You know... I used to be so good at blogging but sadly as my business gets busier the less time I have to blog.

So here's the down low on whats been occuring....

In life all is well, we've had days out, stayovers and the girls have been to Ibiza with their grandparents while Iain went to the Lake District with his grandparents.  My children are well travelled.

Since I last blogged I've shot something like 6 weddings and 20 portrait sessions as well as a very swish birthday party where the Drifters were flown in!!  Now I must get around to blogging that one.

I think it's safe to say that there's no way I'll ever be caught up!

A couple of favourites from recent weddings though :-


 
Simon and Georgi who married at St Georges Parish Church, Jesmond and had a swish reception at The Sage, Gateshead


 
Gaia and Andy who married in an intimate ceremony at Longhirst Hall in Northumberland


 
and Nigel and Louise who married in a fabulous flamboyant setting, Crathorne Hall in Yarm, Cleveland.

If you're a bride interested in seeing any weddings I've shot at your chosen venue just email me and I'll give you the password to the galleries.

So after a couple of ultra chaotic but fun months I'm taking next week off, I'll be away from lunchtime on Monday until Saturday so please be aware that print orders won't be processed until my return.  This means of course that if you opt for express shipping, your order might take just a little longer to reach you.  Also during this time it may take me longer to respond to emails and enquiries but I do have 2 smartphones and as long as the batteries aren't both flat at the same time I'll respond as quickly as I can.

Upon my return I'm going to be shooting 2 weddings in 5 days plus many other fun things, if I don't blog for a month you'll know that life is being fun and chaotic again!!

If you do want to keep up with me though why not add me on facebook or Twitter

Until next time...

Cool Places to get married in the North of England

Choosing your wedding venue is probably one of the most important choices you'll make as a bride along with of course choosing that all important wedding dress and also your wedding photographer because get all three of those things right and you're a long way closer to having that perfect wedding day you've always dreamed of.

As a wedding photographer in the north of England I am lucky enough to have shot weddings at many wonderful venues in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria as well as one or two others around the UK.

In making this list I'm choosing places which have treated the bride and groom in a manner which they should be treat as well as being nice to the various vendors and also the guests, I'm also going with places which obviously look gorgeous photographically.

So here's some of my favourites, all of which I've photographed at sometime over the last 12 months.

Although I am numbering these it's only for ease of reading, I can't put them in actual order as it's just too hard!

1. Linden Hall, there's nothing bad at all I can say about Linden Hall, I even know that they're getting new stair carpets this year for the entrance to the little upstairs room, thats the cute one with the fairy lights. Linden Hall is beautiful, memorable, the food is amazing and the staff are wonderfully polite and cheerful.





2. Guisborough Hall Hotel, I've not shot here but I stayed with hubby for a romantic getaway and I know it's going to be a fabulous venue to get married. The food was amazing and the staff really looked after us.
Gisborough Hall Hotel, very posh but lovely for a wedding!!" href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=727399&id=753857163">


3. Headlam Hall, gosh this place has so many amazing places to take photographs, the staff are wonderful, I haven't eaten here but the catering looks fantastic, I plan to take hubby here for a romantic getaway sometime this year.



4. Sunderland, Stadium of Light. If you are a football fan I have to recommend the Stadium of Light, the function room is gorgeous, the food, some of the best I ever ate and actually that 2 foot ledge accross the car park provided wonderful romantic photographs!



5. Newcastle St Nicholas Cathedral, ok so not everyone can get married here, I don't even know what the conditions are but what I do know is that the Canon is a wonderful person, the venue is probably about the most awe inspiring ever and if you can get married here it's going to be a day that you never ever forget.




Especially if the Choir are singing




Ok so thats a brief list, there are many more wonderful venues such as Close House, Jesmond Dene House Hotel, Matfen Hall, Otterburn Hall all as individual as each other, wherever you decide to have your special day have a wonderful wedding!

Steven and Dees Wedding - The Assembly Rooms and Newcastle Quayside

You may remember Steven and Dee from their magical E-Shoot back in May, well Saturdays wedding was no less spectacular and yes those were Dee's wedding shoes in yesterdays post so well done to all of those who guessed correctly!

Wanna see some photos from Dee and Stevens wedding?





The Handsome Groom



and the beautiful bride




The wedding was really emotional and I cried behind my camera when Dee burst into tears, she was just so happy to be marrying her soulmate.



No one who believes in Love like I do could can fail to see the beauty of this moment of absolute and complete true love.



We went off to the Quayside afterwards to get some great couple shots and though we had been scheduled to go on the Millenium bridge we discovered that there was a boat race and the bridge was open.



This kind of thing doesn't happen very often and created an amazing photograph don't you think?



These two are soul-mates and it makes me happy :-)



One of my favourite moments from the entire day, beautiful?



They didn't take too much encouragement to kiss!

Steven and Dee, thank you so much for letting me share in your day and your wedding at the Assembly Rooms, thanks for the sensational meal and making my job so easy, enjoy your honeymoon :-D

Coming Soon - The most awesome 08/08/08 wedding you'll ever see

Just wanted to get this sneak peek up this morning, yes it is 7am but I'm trying to work and get Rachaels wedding edited before we go out, being on holiday hasn't stopped me from working on this amazing wedding and some of the photographs have genuinely given me goosebumps, I can't wait to share more though I have to comment that although my broadband connection is ok, it times out after 10 minutes so it's unlikely that I'll get the gallery uploaded until I'm home :-(


Anyway I'll try and post some more sneakers tonight so check back, it's honestly worth waiting for :)

Bits and Bobs...

Because it's the middle of the week in the middle of a very busy summer. Sorry I haven't shared any personal photographs of late but to be honest by the time I wrap up editing each weeks wedding I can't be bothered to pick up the camera again until the next wedding. I am kind of looking forward to taking lots and lots of photographs whilst we're on our adventure next week.

The plans for our hols now stand like this.

Saturday - photoshoot followed by departure to Derbyshire (Pauls dad is staying at our house with the cats and the fish!!)
Sunday - Gullivers Kingdom, the Matlock Bath Aquarium and the Cable Cars
Monday - Drayton Manor Theme Park
Tuesday - Legoland
Wednesday - London Aquarium, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, trip on the thames
Thursday - Natural History Museum plus anything we didn't have time for on Wednesday, oh and maybe a trip to Hamleys
Friday- a very very long drive home

We're just about packed and ready to go, i have a shopping trip planned to get my holiday stuffs tommorrow and then on Friday I am completely looking forward to Rachael and Jonathans fabulous wedding, can't wait for that :)

Darling hubby has an infection in his tear duct and spent the morning at the hospital in eye casualty, he's ok but looks like the elephant man and I've told him to take it easy for the rest of the week. He of course is now refusing to listen to me and insisting that he goes to work tommorrow, I'm threatening him with a mild case of divorce if he doesn't take time off and take it easy!! LOL

Thats all for now folks!!