Andrew & Andrew ..

I've never before shot a Wedding where both the newly-weds had the same name, but it happened yesterday when I shot the "Big Gay Wedding" of Andrew and Andrew! They were at the fantastic Belle Epoque restaurant in Knutsford with a truly fun bunch of friends and family and were treated to much hilarity and - for her, great embarrassment - when the poor old registrar really, really did pronounce them "husband and wife"! ..

The Wedding got 2017 off to a great start for me and it's appropriate that yesterday was in a restaurant, as my next big job is to shoot every item on the menu of a new Cheshire restaurant ..

Today though? Feet up ..

I'm blushing...

"Mega thanks for your fabulous work" ...

I'm blushing! I am! I've gone all shy and modest and bashful! Naaah, have I heck! I love it! I'm an artist, darling, with an ego, after all, so bring it on! I've had another 'unsolicited testimonial', as they say, from Catherine, one of 'my' brides, who got married at The Belle Epoque and thought her photographs were "fantastic". Naturally, I concur, but then I would, wouldn't I? I shot 'em!...

Being booked by Catherine, though, did remind me of a story. I was once photographing the Wedding of another young lady called Catherine, and because she lived abroad it happened to be one of those rare times when it wasn't possible to meet her before her Big Day. So, I arrived at her house to photograph the bridal preparations and the door was opened by a cheery, smiling young lady who waved and said "Hi, I'm Catherine". I dutifully followed Catherine around the house, photographing her having her hair done, shooting as she had her make-up applied, and moving in for close-ups as she opened a bottle of champagne. Eventually, just as she was about to go upstairs to get her dress on, she stopped and turned to me with a puzzled look on her face and said "Aren't you going to take any photos of the bride?" Aaaagh! The chief bridesmaid had the same name as the bride!
Now I'm blushing!...

Alright, my sun? ..

What a weekend! Two fantastic Weddings, temperatures in the high eighties, The Hump going down in flames and England beating the entire Rest of the World 3-1 at football !! Ok, the footy was only the Robbie Williams charity match at Old Trafford, but it bodes well for Euro 2012 when I hope we can get revenge for the Europeans giving such dismal votes to poor old Englebert Humperdinck, who got trounced in the Eurovision Song Contest and came second to last!

My Weddings were both amazing at the weekend, and gave me a real challenge with the unbelievable amounts of light bouncing off the lovely white brides' dresses! However, speaking of bouncing light .. I'd planned to do a shot at the front of the Belle Epoque brasserie during Saturday's Wedding, but when I checked out the view before the ceremony it was absolutely drowned in dazzling light with the sun shining straight into my fish-eye lens. One hour later though and the great Greek God of Photography, Correctius Aperturius, smiled sweetly on me and got me the shot I'm showing you today. Not only had the sun moved behind the building, but it was reflecting off a shop front across the road and lighting the exact spot I wanted to place the Bride and Groom! Now what are the chances of that happening?

Feelin' hot, hot, hot...

Phew, what a scorcher! I know the tabloids usually wait until June to bring out that old headline, but I'm a rush, 'cos I've just shot one of my hottest Weddings of the year so far! Holly looked hot, James looked hotter (Well, he was wearing a three-piece suit!) and Willington Hall blazed yesterday under the most sweltering sunshine of the summer. Man, I've never used so much fill-in flash in all my life! I came away with a face like a beetroot and 850 fantastic shots of a really laid-back afternoon - oh, and a lovely new image for the front page of my web-site. You can check out the newly-weds page here, too!


So, off to the swanky Belle Epoque Brasserie in Knutsford for today's Wedding. Different location, new challenges. Ironically there are at least twice as many guests this afternoon as there were yesterday, in a venue about a quarter of the size. I think I'd better shovel on the anti-perspirant! I remember once shooting a Wedding there out on the busy main road that the venue's situated on. Ex Man U player  Ole Gunnar Solskjær casually walked between my camera and the couple, and I had to ask him to buzz off out the way while I got my shot. Nowadays I don't think I'd know a United player if he came up and kicked me in the tripods!

Toodles....  

Normality returns..

So what's all this about a crisis in Greece? I've just come back from a week's holiday there and can assure you the Mythos lager is flowing like a river, and not once was there ever a shortage of Chicken Souvlaki, Gyros or Moussaka! I think it's just the British tourist industry, trying to make us all stay at home for the London Olympics and this crappy Jubilee mullarkey!

Anyway, I have survived! Yes, dear reader, I have been a guest at a Wedding and come out of it with a smile on my face. Ok, I needed a week's break to get over the shock, but I'm back now and hard at work editing the 1,150 photographs I took on the day! Bloody hell, that's more than I shoot when I'm actually working at a Wedding! Do you think I was over-compensating? And I wouldn't mind, but I took over 600 pictures in Greece .. and I was supposed to be off work! Nah, once a photographer always a photographer! Anyway, I think I've started a trend, 'cos a pal of mine has asked if I would nip down to get a few shots at his Wedding next month and er, .."Oh, could you be a witness, too?" At this rate I'll be conducting the flippin' ceremonies!..

A quick thank you to the people who contacted me to say they were missing my blog whilst I was away! I checked the statistics for the last week and noticed I even had two readers from Burkina Faso! Blimey, that's like, miles away!

Wedding head on again now .. I have Weddings on Friday and Saturday this week, at a couple of my favourite venues - Willington Hall and the Belle Epoque restaurant in Knutsford. Isn't it nice when normality returns?..