Children's 4th birthday party photos

No weddings for me this weekend - instead we had Daisy's 4th (going on 14th) birthday party.  45 kids, a load of parents and a lot of noise.  Phew, thank goodness it's only once a year!

It was a joint party with some friends who are also 4 in August, which is somewhat lucky as attending 45 parties in return would be a real task with only 52 weekends a year!

There was plenty of cake to go around (so I was happy), and nominated myself as chief photographer - seeing as I'd done little else in the party organisation.  Thankfully a children's entertainer had been arranged so Mike Clarke (thekidsmagician) took charge and kept the kids happy for a fantastic 45 min set.

Here's just a short slideshow from the zillions of photos I took.

We'd also had a small party at home for Daisy on her actual birthday.  
Ali made a super cake - at Daisy's request for a bunny.






Also, if anyone has missed Toy Story 3, worry not, we can pretty much recreate it from our personal toy collection at home.  

Birtsmorton Court Wedding Photography

Chris and Petra - Birtsmorton Court, Worcestershire

So this week is officially SUPER BUSY.  With 4 weddings shot in 6 days I'm kinda running on empty now.  I do however get to sit at my computer and spend days on end editing photos now though - that'll give my legs a rest, just wear my eyes out instead! Poor me ;-)

With a long to do list, I'll be keeping my next few posts shorter (than some), so with further ado, here's a few of the zillions of photos taken at Birtsmorton Court last week for Chirs and Petra's wedding.

I'm not going to include a typical photo of Birtsmorton Court today, instead this detail shot of the beautiful angel gate that is hidden away in the gardens.



How cool is this bridesmaids dress - the little bits float about inside the lining.  Great entertainment for Twinkle all day.


Love the Juxtaposition (wow, check out that big fancy word) of the dress and the umbrellas.  When I asked my wife about this photo she said "I like the piece of furniture".  Sometime I struggle!



A quick practice of her reading, ready for later.


Birtsmorton Church.












Twinkle did a reading in Czech which was great - didn't understand a word of it, but you know what...it sounded good.


Killer shoes deserve a photo all of their own.


A quiet moment....well at least it looks that way.



Anyone ever eaten confetti?  Chris has.


I possibly say this to all my wedding clients, but back in 2007 (yes - three years ago) a wedding couple had ice creams served during the wedding drinks reception.  Finally, now in 2010 it's been a breakthrough and I've had another couple to do similar - wahooo.  
They're such a hit with guests, especially the kids - so, let's see some more please!  I'm guessing this lady is Claire Jayne - Google her my friends......the ice creams were good (yep, I tried one).




Look at that - a group picture.  I just wish I'd had some long pruning sheers to trim a couple of branches out the way.

Drinks reception (and evening) music was provided by these three guys 'Sould'.  They were wonderful, so if you're looking for an accoustic soul band for your wedding check them out.  You can also find theme here on Myspace and listen to some of their stuff (Including Purple Rain by Prince - such a cool tune!)

I get the impression this little lad is possibly accident prone (based on his forehead bump!).  Best keep him away from the water feature then?!





You don't often see blokes in cool wedding hats - check this guy out.





A doughnut wedding cake - nice.



The scores for Chris' speech weren't exactly what he'd anticipated when he practiced it earlier?

Wedding photography - Clearwell Castle

Michael and Adele - St Peter's Church / Clearwell Castle - 12th August 2010


Can you guess where this wedding was?  Yep, Clearwell Castle.  OK, so that's Clearwell Church in the pic too, but you know what - they had their wedding ceremony there so that's a big tick in my book - two in one!


"So what do you think to the curls I've done you at the back - are they ok?"




As both the Bride and Groom got ready at Clearwell Castle, it gave me the opportunity to nip next door and catch up with the boys.



Boys will be boys!



Ta na, a quick transformation later and Adele was kitted out in a super duper wedding dress.





Inside St Peter's Church at Clearwell.  This is one pretty dark church.  It's safe to say high ISO, slow shutter speeds & fast primes were order of the day.  (That's for the camera geeks who read my blog).





I got the impression Adele had been waiting a while for this moment, Mike wasn't exactly quick to propose.  


As Adele is Deputy Head, she had the school kids come along to the wedding and sing.  It's amazing what a few sweets and some bribery can get you -even in school summer holidays.







A pleasant stroll back to the Castle, although I'll bet Granny (in the middle) didn't think quite so much of the walk.


Back inside for the wedding drinks reception and a spot more singing from the kids.  




* ching *






I caught this little lady not singing (no sweets for her Adele).  Let me tell you, she wasn't the only one though, I saw several adults in the Church rather tight lipped during the hymns! (shame on you).


Cool little wedding detail hey?








And to wrap up we have the beautiful couple entering for their wedding breakfast.  Note: Michael is keeping a good distance between them - yes, this is a very common time for the groom to stand on the dress!