Elaine & Gerry's Herefordshire Wedding

Lovely sunshine greeted me on Saturday as I drove to Elaine's for her wedding preparations. After a week or so of rain it was very welcome too!
Elaine was getting ready at her daughter Carolyn's house and I was glad to see that everyone there was well supplied with Champagne!

I promise that I didn't line the glasses up like this before you ask - this is pure reportage!

Valerie from the Big Hair Day was doing Elaine's hair, as well as bridesmaid Chloe's.

Here's Elaine's son Marlon trying to get to grips with his tie. I think he gave up after this and let someone else do it for him!

A lovely bit of back-light through the holly tree in the back garden. Doesn't Elaine look great. Hers and Chloe's dresses matched the guys' ties and were all made by Greensleeves Bridal Wear in Evesham. Fascinators were by the very talented Maddy Horton of Stick & Stitch in Ledbury.


Elaine, you're not supposed to get to the church early! Under-estimating the speed of the classic wedding car, we had to wait a little for the late guests to all get in to the church at Much Marcle before Elaine could make her entrance.

Married! I love this one, Elaine's little heel flick gives it a Dorothy feel.

Chloe & Ethan waiting for the registers to be signed.

Then back out into the sun for a lovely confetti shower.

Roof down and Elaine & Gerry, newly married, are ready for the short drive from St, Bartholomew's Church to the Royal Oak in Much Marcle for their reception.

Still gorgeous fairly low sun at the Royal Oak so we made use of it for some family groups in the gardens.

Getting the priorities right. The best man here is making final touches to his speech - the football results!

Still a bit of confetti left that the girls had fun playing with against the setting sun.

Embarrassing speech Gerry?

Here I'd like to thank Gerry's daughter Tanya for geeing up the wedding couple! Wedding photographers love hecklers as it makes for natural, fun pictures. :-)

A spot of dancing and then after Elaine surprised Gerry with a birthday cake, it was time for me to leave them to it.

Just room for this one. Carolyn might not thank me for putting this up but I love it! There are about 6 different stories going on here.


Thanks to Elaine & Gerry for a great day and I hope you had a wonderful time in Scotland.

Tanya & Joshua Married in Malvern

Tanya & Josh got married on the bank holiday weekend at the end of August and just to prove we had some sunshine and blue skies, this is the grand setting of the Abbey Hotel in Great Malvern on the morning of the wedding.

Tanya (short for Tatiana) & Joshua currently live and work in Moscow so we had very few opportunities to meet up before the big day. Our pre-wedding shoot was rained off but on the day the sun came out and it was a glorious wedding!

Both bride and groom got ready at the Abbey Hotel (separately of course!) having flown in from Moscow only 2 days before. Tanya was looking after the rings so I sneaked in to get a shot, as well as some dress & shoe details before heading back down to wait with Joshua for the guests.

There were only a small number of guests but some had travelled a very long way due to Tanya's Russian and Joshua's South African origins, as well as the fact that they seem to have lived and worked all over the globe. Lucky things!

Josh & the guests travelled by specially hired coach to St. Joseph's church nearby to wait for Tanya & her sister's big arrival.

Just fashionably late enough to get them a little worried :-)

The lovely interior of St. Joseph's.

Both Tanya & Joshua did readings in the church, as well as the best man.

Taking the vows.

It's lovely when I'm able to carry on photographing during the actual signing of the register.


Heading out into the sunshine for the first time as a married couple.

We had time for a few shots of the couple in the church grounds before going back to the Abbey for the wedding breakfast and speeches.

The harp and flute duo added a nice touch to the drinks reception in the lovely little secret terrace garden, tucked away between the Abbey and the Malvern Hills.



The speeches were after each course so I popped in and out to catch these moments. Josh made a touching personal speech, thanking all the guests in turn before the main course and then the Best Man's turn.

The Best Man's speech having the desired effect on the groom!

They were heading off for a relaxed evening in an award-winning local pub after the dinner so we had time for some couples portraits before I left them to it.

This first one was Tanya's idea. Hope she likes the result!


Hope Josh's birthday and the honeymoon in Como were amazing and here's looking forward to some long-distance album design.

Gemma & Nas Married at Eastnor Castle

Gemma & Nas held their fabulous wedding at the sumptuous wedding venue Eastnor Castle back in June but I haven't blogged the images yet as they understandably wanted to be the first to see them!

Now we've had our viewing and I'm getting on with putting their album together, I wanted to share some of the pictures from their amazing wedding day.

I arrived early to sunshine and went up to meet Gemma.

Here she is having her make-up applied by Clare Bryce of Pure Pampering in the spacious Tulip bedroom while Chris Fordham does Gemma's mum's hair.

Gemma & Nas were having 2 ceremonies; a civil ceremony first, followed by a Nikaah Muslim blessing outside. That's an opportunity to wear 2 different amazing wedding dresses of course!

Finishing touches to dress no 1 from Mum.

Gemma and her Dad almost ready to go downstairs. I love this part of the wedding, after all the flurry of getting ready, calm descends as all the guests wait expectantly for Gemma's entrance! At Eastnor, the bride and her father get a chance for a practice run as they come down to meet the registrar while all the guests are waiting in the hall. The guests are then let in to welcome the bride at the bottom of the stairs on her second trip down the grand staircase. Gemma & Nas then lead the guests through into the ceremony room.

Exchanging the rings.

After the ceremony we went outside to make the most of the glorious grounds for the group pictures. I had to include this one of Nas and his family in their lovely colourful dresses.

This is my favourite from the day I think.

We got some lovely bride and groom portraits by the lake and around the grounds before heading back inside for the meal and speeches.


Then it was time for the second ceremony. A pair of Asian drummers set up on the terrace as the guests waited below and it was very exciting listening to their ryhthms filling the Herefordshire country air.

Gemma makes another grand entrance, this time on her own.

Nas looks on as the Nikaah ceremony gets under way.


Back inside for the dancing.

Then Gemma & Nas sprang a surprise on the guests to end the evening with a great display of fireworks across the lake.


It was an amazing day and I'm enjoying looking back on these images as I put the album together. We're hoping to meet up again soon to do a post-wedding portrait session as we never manged to get round to doing a pre-wedding shoot. We'll probably do that in London as Gemma & Nas come from my old stamping ground of East London and Essex. Looking forward to a trip up there some time soon.