in a magazine and so we just had to give it a go - with amusing results.

The next one was for a couple who live across the road from me (we didn't know that on the first phone call) and we have all become firm friends since. The album was cream, square format, with cream pages and Jan chose a lovely red leather box to protect it. She just picked it up this week and is delighted with it.

The beauty with square format is that you can have any format of image and you can look at it without turning the album around ...

This is a landscape image with some text. Equally, I can use portrait images, either singular like the above page, or in a sequence ...

Another idea is to have a page of little images - this one is from the same album - they are all nice shots of guests etc but you would not necessarily have any of them in a larger size in the album so this way you get them all in !

Another favourite layout of mine is a 4 image sequence - here are a couple of examples from 2 weddings this year ... the first is of Nicole who was swirling around in front of the mirror admiring her dress and getting excited about getting married in 20 minutes time - I just chatted and shot and these were the results ...

Or, as in this next example, this is useful for showcasing the details ...

Gill x