Keeley and Charlie's Wedding, Blakeney Norfolk

Having done a pre-wedding shoot with Keeley and Charlie earlier in the year I was delighted to be finally photographing their wedding at Blakeney, just up the road from where I live. They are a lovely couple and were nice and relaxed in front of the camera so it was a laid back kind of day, I hope they feel the same!
Charlie, his dad and the rest of the boys went for a pre-Wedding Breakfast, breakfast at Cookes of Cley. I popped along for a few minutes and grabbed some quick shots before heading to The Blakeney Hotel to photograph Keeley preparing.

The Hotel overlooks the wonderful harbour at Blakeney and Keeley had a room with a balcony. Unfortunately the only rain of the day fell when it was time to use it for some photos with her bridesmaids, typical! Still the wonderful interior provided some lovely backgrounds for photos especially the cream wood panelling which showed off the bouquets beautifully. 

The magnificent Blakeney Church played host to their ceremony and as Charlie serves in the Royal Navy he and a few of his fellow crew were decked out in full uniform complete with ceremonial swords. Leaving the church under an arch of swords and out into the bright September sunshine we headed to the harbour for some one-on-one whilst the wedding party headed to Wiveton Hall for canapés. 

Keeley and Charlie caused a bit of a stir down on the harbour with holiday makers and kids who were crabbing all stopped in their tracks by the newlyweds wandering down the harbour front.

 Just before their wedding breakfast we made the most of the wonderful kitchen garden at Wiveton Hall for a few more portraits.

Unsurprisingly there were some navy games to be played during the dessert which involved eating it without any cutlery!  

Charlie didn't do so well

Something a little different - vintage tractor ploughing!

Woke up this morning feeling a little bit stiff from yesterday's wedding photography at Great Massingham and King's Lynn.  I thought I deserved a couple of hours off before getting back to editing so popped along to Cockthorpe Airfield to watch some vintage tractors compete in a ploughing contest.

Having not been to the event before I didn't quite know what to expect.  The variety of tractors on show wasn't outstanding and the ploughing was a bit slow to start with, a lot of checking furrows before they really get up speed.  Note to self, next time go two hours after the event starts to see some real action!

Anyway there were a few groovy 1950's type tractors which looked the part and the men on board looked like they were all taking it pretty seriously and I did my best to put them off whilst photographing them.

The smell of bacon rolls however made me too hungry so I made my way home after a couple of hours to make my own.

All I could think about whilst photographing the tractors is how good a bride and groom would have looked driving one!

Here are a few shots from the event.

Blog catch-up time

Time to do some catching up on the blog.  I spent a few weekends shooting with fellow photographer Phil Barnes and am maxed out with weddings myself all of September and the early part of October.  With a brief rest-bite I am then looking forward to travelling to Ireland to photograph a wedding not too far from my home town, so plenty of blogging to be done in the next few weeks.

Anyway see my catch-ups below.

Amongst the cloisters

The last of my weddings shooting for Phil for a while and we had the grand surroundings of Norwich Cathedral as a location.  Su and Stephen had their drinks reception in the cloisters and what a stunning place to sip bubbly after your ceremony, the Cathedral spire looming large in the background.

We had the mother of all thunderstorms during the afternoon bringing an end to some portraits but as is often the case after storms we ended up with some fantastic and dramatic light afterwards.

Here are a few from the day, visit Phil's site for more.

Top hats and campervans

Another weekend and another wedding shooting for Phil, this time down in Suffolk.  The reception took place in the grounds of the 400 year old Jacobean Manor House at Haughley Park Barns.  The barn on its own is a great venue but with the backdrop of the amazing manor house it is a great location for a wedding.

As always it was great working with Phil who is always wanting to try out new things. We spent a very long time fumbling around in the dark setting up our gear to get some shots with the house and the bride and groom reflecting in the lake.  You will have to visit Phil's blog to see the results of that but here are a few from the day.

Follies and fancy gardens in Staffordshire

The first of a few weddings shooting for Phil Barnes took us to Consall Gardens in Staffordshire.  Set in over 70 acres of stunning gardens we were like two kids in a candy store when it came to photo locations.

It was hard to decide between the lakes, gardens, pack horse bridges and follies so we didn't and took lots of photos around all of the grounds, well as much as we could cover in a small space of time.  The golf buggy which escorted us as well as the bride and groom proved invaluable and made a welcome change from legging it between locations!

Here are just a few shots from the day, for more photos from the day and the full gallery visit Phil's website

Charlotte and Paul's Wedding at Chaucer Barn, Gresham, Norfolk

Norfolk is well known for its many barn conversions and they are extremely popular places in which to get married but they are not always the easiest places in which to photograph ceremonies.

However Chaucer Barn, situated in the quiet village of Gresham in North Norfolk, is certainly not a run of mill barn conversion.  It has been very sympathetically restored and lavishly decorated throughout to give a boutique hotel feel to the place.  It has won far too many awards for me to list here but when it comes 2nd in The Observer's "top ten houses for a party" and is in The Guardian's "top 5 self catering barns" you probably get the picture!

The grounds at Chaucer Barn are wonderful for photographs and include a very romantic wildflower meadow, a fantastic topiary garden and of course the traditional brick and flint barn.  It is rare to get so many great photo locations in a relatively small area but great for the couple as they don't have to walk too far to get some very different photos.

Well the location was fantastic and the day was made even better by the fact that Charlotte and Paul were a pleasure to photograph.  Whenever I wanted to grab them when a photo op arose they were always more than willing and seemed to enjoy themselves, I am sure they will tell me if I am wrong!  Charlotte and Paul looked great in front of the camera and wouldn't have looked out of place in a Hollywood classic from the 1930's, very glam.

I was very lucky to have friend and fellow photographer Phil Barnes help me out for the day.  Its great having a second photographer at a wedding as they can get some wonderful shots that would otherwise get missed and it helps having another person to cast their eyes over shots and try little tweaks to help get that perfect shot. I know that Charlotte and Paul really appreciated him being there too so thanks a million Phil.

After a great days photography we waited for the sun to set and all the guests were treated to a fantastic fireworks display and the children and adults alike all enjoyed making shapes with their sparklers.  None more so than Charlotte who made perfect love hearts for my 5 second exposures!

Anyway here are a few photos from the day along with a video.

Thanks for looking
Brian