Barnaby's second birthday

Barney reached the grand old age of two today and with a birthday so close to Christmas it's was hard to decide what to buy him (or at least what he 'needs').

He had a few toys, some money (which he has a surprising understanding of, for a two year old), clothes  and a scooter from Ali & me.

Barney fully kitted out - this whole outfit was for his birthday.....right down to his vest & socks!

Ali made this fantastic train cake.  Jam dodgers are one of Barney's favourite biscuits and he was keen to tuck into the carriages when he saw them.

So much 'puff' they blew the tree over.

After cake Daisy whisked barney off to play 'dressing up'.  Needless to say he has no idea what's going on!

The juxtaposition of a fairy outfit and digger.

Winter wedding slideshow Dumbleton Hall, Worcestershire

I recently posted some photos from the winter wedding of Simon and Elizabeth at Dumbleton Hall and have decided it really must have a slideshow to accompany it.

So with no further ado, please enjoy the beautiful wedding photos from their Christmas winter wedding.

Family portraits Cirencester, Gloucestershire

A weekend without any weddings meant I had chance to get out and take some family portraits around Cirencester this weekend.  James and Carrie are wedding clients from way back in early 2008 (which is almost three years now!) who now have a new addition to their family of 15 month old Millie.

We strolled around Cirencester Park and hit the kiddies play area for a few shots.





Pee-poo with Piglet is a great game for a young toddler.






Cirencester has some lovely little backstreets, ideal to safely leave Millie toddling around whilst I got some natural portraits.


This is one of my favourite photos from the day.  Oddly enough we'd just been to the Cafe and this was in fact taken afterwards. 






Taking photos of children (especially fairly young ones) requires some patience as they don't really understand what's going on.  It soon became clear though, Millie definitely found the concept of me lying on the floor pretty entertaining and it generated smiles like there was no tomorrow.






Just look how little her hands are! 

Crickley Hill, Cheltenham - Family walk

A super day of sunshine meant only one thing this Sunday - a stroll out with my family, followed by a great lunch upon our return.  
Crickley Hill is just on our doorstep so we wrapped up warm and headed off out for an hour whilst dinner cooked itself in the oven (albeit with some prior preparation by my wife first).

Winter wedding photos Dumbleton Hall, Worcestershire

Simon and Elizabeth - 19th Dec 2010 - Dumbleton Hall
I've never shot a totally white winter wedding, maybe a flutter of snow, but this wedding was something all together more fairy tale.  Simon and Elizabeth are a lovely couple, very easy to photograph and truly amazing at hanging around in the snow for photos despite sub zero temperatures.  
The whole wedding was held at Dumbleton Hall in Worcestershire.  This did make it a little easier as at least there wasn't any driving between churches and reception venues.....phew!
I had to pop up a couple of teasers prior to Christmas (see this earlier Dumbleton Hall post), but here now we finally have a fuller collection (and yeah....it's probably too many but it's been hard to choose, so I just included LOADS!)


The sheep at Dumbleton Hall definitely in need of those thick wooly coats!


I'm not sure who this is doing Liz's wedding Make-up but t looked great.  Drop a comment at the bottom of the page if you know.





Liz had lots of bridesmaids - I think five in total.  All the girls had black bridesmaid dresses which looked great for the black tie wedding and perfect set against the snowfall.


Don't ask???


Two ushers, three pints?  Ummm?



Simon and his Best Man.  I must say, looking 'quite' serious.


Sometimes photos are just given to me as a gift.  What better way to show the super veil Liz had to accompany her wedding dress.

Wedding photographer Swan Hotel Bibury, Gloucestershire.

Alan and Rachel - Sandhurst Church / The Swan Hotel, Bibury. 
It is the season for winter weddings, which this year appears to mean either remarkably cold weather or snow.  So with a couple of under layers, shirt, jumper, warm jacket, hat, gloves and scarf I set off around the Cotswolds to photography their wedding day.  First off bridal preps was at Hatherly Manor Hotel, followed by the wedding ceremony at Sandhurst Church, then off out to The Swan Hotel in Bibury for their reception.

Wedding makeup was by Purepampering (there's Clare's famous hands) and wedding hair by Chris Fordham (standing to attention below!)

The little flower girl braved the cold to meet Rachel at Sandhurst Church when she arrived.




What a super smile from Rachel as she greets Alan at the alter.






Love this photo.  So many great faces & expressions falling into place in one frame.













Off to the Swan Hotel in Bibury












It was pretty chilly for wedding portraits so we kept it quick then headed back into the warmth for meet, greet and reception drinks.












Although it was a Christmas wedding I was still surprised to see the bride wearing comedy reindeer antlers.









Warm room, cosy atmosphere, dark outside + a few drinks = sleepy guest.

Can you tell it's the Swan Hotel?






The Swan Hotel at night.  Despite being about -10 degrees outside I figured the final light of a December day needed to be captured on film.