photoluminaire.co.uk

Its quite usual for couples I photograph to become friends but to find out I was related to the bride was a first!
I’ve copied the story of the first meeting with Paula and Daniel from their personal wedding site:

“Now for a funny story about when we met Andrew…
Back in November 2009, we popped back to Manchester one weekend to visit our short-list of three potential photographers that we’d whittled down from the internet. So, off we went with Paula’s mum & dad in tow – designated chauffeurs!
Our second meeting was with Andrew, our favourite based on their websites. Our meeting with Andrew was going great, we were really impressed by the DVDs & prints that he was showing us & we were both already sure that we wanted Andrew to photograph our wedding.
Then, Andrew’s mum came in to offer us tea & coffee. Upon seeing Paula’s mum, Andrew’s mum said ‘Don’t I know you?’. Much umming & ahhing followed, until we realised that Paula’s Great-Grandma & Andrew’s Grandma were sisters!
Needless to say, much gossiping ensued & we were a little late for our final appointment, oops!
We would have gone with Andrew regardless, based on his work, but it’s nice that we now also have this little story to tell!”

I grew up in Chadderton and I was walked around Healds Green as a small child. Its a lovely church for a wedding with good grounds. The “top lawn” mowed for photographs and the area at the front is an ideal space for candid photography.

I think this pale background goes really well with the dark hair, light skin and strong red:

Walking back, the top lawn being a raised area made it easy to get a low angle through the grass:

I love that the detail of Paula’s dress and the fir tree are reversed in the glass:

More in the gallery below and more on facebook!

Turned out nice again, Kirtie at home with the boys and bridesmaids.

Kirstie’s son gave her away. Look out for the image of Kirstie looking up at him in the gallery. Really great speech for a young man of any age, very clear, moving and lighthearted.

St Luke’s Church is very nice inside.

“That’s me in the corner” – The group shot is in the gallery if you are wondering why I have a camera on the end of a monopod!

I found just enough room at The Village to be able to capture the very natural way Ray and Kirstie are together:

P.S. There are some more on facebook.

After a couple of weddings in Cheshire, I was back “at home” at St Anne’s and the White Hart in Lydgate for the wedding of Brian and Alison. We did the engagement shoot only a couple of weeks before and I found them really natural and relaxed with each other. The wedding was also a pleasure to photograph.

Alison just before leaving the house:

Another great service at St Anne’s. Revd Christopher Halliday is always so relaxed and genuine.

A piece of football shaped confetti just before the world cup…

The White Hart, nice to see some blue sky through the skylight:

Very good DJ/singer/entertainer. I honestly forgot it wasn’t the original a few times when he was singing. Very good lighting gear too (and thankfully none of the dreadful LED lights):

These and 15 more in the preview gallery:

Stephen and Jenna are still in Mauritius (at the time of writing anyway, I expect they will come back!) and were excited to see a preview of their photos. I’m not going to tell you they looked fabulous and that the venue is wonderful, I’ll let you make your own minds up
So here we go…

This image has not been edited at all other than to convert it from the 21 megapixel RAW file. Having the power to balance the brighter background with the new lighting gear is working as planned and then some. Everyone is cooler in the shade too (wonderful trees).

The very happy couple:

One at dusk of Jenna and her awesome friends using the lights:

15 more in the gallery, got to love sunglasses and John Travolta masks…

Thanks to the two ushers that helped with the (rather extensive!) group list and the guests for being extremely helpful. Along with Martin helping me you really made it possible to get great results in the limited time available.
And thanks to the table that made me welcome at the meal.

Andrew

P.S. You can now click “Like” and post the link to facebook
P.P.S. Leave some comments for Jenna and Stephen while they are away!

I got a great recommendation on confetti.co.uk from a wedding coordinator at a different venue and ended up with two great weddings with really lovely people. This is the first of them. Thanks Amy!

I really enjoyed the day, a little light rain suits me fine. Everything happens with less staged posed photographs and the results are very real.
The service was in a lovely church in a pretty village called Lower Heswall.
The staff (esp. Eric the coordinator) at Hoole Hall / Double Tree Hilton were excellent. I’d dropped in at the venue a few weeks before and they showed me around no problem.

I’ve just invested in some powerful portable flash gear that is already proving very useful.
This was the first time I have used it at a wedding and it is great to have enough power to get flattering results inside by using large light modifiers as well as being able to make an overcast day look sunny.

Outside:

Inside:

Late on the rain stopped but the sun was setting on below the trees so that only one area was still lit with lovely golden sunlight.

These and 16 more as a little preview slideshow:

Hope you are enjoying your last few days on honeymoon, prints are ready and you have the best CD case I’ve ever done for your disk. It took me 2 hours to get right so it might be the last of its kind!
See you soon. Andrew