It's that time of year isn't it?  The relaxed living of summer is nearly upon us, the winding down, the adventures, the promise of sunshine to come.

Each year for one week only I have a wee voucher sale, it always goes down so well as my lovely clients buy them for their future sessions in Autumn when it's the peak photography season, they buy them for presents or they just want some glorious summer portraits on the beach, in the park and of course they make the perfect gift for Fathers Day.

So all you need to do is email me and then I will invoice you for £25 instead of the usual £40 session cost, you're basically getting a 1 hour session at either Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park, Leazes Park, Heaton Park, Tynemouth Longsands and many other places, my rule is that as long as it's within those kind of boundaries and easy for me to get to I will come and photograph you there, please check first if it's somewhere random as there might be a little extra for travel.  You get a web gallery for 30 days, you get 15% off all of your orders placed in the first 7 days (with further print prices starting at just £10 for a 7x5, £13 for a 10x8 and £15 for a 12x8) and you also get a complimentary 12x8 print.  Lets just think about that for a moment, that's one pretty fantastic offer and it's no surprise that these vouchers went down a storm last year.

I do need a little help on Facebook though, if you see the above photo (and it's on Facebook now) please share this post with your friends and family, Facebook won't permit me to ask you to do that without disappearing me but I can do it on my blog ;)

There are so many reasons to do this here's just 5 of them - 

1. You want portraits of your family, beautiful relaxed moments you can remember forever
2. Your granny wants to have portraits of her great grandchildren
3. Your dad is never in photographs, give him a voucher for Fathers Day and he can't refuse
4. Your mum lives in France/America/Australia/Bognor Regis and would love new family portraits of you all
5. You think you might be famous one day and you might need some photos to send to the newspapers

Well you never know now do you?  But that's at least 5 great reasons to have some gorgeous family photos or maybe you just want me to sing my award winning (in my head) rendition of Wind the Bobbin Up, seriously, it's a future album release just waiting to happen!

There's also the reason of course that you'll just get some beautiful moments captured that you can pop on your walls and in frames and stare at lovingly until this time next year when you can do it all again!

Have a wonderful day and if you'd like a voucher just hit that email button

It's the final countdown

It's the week before Christmas and we're all getting really excited in the Charlton household, last night my hubby got so tipsy on red wine that he proceeded to tell me what he'd got me for Christmas and then he went to the cupboard and showed me the shoes he'd bought me, how rubbish is he at surprises?

It's just as well they are asbsolutely gorgeous, red, sparkly and definitely Dorothy shoes, can't wait to wear them on Christmas day.

broke up from work yesterday and pulled the shutters down on the studio for a while, one of my last shoots was this little boy, I don't think he's so happy about being Santas little helper do you?

you know at Christmas it's often the only time the whole family are together so if you fancy celebrating that you can book a shoot with me between now and the New Year, I can either get myself to the studio or if you fancy having it at home or on location it's no problem at all, just call me or contact me through my website

Also if you are stuck for a last minute present idea electronic gift vouchers are available right up until Christmas eve so email or call me and I can sort that out for you, it's a great gift if you are having a sudden panic because you've forgotten Aunt Mauds present and all the shops are shut!!

I'm really looking forward to having breakfast with Santa on Wednesday up at Heighley Gate Garden Centre, even my 15 year old is coming along, he was aghast that I hadn't put his name down so I had to add 1 extra, it's lovely that we can all go and share the Christmas magic together.

This week I'm looking forward to Carolyn and Claytons wedding on Thursday at the Hotel Du Vin and next week I have Nicola and Pauls wedding at Close House, if you know me you'll know that I think there's nothing quite so romantic as love at Christmas so I'm pretty excited about both weddings, sure they're going to be gorgeous!!

So whatever you are doing this week in the run up to the big day make sure it's full of happy moments and no stress!

Ain't Nothing Going On But The Rent.....

A great song and pretty much my life, because of 2 cancelled shoots last weekend I really haven't an awful lot to blog about. My life over the last week has included decorating the bathroom, working on wedding albums, sending prints to the lab, tidying the house, running around after the children and of course the occasional snuggle with hubby!!

Of course with the postponements of the shoots it's meaning that the next week is certainly going to make up for this weeks non-shooting, starting Saturday I have 7 shoots over 8 days and the book is still open in case I can squeeze one or two more in!!

I am striving to get all prints to clients by Christmas as long as they order by the 8th of December at the very very very very very latest, my lab can't guarantee anything after the 11th of December but I will try my utmost. Orders placed after the 11th definetly won't be dealt with until January, I'm having a few weeks off after my last wedding of the year on the 20th of December and next years wedding season kicks off in February!

Just a note about wedding photography, if you're looking for a wedding photographer for your 2009 wedding I must tell you that I am already half way to being fully booked for the year so please don't leave it too late or you may miss out and as ever the prime dates are the ones filling fastest.

Boudoir Photography - it's getting a little late to have these albums ready for Christmas so if you want one for a Christmas present you'll need to get in over the next week.

Men - Why not buy your partner a Boudoir Gift Voucher for Christmas, what a blinkin great present for both of you! You choose the value and I'll make up the personalised voucher, I'll even gift wrap it because I know you all hate doing that kind of thing. Call me on 0191 2289515/07918 121838 or click through to my little website!

Thought I better update...

Especially since nothing is really going on at the moment. I did have a planned shoot this weekend which was postponed because of the weather, it's now going to be in a couple of weeks which strangely left me with a whole weekend off, I don't get many of those and yesterday we went to the Centre For Life and took the girls Ice-skating for the very first time! Now I didn't think it wise to take my camera so I just had hubbys camera phone but I can't connect it via bluetooth, don't know if we have a USB lead and it won't let me email myself, oh and it won't even send picture messages, what a blinkin joke eh?!

Anyway Ice-skating was fab, you'll have to take my word for that, Looby and Abigail loved it though did of course fall over a couple of times but then again so did hubby, I missed that but apparently he slid from one side of the rink to the other, I went intending not to fall over and I didn't! LOL

Afterward we went around the Centre For Life which was quite fun and then we decided to take the girls to see the Fenwicks Christmas Window which I thought was a total dark, dismal, depressing, disappointment (did you like the alliteration?) I actually can't understand what made the window dressers decide to concentrate on the darker sides of Oliver, a whole double window devoted to policemen searching for the body of Nancy after Bill Sykes had thrown in her in the canal really didn't make me feel festive, stick to singing trees and cuddly animals Fenwicks, get with the Christmas Programme!!

Speaking of Christmas, I have 2 slots next week available for family portraits complete with Santa hats if you wish because I have some of those!! If you want either a Saturday afternoon slot or a Sunday morning slot (Saturday afternoon is Jesmond Dene or similar, Sunday has to be Saltwell Park because thats where I am at 12pm for a shoot!) give me a call on either 0191 2289515 or 07918 121838, email me at mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com or see my website http://www.mandycharltonphotography.com

This afternoon we're going to take the girls to Heighley Gate garden centre because Santa has arrived and we take them every year and since all my weekends up to Christmas are just about full we thought we better take them today. I'm sure it will be lots of fun and Looby certainly is excited about it.

This week for me is all about albums, I have several which are in production at the moment, a couple of them are sent off to various producers and the rest are in the design stages, you can be sure that album design is my main priority, in fact I think about them 24/7 lol, I do wish sometimes that there was another me to help out in the busiest times and maybe if my business continues to grow as it is now I'll be able to hire someone by this time next year, it surely is an exciting time.

Did you know that you can buy gift vouchers for every occasion and any amount for Mandy Charlton Photography, they really do make a great Christmas gift, so if you want to give someone the gift of photography this year give me a call!

OOh - any toddlers or babies in the house? Have you hear about my Milestones photoshoots?

4 shoots over the course of a year at the bargain price of £100 and you get to choose your favourite from each shoot as a 10x8 enlargement and you'll also get a DVD slideshow from each shoot, with your own gallery to choose prints, and mini albums there's never been a better time to get your baby on the Milestones Programme.

Ok, mammoth blogging catch up over, I'm off to watch the Xfactor results show :-)

This, That, Mothers Day Photoshoots and Gift Vouchers

I've just realised that it's Mothers day on the 2nd of March which seems awfully early this year, with that in mind I have decided to extend my current offer for all family portrait photoshoots, yes you know the one where you quote my blog and get a 16x12 enlargement of your favourite image, you know thats worth nearly £30. Family portrait photography shoots last around an hour to an hour and a half, it's £50 so with that free enlargement you really are making quite a saving! Anyway I've been booking portrait photoshoots a little more consistently lately so if you want to give mum or granny a mothers day present she'll treasure forever then do call me quickly because there's a lot less time until Mothers day than I thought!! On the other hand why not get mum a gift voucher which she can use at any time in the next 12 months, you can buy any denomination you want and once again if you quote my blog I'll add in the cost of the 16x12 to your voucher, a present guaranteed to thrill mum for a lot longer than a bunch of flowers! I think grandmas especially love to see georgeous photographs of their grandchildren and you know how much I love childrens photoshoots, not that I'm biased but children don't seem to mind when I start moo-ing like a cow to get them to laugh and relax. I also like to give my little ones medals, bubbles and sweeties so it really does make the photoshoot into a memorable fun experience rather than a gruelling trip to see the photographer!

Onwards and I wanted to tell you all something which made my day, you know that I shot Stuart and Jaynes pre-wedding shoot on Friday, well I received a lovely email from Jayne saying how thrilled they were with the photos and that they never knew how great they could look. Well for me that is a job well done and if you want to the chance to capture your romance forever then why not book one of my Love Shoots, you don't have to be engaged but it does help if you're in Love, it's great chance for romance whether you've been married 10 years or you're still young and in love. more details are on my website. Ooh and if you want to book one of those and you mention my blog... oh yes once again I'll give you a 16x12 enlargement of your favorite image.


Well on a personal note, spring has arrived it would seem and all around the trees are just beginning to bud, the daffodils are springing up and the sun is once again in the sky, lets hope it stays around because next week is half term!

All though it's been said.....

many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you!

Yes, I know I'm pinching lyrics to get the message accross!

If you want gift vouchers you have till 9pm tonight and then I'm switching off for Christmas!! If you order prints they won't be processed until the beginning of January when the Labs reopen but you will still get your discounts if applicable.

Don't forget if you order vouchers you'll get a little extra and since it's Christmas eve lets just say you'll get 20% extra but only until 9pm tonight! so pay for £50 of vouchers and you'll get £60 back! Sounds good to me!

Now I've had a glass of mulled wine and I'm feeling good, my rack of pork is in the oven and will be accompanied by sprouts and organic chestnuts, carrots, Yorkshire puddings and potatoes and parsnips roasted in duck fat! All that to be folowed by Rhubarb Pavlova (mine) and Chocolate trifle (hubbys).

May I take this opportunity to wish all my friends, cyber friends, blog readers and clients the most happy Christmas ever.

Right back to tracking Santa....

Last Dates for Gift Vouchers

It's the last posting date today if you want your gift vouchers to go by post, however should you wish to purchase an gift voucher, I can email it to either you to print out or straight to the lucky recipient and you can buy gift vouchers for any amount, simply email me, tell me the amount and I'll send you an invoice which you can quickly and easily pay for using any credit or debit card, the recipient will then squeal with delight and can redeem the voucher against prints, photoshoots, wedding photography bookings, you name it and you can use it, you know you could even help a lucky couple to pay for their wedding photography that way or what could be nicer than vouchers towards prints or an album upgrade.

All vouchers are personalised and can be redeemed at any point over the next 12 months.

Gift Vouchers are available all year round, 365 days a year so why not buy yours today.

Gift Vouchers

Can't remember whether I told you all so just in case I didn't did you know that Mandy Charlton Designs can give you wonderfully printed gift voucher to a value of your choosing which can then be redeemed for portrait photography packages or even wedding photography packages at a date of the recipients choice. Now that is Christmas sorted and it's only August!!

Don't forget for your chance to win your wedding album don't forget to book me for all your wedding photography needs before the 30th of September, this offer is available to all brides in Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding areas.