I've been at an Ede Party today photographing 30 adorable children but my news and photo of the day comes from when I got home and found out that Abigail is riding her bike without stabelizers (sp?) I'm so proud of my big girl and her grown up bike riding, all her friends gave her a big cheer when they saw her, needless to say she's had a very self satisfied grin on her face this evening!!

Stuart and Kate's Pre-Shoot at Matfen Hall

What can I tell you about Stuart and Kate?

Well they're an utterly gorgeous couple who are lots of fun to be around and I can't wait to shoot their Christmas wedding! We met up at the reception venue this afternoon, Matfen Hall is one of the most gorgeous locations with Cathedral like ceilings and stained glass windows, not to mention the Stately staircase which is straight out of a Romance novel. Sadly we couldn't shoot inside today because there was a wedding on but we had lots of fun shooting in the grounds as you can see from their shots.

As you can see from the photos there are loads of places to stop for great shots and I really enjoyed our relaxed session, I'm certainly looking forward to being their wedding photographer in December.

If you would like an Engagement session you can book a portrait sitting through my website Mandy Charlton Designs

If you want to see more of Kate and Stuarts engagement shoot you'll have to speak to Kate and ask her for the Cryptic Password ;)

Portraits of Paul

I had a little downtime today so what better way to spend it than capturing a couple of candids of hubby, no he didn't pose them at all, he just happened to look at the right time and for once actually didn't have time to pull funny faces, Thank You 20D ;)

This week has been a mad busy one but I did squeeze in time to make Sushi for the very first time and my normally picky children all thought it was fab, Looby even remarked that I was the best cooker in the world!

If you're looking for an eye into my world of work then you'll see that over the next week or so, I have an E-session on Saturday up at Matfen Hall with the gorgeous Stuart and Kate whos wedding I'm shooting in December (Christmas themed), then on Sunday I'm off to take 30 childrens portraits at a party to celebrate Ramadan, I also have another couple of family portraits scheduled and then next Friday I have a wedding where the theme is black and white, Love all the great themed weddings, it makes it such fun, then again being a wedding photographer in Newcastle is I find the most fun you can have without being naughty!!!

5 Great Things I've done this past week

Ages since I've done a list and I have so many little random things to blog about this seemed to be a great way of doing it!

1. Went for Sushi at St Sushi in Newcastle on Saturday night, for the first time I tried Octopus and Clams and Oh my I loved the Octopus especially, I'm definetly going back there again!!

2. Went to the Journal/Tyne Theatre to see One Night Of Queen, the theatre was just opposite the sushi restaurant and we were seeing everyone go in, then I spotted it was a queen tribute band and so we managed to get a couple of tickets just as the show was starting and had the best night ever!!

3. Ordered a Huge Canvas, yes I know I sell them but I've never actually had one for myself, well thats all just changed and I've ordered a 16x24 canvas of Abigail, I have a 3ftx4ft one to order before the end of the month too but I'm still searching for that perfect photo!!

4. I bought another Camera, yep this one is lovely and great to add to my existing kit, as a wedding photographer back up kit is an absolute essential, prospective brides, make sure your wedding photographer carries back up!!

5. Hired a new assistant, please welcome Nigel to the MCD team! He'll be assisting on my October 19th wedding and I'm really looking forward to working with him!

No photo today, I was in bed all ill yesterday so my plans of taking all the family out for another autumnal session didn't occur, thankfully I'm feeling lots better today, can't quite beleive I slept for nearly 20 hours!!

Hexham Abbey

Paul took a well deserved break from work today and off we went to Hexham, I was scouting good locations for Lisa and Glenns wedding in November, it's always worth making sure that your wedding photographer is doing his or her homework on locations as you never know what the weather may decide to do on your wedding day!


So back to Hexham, it's years since I went inside Hexham Abbey and as luck would have it the organist was also practicing whilst I was inside so I felt completely inspired, I took several shots of the magnificent surroundings and soaked it all in. These are a couple of the shots I got today and don't forget if you want to see their full magnificence you can click on them and make them nice and big!

It's the weekend and Me, Abigail and Looby are all off to the local salon for manicures, it's the girls first time having a mini-manicure and they are so excited, I know they'll have a brilliant time, Jules the owner of MinxT on Heaton Road and also near Four Lane Ends in the east end of Newcastle is simply the loveliest lady and a wonderful beautician, Brides if you want make-up on your wedding morning then I can't recommend her highly enough, quite simply my nails have never looked better!

L is for.... Oh and Win a Canvas

Lovely Looby with the famous silly expressions!! I particularly love this one. It's rare I get those wonderful candid pics of Looby anymore, she's become far too camera aware in the last year or so and so everytime she senses a lens in her face I get the standard cheesy grin or the silly face has also become quite popular of late, maybe she's been taking tips from her daddy!!

Yes I forgot to mention, last months winners of my Win your wedding album competition were Louise and Craig who are marrying next year at Ramside Hall, can't wait for that wedding, I hear the groom is very fond of his golf!!

So Octobers competition is to win a 16x12 Canvas worth over£120, any wedding photography bookings during October will be entered into my special draw and 1 lucky couple will get their favourite wedding photo enlarged and immortalised in canvas forever!! Details are of course on my website Mandy Charlton Designs.

Don't forget as Christmas approaches and you're stuck for gifts that photographs of a loved one always go down a treat so check out my specials, oh and did you know that Mandy Charlton Designs does gift vouchers, why not buy someone a photoshoot of their very own for Christmas, it's the present bound to impress and whats more I'll even gift wrap it for you in a tasteful box guaranteed to make the recipient smile on Christmas day.

Kate Bush

Helen on my forum was asking how our kitten was, if you haven't heard the story, a couple of months ago my husband (whilst he still worked for Royal Mail) was on his postal round and heard mewing from a nearby bush, anyway it was a teeny kitten who must have only been a couple of months old, well we nurtured her and loved her and gave her home (well as we have 2 other cats another didn't make too much difference) and this was her last week caught midway up the fence-post off on one of her adventures!! She really is the cutest kitty on the block!!