Gloucestershire Wedding Photographer - Tears of joy

Sorting through last weekends wedding photos and loved this one. Just had to post it.....

....Lizzie and Sam at the Church on Annunciation Woodchester, before they married and headed off for their wedding reception at Chavenage House, Tetbury.

Pasta Parcels

Now a quick warning, this post is nothing but a ramble about today's funny moment with Daisy. There will be no photo, just words, so please switch off now if that doesn't float your boat.

At lunch today Ali told Daisy that we'd be having Pasta Parcels for dinner tonight when she gets home from work. Daisy interpreted it slightly differently. She apparently thinks we're playing Pass The Parcel when Ali gets home from work! Brilliant.

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.

Gloucestershire Wedding Photography - Hucclecote Methodist Church / Stonehouse Court Hotel

Steven and Sarah - 20th Sept 2008

Finally again some great weather...wahooo! What a day for a wedding.

Now I've seen a few late brides but Sarah really took this to a new level for her wedding day - almost an hour...go girl! Ok, so it wasn't exactly her fault as the car broke down right outside her house before they'd even left - doh. Still, it was soon all back on track and everyone waited very patiently considering.

Thankfully after they left the church their vintage car did manage to get them to Stonehouse Court Hotel - although I bet a few people had their concerns. A few drinks on the lawn followed, although time was a little short so we had to squeeze in what we could. None the less we captured some fab late afternoon light and had a super session (if only 11mins long...although that's actually pretty good lately) before the wedding breakfast commenced.

Wedding photos and slideshow below >>>

I love this photo above, simple and great in black and white.

Stonehouse Court Hotel for the wedding reception

We had great evening light for the wedding couple portraits.

Family Portrait Photography Cheltenham

Late last week I headed out locally for a family portrait session. We had some fine weather which always helps and got some great results. Zoe & Nico's children are great fun and I must confess to running around with them far too much for a 32 year old!

Here is a small selection for the 80+ photos taken in the hour we had together.

I also received a few words from Zoe today which I've included beneath.

Hi. I've just seen them, they're fantastic. Thanks so much for making it such an enjoyable afternoon, too, it was really good fun. It's going to be so hard to narrow them down. Zoe

Where does my web traffic come from?

Without getting tecchie (as I don't really understand myself) but I get this little source of info which shows where my blog gets hits from. By hits I mean stuff like your IP address, search words you type into Google, popular pages you view and this sweet little feature called a 'Recent Visitor Map'.

It only really entertains me for a couple of minutes, but it's always fun to see where the traffic comes from. This week I noticed PERU. Funnily enough one of my recent wedding couples are trekking up Matchu Picchu for their honeymoon (that'll be you then Emma & Ian). So does the Sherpa set up camp then produce an apple ibook from his rucksak with GPS card for internet access - that'd be amazing. LOL!

But who's that in New Zealand - can I come and visit please if you live there?