Nutty ..

I'm skipping right along from England's disastrous dismissal from the Euros last night (That's football, for those of you lucky people living on another continent) and looking ahead to my great  summer of Wedding Photography ..

To be honest, my year's been a bit hit and miss for bookings so far but, come next week, I pile into the season proper with a long stream of dates in the diary. I've got such a variety of Weddings to come, too. In fact, my very next one will see me afloat on the Manchester Ship Canal as the Wedding party sails from Ordsall Hall in Salford to their reception at the Imperial War Museum North. The week after that I'll be photographing a Wedding in a tepee and then I've got, amongst others, dates at Crewe Hall, Didsbury House and Styal Lodge to look forward to. I had a meeting with my 'Crewe Hall bride' last week and her Mum confessed to me that they booked me because I was "nutty" ..

I do like that ..  

Strut yer stuff ..

Now I'm not one to blow my own trumpet .. sorry, I'll just wait for the laughter to die down .. but I had two lovely things said about me this past week.
Unsolicited testimonials, as it were!..

The first concerned my pr work at the Motorcycle Live show last week. I was tasked with getting lots of detail shots of quite a number of machines on show, and the company I was doing the work for then fed them onto their Facebook page throughout the week to show the range and style of the motorbikes. They received a comment which they passed on from a chap who wrote to them saying "With images as good as this, you almost don't need to go to the show!.."

The second feather in my cap was very unexpected. One of Lesley's friends was married at Crewe Hall a year or so back, and I was invited in the evening as a guest. Well I'm not very good at doing 'Wedding guest' so, of course, I passed the time wandering the room and taking the odd shot or two. At one point the bride jumped onto the illuminated dance floor and started to 'bust some shapes'. She was wearing some really high shoes, which I closed in on - foot fetish and all that - and shot with a hint of movement. Lesley told me on Sunday that that shot was the bride's favourite picture from her entire Wedding!..
   

I want jam on it..

I'm in a little hiatus between Weddings right now, with none in the diary until the end of October. It's time to get marketing! I did a great Wedding Fayre at Crewe Hall on Sunday, and there's another one coming up at the Fir Grove Hotel in Grappenhall in early November. One of the things I'm starting to push at them (again!) is Gift Vouchers as Wedding Presents. I mean, come on, how many toasters do people need? I offer vouchers so that people can either help Wedding Couples to pay for their Wedding Photography, or indeed get them an upgrade to a package above their own budget. It's an idea that took off really well at last week's Wedding, with the bride and groom having to cough off just £95 to pay off their photography! Now that's a reason for a toast, if ever I heard one...

In these shoes?..

A bride will spend a lot of time - and money! - on her 'Wedding' shoes, and then hide them away beneath acres of white lace, never to be seen all day! So I loved the fact that Ana, last Friday's bride, really let rip with these five inchers, bopping 'til she thankfully didn't drop .. 'cos that's a long way down! She and her new hubby were at Crewe Hall, a fab venue in, erm .. Crewe, and funnily enough I'm there again this Sunday, when I have a stand at their annual Autumn Wedding Fayre. Why not come down and see me? I'm offering a rather nice little 'extra' if you book me from the fayre.

Oh, and have I told you about a one-off Open Weekend I'm going to be part of, as well? Stationery Design company 'Cards by Samantha' is holding a special two-day in November to celebrate 2 years as one of the best designers of Wedding related printing around, and I'll be there to offer a unique discount on any new bookings taken that weekend. Put it in your diary .. The 10th and 11th.
High heels not obligatory!..