Katrina and Karl

Carlisle Wedding

We traveled up to Carlisle the day before the wedding,the thought of getting held up on the M6 on the morning of the wedding was too much to dread.The bridal and groom preps where at either ends of Carlisle ,so I stayed and did bridal prep and Leanne took car to groom prep.

After bridal and groom prep,Leanne picked me up and we went to Carlisle Registry Office,and I have to say is the best for appearance sake that we’ve been to,in fact its better than some wedding venues we’ve frequented.The ceremony went well,the room was well lit with natural .We went outside for more shots to make most of the fantastic building.We got both wedding cars together to set up a few shots with different guests and of course bride and groom.The weather was perfect ,you can never rely on British weather so we are always grateful for a dry day at work.

We moved on to the wedding venue, The Hallmark Hotel, right in centre of Carlisle,A grand old style hotel that will host weddings every weekend.The main hall was huge with its wooden floor dance floor.The entrance to the hall had been decorated with an impressive balloon arch.

We took the bride and groom for shots outside,the council building opposite was designed on a castle theme,so we thought that would look good in the pictures.

We photographed the first dance and took more pictures of the guests dancing,then we headed of home.

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Rochdale Town Hall Wedding

The wedding of John and Sharon was on a Saturday in late November at the magnificent Rochdale Town Hall,were we’ve never covered a wedding here before though,as always,we do a reconnaissance prior to it and was amazed at what a stunning building it is.It has the classic Victorian architecture on the outside as does a lot of public buildings of the time do, but inside you have The Great Hall,The Grand Staircase leading to the Exchange,the town hall reception that doubles as the ceremony room on wedding days.We were covering the ceremony on to the first dance,so we turned up well early and got the guests arriving accompanied by two bagpipers,luckily the weather was dry. The bridesmaids came down The Great Staircase first and then the Bride and her son.The ceremony started and a first for us,owls would be used as ring bearers,exciting!

It all went smoothly and was a superb spectacle,the owl did good.After the registry signing everyone went outside to have pictures taken of the owls,and whilst outside I manages to do a group shot of everyone with me being on a first floor balcony,and it still stayed dry.The wedding breakfast followed with the speeches first,later we got the bride and groom outside to do our trademark umbrella shot and confetti shot.Then we got some set up shots on the Grand staircase and further group shots at the top of the staircase. On the reconnaissance we found a spiral staircase running down to the registry office,we thought this would make a fantastic shoot.The evening guests started turning up and the cake cutting started and the First dance proceeded before everyone filled d the dance floor.

Ring bearer Owl flying back to the handler.

Bride and Groom on The Grand Staircase

Confetti shot

First Dance.

Samantha and Thomas

The morning of Thomas and Samantha's wedding was blessed with beautiful light,a clear blue sky,always a good start as I made my way to the bridal preparation at Edenfield near Ramsbottom. On arrival via an awful tight farm track I was spoilt with such a beautiful location , a converted farmhouse with a external building sat at the end of a finely kept  large lawn.All this was sat in the hillside overlooking Helmshore on the other side of the valley.The bridal party were getting ready in the external building,more like a large playhouse made from pine,with all mod cons. There was plenty of room in the garden and the building to get some great shots,I did some candid ones of bridesmaids getting their hair and make up done,then when everyone was ready I set up some shots in the garden with off camera flash,the bride and her bridesmaids were stunning,the location, view,weather was perfect,you have to make the most of these moments at weddings.

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Before setting off to the venue I captured the brides father's first look at Samantha in her dress,very emotional moment,and also a photo of the bride and her father in the wedding car, a fast looking Mercedes AMG.

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Well ,I got to the venue,The Fishermans Retreat  in quick time where Leanne had already arrived and had done the customary shots if the ceremony room,I awaited for the wedding car to get here,to capture Samantha walking down the aisle with her father. After the ceremony there was the usual champagne reception ,after this we started the group shots,of a pre written list  all managed by Leanne, first one the entire party and then work down to just the smaller group pictures,we get the tricky ones done first then the smaller group ones are straight forward,we just have to make sure the symmetry is right and the standing  lines are straight otherwise the extreme left and right of the picture can look distorted .After these group shots we got ready for the bride and groom shots,the Fishermans Retreat has an iconic pier on a small lodge , this is one of the shots,we did  on the prewedding shoot so it was quite straightforward,we set Sam and Thomas on the pier with a flash on a lightstand facing  at them (this is removed post edit) we measured the light with a lightmeter ,then got the setting for the camera before I moved to the other side of the lodge so I'd get the lodge ,pier,Sam and Thomas ,and the Peel Monument silhouetted on the other side of the valley in the frame.

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We finished off more bride and groom shots before continuing taking candid style shots of the wedding party bathed in the glorious evening sunshine,Before the sun fully set,we set up a sun set shot with and without a light umbrella . a prop we love using.Though we just managed this as we nearly couldn't  find the bride and groom.

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Well that was our day done,we said our goodbyes , a top day ,top bride and groom,top venue and top weather,on way to car we'd decided to have a look at the view from the other fishing lodge,with a tripod and camera in tow,we took a long exposure shot of the venue and the surrounding area to capture the party in full swing.

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