Wedding albums - Dumbleton Hall

Simon & Liz recently collected there beautiful Matted Wedding Album, so before it left me forever I took a few photos to blog.  It was a unique wedding in that it snowed 'heavily' and with a black tie wedding theme made for stunning pictures with Dumbleton Hall providing the perfect backdrop
 For anyone considering a winter wedding you can see the full blog post and a slideshow here.  


A 40 page wedding album....compared to my 30 page sample album is certainly the daddy!









A blanket of snow and 'warm' setting sun...........not your typical British wedding.





Liz also had parent books to accompany her main wedding album.

Wedding albums - Photographic album

It's about time I posted a little more information to help aid those wedding couples who book me remotely. Remotely? Yeah, not like a zapper for the TV, I mean you don't live on my doorstep, so perhaps find it harder to meet up prior to your wedding day!
I photograph a lot of weddings for couples who live in London (and a handful from overseas: Kiwi's, Ozzie's and a few Yanks) all looking to get married in the Cotswolds - either because it's a mutually central place for all family members, it's their original home, or just because it's beautiful and we have loads of fantastic wedding venues.

To make life easier I've put together a few shots of some of the wedding album options available at this time; starting with the Photographic Album.
Further information to help in planning your wedding day is also provided in the category Wedding Information shown in the right hand sidebar.


The hard back cover is available in either black leather, with your names embossed, or a photographic printed cover. All main albums are 10” x 14” and are presented in a box.





The album has 40 thick pages which open flat, with the option of upgrading to 50.





Parent albums and mini books are also available.




Personally 'blind' embossed





This album features flush mounted edge to edge photographic printing on thick pages, with the 40 page design including around 100 images.





If you wish to contact me regards Wedding Photography please do so through my website Matt Davis Photography

Gloucestershire wedding venues

Part 3 of Wedding Information is focusing on Gloucestershire Wedding Venues. I appreciate that should probably have been Part 1, but hey - I don't always think in a logical order! :-)

In an effort to be helpful to any bides who may stumble upon my photography blog prior to booking their wedding venue, I've started a short list of local venues, all of which I've photographed. The links are down the right hand side under the heading of Cotswold Wedding Venues, and will take you directly to each venues website. At present there are around 30 venues and the list will be added to as new ones emerge. I will no doubt have missed one or two and of course there are plenty of weddings I've photographed that were church ceremonies followed by private marquees, so these have not been included.

One wedding venue doesn't suit everyone and I often say, it's the logistics of your day that make a wedding run smoothly. Don't just look at the venue in isolation therefore, but consider how well it fits into your wedding day plan.

It's sometimes the case that venues don't necessarily advertise their services on wedding directories (such as Hitched, County Bride, The Wedding Directory, Guides For Brides, Wedding Venues, etc) or in wedding publications, making a few harder to find. Ali and I found our wedding venue by simply asking if they would hold a wedding at a restaurant we liked, rather than finding them through searches. I hope therefore it may highlight some hidden gems we have here in the Cotswolds that may otherwise be overlooked.

For anyone wishing to view my photography from the venues listed, the simplest way is to use the search box on the top left of my blog and enter your venue name. That should pull out all posts that include this in their title. Should you wish to view any photography from weddings shot pre June 2007 please contact me to discuss.

Finally I've detailed below a few of my favourite wedding venues - in the ever popular 'pictorial' format.

(Edited to say, this post has now been superseded with a more detailed look at Cotswold wedding venues, over on my new website.  Please visit, or use a link from one of the wedding venues below to view that in more detail.

Manor By The Lake wedding venue Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Ardington House wedding venue Oxfordshire

Birtsmorton Court wedding venue Worcestershire

Matara wedding venue Kingscote Gloucestershire

Berkeley Castle wedding venue Gloucestershire

Pittville Pump Room wedding venue Gloucestershire

Sudeley Castle wedding venue Winchcombe, Gloucestershire

Dumbleton Hall wedding venue Worcestershire

Clearwell Castle wedding venue Gloucestershire

Chavenage House wedding venue Gloucestershire

Updated to say you can now find a more comprehensive list of Gloucestershire wedding venues over on my new website.  Including all of the above, plus many more venues, from Barns, to Castle with Boutique Hotels and everything else in between.

Wedding photography during the wedding ceremony

This is very much a subject close to the hearts of ALL wedding photographers and is something we have little control over.

Whether you have a church ceremony or a civil ceremony, restrictions with regards what photographic coverage is allowed are usually present. Be it a grumpy registrar, or vicar who feels it not necessary to have photos in the church - I have encountered them all. Some are very reasonable, but often they have not communicated with YOU (their client) what is or isn't allowed.

I suggest you therefore get clarity on what it is they will allow, and ensure this fits with what you want - after all, you pay for their service, so why should they impose restrictions upon you that don't fit with your brief.

Here's an example of when things go wrong - who the photographer is I have no idea, what was agreed before hand, again, I have no idea.

I always talk to the vicar/registra before the ceremony to find out what they will allow. However, if this is different to what you wanted then it's often too late to remedy it. I recently had a bride use the words "you have been given Carte Blanche to shoot whatever you want in the church" yet when I spoke to the vicar I was informed in no uncertain terms that I could not take a photo of the bride entering the church, that I was to stay in one place, not move (at any point...not even during a hymn) however could take a couple of photos (but not during the actual 'ceremony words'). Ummm.... a little different to the ideas I had in mind!

It's worth noting, when I shoot a wedding I awlays have consideration for the event itself and act discretely, with the end goal of producing images to reflect your day (after all, that's what you pay me for).

Finally I'll leave you with these few words I shared with a vicar at another recent wedding - some of you may be surprised by this (but it's quite often the case)

Matt: "Hi, I trust you're the vicar running proceedings today?"

Vicar: "You must be the photographer. I don't like photographers."

Matt: ".............. gasp!"

Really, does anyone desirve to be spoken to like this, not least you'd think by a vicar?

Wedding Photography - What to ask your photographer?

As part of a new series of useful information for brides planning their wedding day, I'm writing topics to fit the heading of 'Wedding Information' (which you can see in the categories tab on the Right Hand Side of the main page).

They will be varied (and no doubt a little random) but hopefully build a good resource pool for couples to use as a checklist when planning a wedding. I appreciate magazines 'offer' this advice, but the 21 year old editor who writes the articles probably cares little about an actual wedding, has been to very few weddings (if any) and certainly doesn't see the whole process from start to finish. That's apparently my qualification for writing this! LOL. (It's certainly not my handle of grammar & English language, so bear with me on that part).

This first post was inspired by another site where I read these comments and knew they echoed my own thoughts, which would certainly be of use to any bride (and groom for that matter) who are looking to book a photographer.

Often when I meet with a couple they tell me " I'm not too sure what to ask! You're the first photographer we've talked to."

Here are 5 P's that will help you select the right photographer.

1. Photography - Do you like the photographer's style, range, quality, experience, etc?
2. Personality - It's gonna be a long day unless we're a good fit...
3. Professionalism - Does the photographer have a good grasp of contracts, punctuality, communication, etc.
4. Products - Does the photographer offer the albums, prints, negatives, online proofing, etc that you are seeking?
5. Pricing - Is it in the budget? If not, can we shift our priorities to fit it in the budget?

I say to all my couples (and truly believe this) they need to find the right photographer for them and this is a great evaluation tool. A meeting is also a two way process, you're 'vetting' me and I'm finding out about you guys. I'm looking for a couple who want my style, fit with my personality, appreciate professionalism, want the products I offer, and (of course) can afford my prices.

My aim is to clearly communicate what I offer and ensure this fits with your requirements. Simple.

Coffee table books - what's it all about?

Becoming ever more popular in album choice are Coffee table books, which some people have never seen before. I thought it may be helpful therefore to include a few page layouts from some of my recent designs to give you a feel for what its all about.

These photos were taken from two weddings in 2007 and are just a small selection of the 64 pages that you get in each album. It's a great way to include plenty of photos of your friends, (typically as multiples on a page), then have a wow factor of some super size shots of the married couple as double page spreads.