I love getting feedback from people after their wedding and hearing they love their wedding photographs, it gives me a great buzz.

In fact,  I now make a real effort to feedback to other people and companies whose services I use and enjoy. Especially if they are small businesses, as I know how much work goes in behind the scenes.

Previously I had the odd review dotted around my website, but now there is a designated page for people to hear what others think about me and my wedding photography. I can’t imagine why I didn’t think of this before. I always look for a review of something online before I buy.

I have to say reading through them has given me a real glow of pride and I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the people who have given me such lovely comments and sent cards etc. It means a lot and now they are up on my website for all to see.

If you are looking for a wedding photographer then please do swing by and take a look at some of my wedding photography reviews. Maybe your name will be up there one day!!

Quite often this is the first time the bride will have seen a lot of her guests and it’s a really lovely and exciting moment. It’s really important to recognise this and build this in to your day. The last thing you want to do is go off and have your photograph taken, or leap in a car and race off to the reception. I think it’s a lovely time to pause, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the moment. After all you have just got married!

I love this picture because it’s full of emotion and happiness. There was so much going on all around the bride outside the church, and yet this is a moment of calm. I love the strong eye contact between them.

Please visit my website to see more of my documentary wedding photography and if you, or any of your friends, are getting married then I would love to talk to you about your wedding photography.

I saw these two flower girls getting braver and braver as they played on the dance floor towards the end of the wedding breakfast, so I snuck off to try and capture the action.

It’s moments like these that help to make up the story of the wedding day, they are fun and little bit different. This is what was happening, it’s not setup. I love the excitement on their faces and her arms triumphantly aloft, almost in disbelieve that they are getting away with it.

Great fun and a lovely moment from a fabulous wedding.

Please visit my website to see more of my documentary wedding photography and if you, or any of your friends, are getting married then I would love to talk to you about your wedding photography.

Charlotte and Jonathan began their day by getting married in Holy Trinity church in Witney, Oxfordshire. Jonathan and some of the early arrivals met in The Three Pigeons pub just across the road for a quick drink before heading over to the church.

Charlotte then arrived with her dad in a fabulous wedding car, which used to belong to Jonathan’s father. They had a lovely service before heading off to their wedding reception.

We arrived at the Plough under a brilliant blue sky and so their guests enjoyed a glass of Champagne on the lawn out the front before heading in for the wedding breakfast. After they had eaten they headed back outside for some brilliant wedding speeches.

Charlotte and Jonathan left quite soon after the speeches and so I stayed to capture their departure before heading home.

As usual here are a few of my favourite photographs from throughout the day. Please feel free to leave any comments below.

If you are getting married and are looking for a wedding photographer then please do have a look at my wedding portfolio and get in touch.

This photo grows on me the more I look at it. As a documentary wedding photographer I try to capture natural photographs that tell the story and emotion of a wedding day. This photo could have been a staged one of them under the arch as they came out of church, but I think this works so much better.

I love the interaction and the way that Joe is looking at Jemma’s wedding ring and the fact they are framed by the entrance to the church, which is behind them. You can see the excitement in their faces and whilst they aren’t looking at each other there is strong interaction between them. I love the light and the gust of wind that has puffed up Joe’s jacket tail and Jemma’s wedding dress.This is a real moment that I hope brings those memories flooding back.

It’s quite rare to get a shot of the bride and groom on their own, unless you engineer it in some way, especially just after they have got married and are outside the church. We had planned to get a shot of them walking through a confetti tunnel. This is always a lot of fun and a good way of capturing the bride and groom with their wedding guests. I had a quick chat with them and asked them to wait a moment whilst the ushers and I helped get a tunnel set up.

From my experience it always pays to look back at the couple just after you have left them and sure enough that’s how I got this one. You would really struggle to set this shot up because it would looked staged.

If you are looking for a wedding photographer to capture and tell the story of your wedding day then please do get in touch and here is a link to my wedding portfolio.

The first thing is don’t panic. I’m not going to pretend it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding day, but if it rains it rains, it’s definitely not going to spoil your day. It’s rained on quite a few of the weddings I’ve photographed over the years, but actually rarely has it poured all day. As long as the bride and groom are having fun then everyone else doesn’t mind really.

It’s a pretty obvious one, but my top tip number one is to have thought about umbrellas. The first thing is to make sure that you have a few, but my advice is to try to get something other than big golfing umbrellas with logos on, if you can. Whilst they may keep the rain off they don’t look great in the photographs. This won’t be your primary concern on the day and it shouldn’t be. If that’s all you have got then fine, but with a bit of planning you could have some real fun with the umbrellas and get some great photographs too.

You can hire umbrellas now, or buy them very cheaply online. You could go for some brightly coloured ones to theme in with your day, or you could go for white ones, or some that are a slightly different shape to them. Have a look at some of the photographs below for some ideas.

My other piece of wet weather wedding advice is to make sure you have enough inside space for your drinks reception, in case it rains and everyone has to take shelter. Most venues should bring this up when you meet with them, but it’s definitely worth asking the wet weather plan. Especially if you are planning on having drinks outside. If you are planning a marquee wedding then this is especially important, as there tends to be fewer places to take cover. Maybe the dance floor could double up as a wet weather reception area.

From a photographers point of view, we just get on with it. An experienced wedding photographer shouldn’t be too phased by rain. Despite popular belief clouds can be our friends as they act as diffusers. Overcast weather can actually provide some lovely lighting and dramatic skies can be good too. Then there are reflections in puddles, rain running down windows, not forgetting all the action as people run for cover and huddle under umbrellas.

If you are looking for a wedding photographer to capture and tell the story of your wedding day then please do get in touch and here is a link to my wedding portfolio.

To kick off, I absolutley love this photo taken at Hackney Town Hall. It’s completely natural and actually happened only moments before the bride walked through the door for the ceremony. I love the way the flower girl is looking up, the light catching her hair, the shape of the window. She is completely transfixed whilst people take their seats around her, ready for the brides entrance.

I’d been trying to get some lovely photos of the balloons in the hall earlier, when I arrived, but for me this shows them off perfectly and helps incorporate them in to the story of the day by highlighting the wonder and excitement of a wedding day.

As a wedding photographer you have to have your wits about you and keep your eyes peeled, anticipating what is about to happen. Especially, as often these are the favourite photographs and could never really be set up or repeated. In fact, that’s what makes them so good, they are unique and spontaneous and they reflect what is going on. Whilst I obviously had to capture the brides arrival it would have been a shame to miss this one!

What do you think?

The first of my wedding idea blogs is about collecting messages from your wedding guests. Everybody says it and it’s true, your wedding day goes so quickly and so it’s lovely to capture as much of it as you can. Aside from investing in your wedding photography to ensure you have a great record of your day, one idea is to encourage your guests to leave you a message. It’s probably a once in a lifetime moment- having all your family and friends in one room and you’ll be amazed what lovely things people write after a few glasses of champagne!

My wife and I did this at our wedding and we were blown away by some of the lovely comments people had left us in our wedding book. We still occasionally reach for it on the bookshelf and the memories come flooding back.

Of course you can get people to leave you a message on video camera, but personally I love the idea of a hand written note, particularly as we hardly ever see hand writing these days. To me there is something very personal about it. This can be done by hanging notes on a tree, in a book, on the mount for a photo frame. One idea I saw at a wedding recently was a finger print tree (see photo at the bottom of page). All your guests dip a finger in some ink and leave a finger print mark on the tree with a little message, or their name maybe. I thought this was a very clever idea and something different. The beauty is this can then hang on the wall too.

If you have had a good idea for collecting messages, or have seen something clever at a wedding you have been to, then please do share your ideas below in the comments section.

If you are planning your wedding then please do keep coming back, as I will be posting more ideas over the next few months.

Of course if you are looking for a wedding photographer to capture and tell the story of your wedding day then please do get in touch and here is a link to my wedding portfolio.

This was a spectacular wedding with so many fun elements to it. It started in the morning with Rachael and her bridesmaids getting ready at home. Then on to Highcliff Castle and a walk along the cliff tops with Antony and his team of ushers.

Rachael then arrived by horse drawn carriage and they had a beautiful ceremony at Highcliff castle, with some lovely readings from friends and family, as well as a beautiful solo accompanied on the piano.

The castle makes a wonderful backdrop for photographs and as we came out there was some fanastic light and a really dramatic sky overhead.

From there we headed down and along the beach to The Beach Hut at Friars Cliff, where everyone had an ice cream! Then it was on to their marquee reception, which was overlooking a lake. They had used a wedding planner to help with their day and Rachel from RSVP had ensured that no detail was left out.

Rachael and Antony arrived at the marquee by boat from the other side of the lake. The clouds cleared, the sun shone and the champagne flowed.

What’s lovely is that we are still in touch and I received a text at the weekend to say that they have just had a baby boy. Congratulations to you guys, amazing news!

As usual, here are a few favourites from their wedding day. I love to get feedback so please do leave any comments below.

If you are looking for a wedding photographer to capture and tell the story of your wedding day then please do get in touch.

Family photos don’t have to be boring and something you dread. They should be fun and full of energy. We are so lucky to have seasons in this country as our surroundings are continually changing and this gives us loads of different options all year round.

This family photo shoot took place last autumn,  so it was all about coats, wellington boots, mud and the beautiful light and colours of the trees that you get at that time of year.

If we were to go out now then we could find the same or similar wood blanketed with bluebells, with shafts of light bursting through the canopy. Then in the summer we could head to the beach or along a river for a picnic. There are so many possibilities. It’s just a question of getting out there.

This photo shoot was a lot of fun and after a bit of a warm up Mollie and Lottie loved having their photos taken, as did John and Laura for that matter!

As ever, here are a few of my favourites from the day. Please do feel free to leave any comments at the bottom.

If you are after some photographs of your family or would like to give someone a fun unique present that will last for generations then please do get in touch.