Claire & Martyn's Wedding

Many congratulations to Claire and Martyn who were married in the Orangery at Newstead Abbey, Ravenshead, followed by a reception at Bestwood Lodge, Nottinghamshire. Claire and Martyn are a fun-loving couple and genuinely enjoyed their special day, which was filled with much laughter and emotion. It was Martyn’s wish to have a ‘hat shot’, with the ushers and best men throwing their hats over Claire, who braved nine top hats falling from the skies with a smile on her face! Their ceremony was very moving and following two beautiful readings there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, including mine! Newstead Abbey is a stunning wedding venue to marry and always a pleasure to photograph, with its mature, landscaped gardens offering so much variety and beauty. We took Claire and Martyn to have their photograph taken amongst one of my favourite spots: the tropical palms, as well as in the traditional old English herb and rose gardens with their beautiful scent and symmetry. The weather was warm, dry and sometimes sunny, resulting in interesting and changeable cloud formations, which made for striking and atmospheric wedding photography. Their remaining wedding photographs will be online in the coming weeks.

Bridal Makeup

Many of my wedding clients will know that Susan assists me as a wedding stylist at every wedding I undertake and having her there allows me to focus entirely on taking wonderful photographs – whilst she organises big groups of people, arranges dresses and veils to perfection, carries my heavy photography equipment, helps to ensure the bride and groom have all their requested photographs taken, and many other jobs beside. She’s even been known to lace wedding dresses, rearrange bouquets and stitch bridesmaids dresses when they were too large, allowing everyone to walk down the aisle looking gorgeous and the day to go ahead smoothly!

Susan is also a fabulous bridal makeup artist and a few Mirror Imaging clients have taken advantage of her skills at their wedding, including Sally at Makeney Hall, Anna at Donington Manor and Sara at The Carriage Hall. I feel more relaxed about working with a makeup artist who understands what looks great on camera and about how light and shade work to create a gorgeous look. There is certainly an excellent synergy between photographer and makeup artist/stylist and I urge you to consider booking her considerable talents on your wedding day.

Sometimes, when I don’t have a wedding booking myself, I return the favour and accompany Susan to her bridal makeup wedding bookings, when I take some photographs of her brides’ looking made up and radiant!

Heather was recently made up by Susan for her wedding and she needed a bridal makeup look that complemented her warm skin tone, strawberry blonde hair and gorgeous pink rose bouquet. The resulting look was soft, feminine and very flattering. Heather – we hope you had a wonderful day and you love the photographs.

Helen & Mark's Wedding

Congratulations to Helen and Mark, who were married on Saturday 29th August at St Theresa's Catholic Church in Warsop, which has a beautiful bright interior and stunning wooden ceiling that belies its appearance from outside. The service was very personal and meaningful, with Helen and Mark being married by a close family member and friend, who returned to his parish church to conduct the wedding ceremony. The wedding party then went on in chauffeured style to Norwood Park in Southwell, a lovely venue to photograph, where guests enjoyed sangria and lawn croquet before the wedding breakfast. Storm clouds gathered in one direction, whilst blue sky came in from the other, creating two very different moods. Norwood Park's rose lined doorway framed Helen beautifully in her stunning bejewelled dress. Inside, the house was decorated by some of the most striking floral arrangements I've seen, with a simple ribboned flower for each of the girls at the table, making a very classy favour. To see all their wedding photographs, please come back and visit the site in a few weeks.