Charlie and Chloe met when they were just 13 years old. Growing up together meant there was a strong bond between all friends and family and the atmosphere throughout the day was fantastic. I do love a Papakata wedding too - the marquee florals were divine and Chloe's bouquet was made up of flowers from her father's garden.
A colourful central London Nigerian wedding at the very grand St Bartholemew the Great church followed by a music and dance filled reception at Plaisterers Hall
A beautiful and natural forest summer wedding in Sopot, Poland for London based Kaya and Simon. A scorching hot day and a ceremony under the shade of the woodlands.
A very English wedding at the grand Danesfield House Hotel in Buckinghamshire with an intimate ceremony in the great hall followed by afternoon reception on the lawn.
The wedding celebrations of Marie-Isabel and Nicolas at Chateau Bourdaisiere near Nimes, France. Beautiful from start to finish with every detail so well thought out with nods to Marie-Isabel's parent's wedding. The day started with a traditional ceremony and went through to the amazing Earth Lights Boogie Band til the early hours.
This year has been amazing - full of travel, connections to amazing people, the publication of a book and some personal exploration. Here are some of the highlights.
I was very blessed to have been present and captured a very special and intimate ceremony between Nadia and Antony last year when they had their civil ceremony in Clissold Park and so I was hugely excited to have the opportunity to photograph their full wedding a year later in Stratford Upon Avon. With family connections to The Royal Shakespeare Company it seemed appropriate to hold the ceremony at The Swann Theatre. Definitely the most unusual wedding venue I have attended and all the more special for it - with a wonderful mixture of religious influences. It felt both theatrical and spiritual, solemn and entertaining.
Marie-Isabel and Nicolas had a fabulous pre-wedding party in an even more fabulous venue - Chateau Chenonceau near Nimes to kick start their wedding weekend in France in September. The theme for the night was Russian Glamour.
A small and intimate ceremony and celebration with Canadian Elyse and Polish Sebastian who met and fell in love in London and were engaged in Mexico. They told me they were non-traditional from the start. He was there to pick out the dress and they started the day with close family and friends at their favourite coffee haunt, Bar Italia, in Soho before the ceremony. They told me 'we truly are best friends', and I think this comes out in the pictures.
A few months before Christmas I had the pleasure of joining a number of fantastic photographers for a workshop with the very inspiring destination wedding photography guys, Nordica Photography. They led us through a shoot in gorgeous autumnal sunshine with a real couple and spent two days sharing a wealth of knowledge and experience about the wedding photography industry. Two days of talking about wedding photography - what's not to love?!
This has to rate as one of my favourite weddings recently - for the people, the locations, the weather, the sheer magicalness of Yorkshire which is a county close to my heart as I went to university there many years ago. Despite the rain Joelle's sheer good natured loveliness shone through the entire day and Tom is definitely a very lucky man. We managed to squeeze in a shoot at Brimham Rocks the evening before and from there we could see the teepee illuminated in a ray of sunshine in a distant field on Braisty Estate. It was definitely a good omen - as was the stunning double rainbow that appeared out of the showers the evening of the wedding. The teepee was opened to the elements and the stunning views of the hills and guests moved easily between indoor and outdoor.
This was Clare and James' gorgeous winter wedding party at the grand Ill Bottaccio in Kensington, London. It was a crisp bright morning and I walked across Hyde Park to the studio where the girls were getting ready. The late ceremony meant that it got dark soon after the wedding but there was enough time to get a few shots on the street before the party got started. I have known Clare's family for about 10 years and so it's always such a joy and a proud moment to be so closely involved in a wedding like this.
Cat and Nick were guests at a wedding I photographed a couple of years ago in Tunbridge Wells - Katie & James - and contacted me last year to cover their wedding. I finally got a chance to see them again only a month ago when I went to photograph their engagement shoot at The Beacon Pub where they first met when working there as students. After the ceremony at St Mary's Church, Speldhurst near Cat's parents house we headed to Mountain's Country House in Hildenborough to be greeted by Cat's ex race-horse Merry. It was a beautiful day with wonderfully relaxed people and an outstanding best man speech!
