A very wet pre-wedding shoot in Cornwall - Cheryl and Alec

A few weeks ago I headed down to Cornwall to snap Cheryl and Alec for their pre-wedding shoot. It rained. A lot. And I really mean A LOT! From the minute I got out of the car to meet them, to the minute I went to bed that night, it didn't stop. It was definitely the wettest, and windiest pre-wedding shoot I've ever done. That didn't stop Cheryl and Alec from having a fun day though. Mucking around on the beach, trying to keep dry and taking shelter in the forest, and just embracing the terrible weather conditions wherever we went. These guys were totally cool with the shooting conditions, and put their trust in me to still come up with the goods and produce some intimate, and fun photos. I think I succeeded... you decide. 

Cheryl and Alec, it was lovely meeting up with you and spending the day getting wet through! I can't wait to photograph your wedding in London later this year.

Fingers crossed I bring some better weather with me! 

Sunny Hertfordshire pre-wedding shoot - Jodie and Craig

For my first shoot of the year I headed down to Hertfordshire to spend a couple of hours with one of my 2016 couples. Jodie and Craig were blessed with some stunning sunshine during my visit to their hometown. But don't be fooled by the warm feel to these photos... there was still a chill in the air.

It was so nice to spend my first assignment of the year with such a lovely couple. I can't wait to snap your big day in the Summer! 

A lovely Leicestershire wedding at Prestwold Hall - Kate + Mark

"Dear Ed,

One last thank you before we leave you alone and accept that you have other brides and grooms to photograph!

We wanted to send you a card to say a more personal thanks than an email can manage. Photographs and memories (and a marriage!) are all you have after a wedding day is over, and we know that our pictures will enable us to look back at the day and remember all the details, shared moments, and emotions. 

We loved working with you and everyone has been so impressed with our photos.

We spent the evening that we received the photos watching the slideshow on our TV with a bottle of wine and our wedding playlist on. It was like reliving the day, but even better because there were moments that we hadn't seen ourselves that you captured beautifully. 

We have got our parents coming tomorrow to view them and I expect there will be a few tears!

Thank you again for our perfect photographs."

Kate & Mark

VENUE - Prestwold Hall

Leicestershire wedding at Halstead House - Sarah and Simon

Since moving to the East Midlands four years ago I'm continually surprised by the amazing countryside this part of England has to offer. I'm also lucky enough to get booked for lots of lovely weddings at stunning venues, and this one was no exception! Halstead House, and its grounds are beautiful. With a rustic farmhouse exterior, a lake at the bottom of the garden, and gorgeous views of the Leicestershire countryside all around, this place is the ideal summer wedding venue.

I was joined on this wedding by my good friend, and excellent photographer Kevin Fern. Having a second shooter is always handy when a couple want photos of both themselves and their partners getting ready in the morning... especially when they're both getting ready miles away from each other too. Cheers, for second-shooting for me Kev, you did a great job as always!

Dear Ed,

Thank you so much for capturing our special day so perfectly. We love looking through the photos and they make us smile each time we do!

We wish you all the best and will highly recommend you to family and friends!

Best wishes,

Sarah and Simon

BIG thanks to Kevin Fern Photography for second shooting with me on this wedding. 

Venue - Halstead House

Winter wedding at West Mill in Derbyshire - Becca + Patrick

For my final wedding of 2015 I headed just up the road to the stunning West Mill Wedding Venue in Derbyshire. I'd never shot here before, but boy oh boy is it a photographers dream! With amazing backdrops everywhere, you simply can't go wrong. With gale force winds hitting the tiny Derbyshire village on the wedding day, having an excuse to stay inside was ideal! 

Becca and Patrick were the lovely bride and groom, and were great sports. They agreed to pop outside in the blustery conditions to get a few exterior portraits, but with so much to see inside the mill, we weren't out for long. If you don't believe me about the conditions, just check out the confetti shots to see windswept hair photos.   Funnily enough these are my favourite shots from the day! 

So grab a glass of mulled wine, a big fat mince pie, and feast your eyes on this gorgeous loved-up couple enjoying their wedding day.

Derbyshire wedding at Osmaston Park - Lauren and Adam

Back in summer myself and super-duper second shooter Chantelle Gribbon headed to Osmaston Park to shoot the beautiful wedding of Lauren and Adam.

A vibrant colour scheme, awesome dress, stunning weather (including a brief, yet amazingly scary thunderstorm) and some pretty interesting moves on the dance floor...

This wedding had it all!

Venue - Osmaston Park / Make-up - Cristina Lazarotto / Hair - Necias Hair Styling

Dress - Candy Anthony / Catering - Upper Crust / Marquee - Top Marques UK

Best of 2015

I seriously can't believe thats another year done and dusted! It feels like only last week that I was posting my last 'Best Of' blog. 

This year has been amazing on so many levels. I've been lucky enough to travel and shoot weddings all over the UK, and abroad in 2015. Shooting a wedding in Sicily was such a great experience, and we also squeezed in trips to New York, Boston, Stockholm, Scotland, and not to mention our 3 week road trip round New England, yep, I definitely got around this year!

2015 has also seen me take quite a bold business decision, and cut back on the amount of weddings I take on. I do all my own editing, admin, and pride myself on good customer service, and this just isn't possible when you take on way too much work. Limiting the amount of weddings I take on has been the best move ever! I love meeting up with couples before their big day. Getting to know them, and finding out more about their wedding day. This way I don't just turn up on the day as a stranger with a camera.

I know I bang on about it all the time on my blog and on Facebook, but I really can't emphasise how important having a pre-wedding shoot can be.  A huge number of couples aren't totally comfortable in front of the camera, and having a pre-wedding shoot with me is the best way of getting over this fear. Seriously, it makes it so much easier for you on your wedding day. Because we've already spent a bit of time together its far more relaxed. I turn up, snap away, and you just treat me like one of the guests.   

So whats in store for 2016? Another destination wedding, this time its at a stunning chateau in France. Trips to Rome and Geneva also in the diary, and I'm nearly fully booked for UK weddings too! I've still got a few random dates available, so please get in touch now if you want to book. 

I'm exhibiting at a handful of wedding shows in the new year and would love to see you if you're looking for a photographer for your big day. Pop along to the Wedding Event With A Difference (in Nottingham city centre) in February, or The Pop-Up wedding fair at Calke Abbey in April. Or if you're down in London, why not head on over to the super-cool Most Curious Wedding Fair in March. I'll be at all of these!

All that's left to say now is a huge thanks to all you amazing couples that booked me, trusted me, and allowed me to shoot your wedding this year.  

Enjoy the photos! (Ed)

A beautiful Berkshire wedding at The Olde Bell - Louise and Kevin

Back in summer I had the pleasure of heading back down to Berkshire to shoot the wedding of Louise and Kevin. They got hitched in the cute little village of Hurley, which is just a few miles down the road from where I used to live. I'd photographed a wedding at The Olde Bell Inn before, and knew that it was a lovely venue, with beautiful gardens. All I needed to do was keep my fingers crossed for some lovely summer weather!

A beautiful East Sussex wedding at the Gallivant - Steph + Graham

Any wedding day that involves a trip to the beach is always going to get me excited! And Steph and Grahams wedding not only had the beach, it also had lots of other fun aspects to it. It was a joy to be a part of, from start to finish.

As always, I'm just going to let the photos tell the story, but I do want to share the words from Steph and Grahams thank you card they sent me. Such kind words, from a lovely couple.

Dear Ed, 

I don't even know where to start with putting this thank you into words. From the moment we met you on our pre-wedding shoot in Richmond Park, we instantly knew that we could trust you to capture our wedding day memories for us to treasure forever.

You have not let us down and have beautifully frozen in time the whole myriad of emotions that were felt on our special day. I've struggled to begin to condense the photos into an album we can print out - which is testament to your talent as a photographer.

You enabled us to feel incredibly relaxed on the day, which is no mean feat! You were so unobtrusive that so many of the photos I hadn't even realised had been taken. Before even seeing any of your photos, so many of our guests commented on your professionalism and wished they had booked you for their weddings. We will always recommend you to any of our friends and family who are planning a wedding. I've even joked about renewing our vows already so we can book you again!

Seriously Ed, we cannot thank you enough for all you have done. You are born to do this job and we wish you every continued success.

Love Steph + Graham xxx

Venue - The Gallivant

Scotland wedding - A very intimate Highlands wedding - Victoria and Jim

Back in July I headed to Scotland to photograph the very intimate wedding of Victoria and Jim. With only 12 guests it was an honour to be asked to be a part of their day, surrounded by their closest friends and family as the party took over the stunning Barcaldine castle in Oban.

In true Scottish tradition the weather was, lets say, totally unpredictable all day. But this is what I love about the Highlands. From my experience of having holidays in Scotland, when it rains it rains hard. But you're nearly always blessed with some amazing weather, and beautiful light after the storm. This was exactly the case on their wedding day. After the couple told me there was a beach just a 5 minute drive away from the castle I knew I had to get them there at some point during the day. Luckily for us, the rain stopped early evening and we managed to hop in their 4x4 and head to the beach to catch the last of the light.

Being part of such a small wedding was lovely. Just choosing to share your big day with those that mean the most to you is so special. This was very clear to see with the emotion that was pouring out of everyone during the ceremony, speeches, first dance, well... all day really! 

Victoria and Jim, thanks for asking me to photograph your beautiful wedding day. You were both so great to photograph, and really made me feel like one of the family as I wandered around snapping away as you and your guests celebrated the day. You were also great sports for not moaning about the millions of midges that attacked us down at the waters edge while we got those lovely portraits of the two of you. I still had the bites all over my body two weeks later! SO worth it though.

"Hi Ed,

Thank you soooo much! The photographs are gorgeous - Jim and I are both thrilled with them. 

We really appreciated you coming all the way up to Scotland for our wedding and we hope you enjoyed your holiday up here afterwards.

You captured our big day just perfectly :) I'm so glad we chose you to be our photographer (not that we ever had any doubts).

Victoria + Jim" 

Click here to see the video shot by the awesome guys at CineMate

Venue - Barcaldine Castle

Country village hall wedding in Northamptonshire - Lucy and Tom

"Thank you, thank you, thank you for our super lovely photographs which we received on Friday. We absolutely love them and have spent the majority of this weekend looking at them time and time again! You did a wonderful job - thank you so much." - Lucy & Tom

Boho country wedding in Norfolk - Meg and Tom

Photographing a wedding for a couple that studied photography at University may add a fair amount of pressure to the proceedings, but I actually take it as a huge compliment. When two people that are so passionate about photography put their trust in me to shoot their wedding, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Meg and Tom were awesome! They totally "got me" and the way I shoot. Leaving me to snap away and get lots of emotional, and fun shots. 

Highlights for me have got to be... their cute dog attending the ceremony... the hilarious double-act best man speech... Toms totally cool zoo shirt... oh yeah, and when Meg decided to roll down a hill in her wedding dress! That was definitely a first for me to see at a wedding.

A very vibrant tattooed wedding in Norfolk - Sophie + Kyle

"Good morning, Ed

We hope you're well. Just wanted to drop you a line to say Kyle and I sat down with our wedding pictures last night (LOVED the box it came in and the adorable USB, plus the prints you very kindly threw in as well, what a lovely touch). 

We are completely in awe of the beautiful photos you took. Nothing really prepared me for how quickly the big day was going to go, and a few weeks later I found myself barely remembering what had happened; but looking through last night was like reliving it. Your photos really capture what a silly and fun day it was by all our guests expressions, and we are so lucky that it's immortalised in them. 

The sunset beach photos are my absolute favourite - and that was such a special part of the day for us too, when we could escape and chill out for a little while. Really chuffed. 

Thank you so much for all your hard work, Ed. I know I've said it before but it was an absolute pleasure to have you at our wedding and we're so glad you were available to document our wedding. All our guests said what a lovely man you are. Also thank you for not making me look like a clichéd gothic tattooed person! And for getting pictures of Kyle looking fit as f*@! - not that that's hard work haha. 

Thanks again, Ed, we can't wait to share with our families and friends. We hope you enjoy the rest of this year's weddings and have a lovely Christmas and new year. Hopefully our paths cross again sometime :) 

All my love and take care, 

Sophie (and Kyle but he wants to thank you himself)" 

SOPHIE + KYLE LOOKED SO COOL... THEY MADE THE COVER OF ROCK N ROLL BRIDE!

 
rock+n+roll+bride.jpg
 

Nottinghamshire woodland pre-wedding shoot // Hannah and Adam

Vibrant Autumnal colours, one very cute pooch, a loved-up couple, and some typically British wet weather! Here's a collection of images from Hannah and Adams pre-wedding shoot I photographed earlier this week in a beautiful Nottinghamshire forest. Just 5 minutes up the road from my house, I'm thinking it wont be the last time I do a shoot in this lovely forest.

Thanks for braving the drizzle guys. Can't wait to snap your big day next year!

A very cool rockabilly wedding in Derbyshire // Maya and Jamie

"Dear Ed, we want to say a huge thank you for capturing our special day so uniquely, and staying so true to us a couple, and the vibe of the day.

You were the first thing we booked for our wedding as we fell in love with your work instantly, and for us, the right photographer who would get us, was SO important... and you didn't disappoint!

The photos are simply stunning and I'm getting comments almost daily off people about how amazing they are now... two months on! You gave us such a hard task choosing a few to frame as all the images are firm favourites! 

Thanks a million, we will recommend you to anyone.

Love Maya + Jamie (and Albie)"

THIS AWESOME WEDDING WAS ALSO FEATURED ON ROCK N ROLL BRIDE!