Nottingham Wedding Entertainment

If you’re currently planning your wedding you may be struggling to find good quality wedding entertainment for your guests at reasonable cost. As a wedding photographer, I know that after the ceremony and before the wedding breakfast can involve some waiting around for the rest of the wedding party, with often just the one drink! This is the perfect time to mark the start of the celebrations and Nottingham Jazz offer a range of jazz sounds, from duos to saxophone quartets, to get your party swinging. All are students and theref0re reasonably priced but their sound is very professional, having played a number of distinguished events, private weddings, clubs, bars and receptions. They seem to offer a great deal of flexibility, whether you want a real party vibe or mellow sophistication! Contact John or Joel on 07903 809 664 or email info@nottinghamjazz.co.uk

Wedding Inspiration and the Importance of the Wedding Venue

We’re now well into October and Autumn has officially arrived outdoors, so good luck to any couples putting the finishing touches to their Autumn/Winter weddings this year. It’s a beautiful time of year for a wedding; still sunny on some days with the colour palette outside turning orange, yellow and lime green, which is perfect for brides who have chosen a bright contrasting colour theme. If you have just set your date, then your venue will be one of the first considerations. When choosing your perfect wedding venue try not to just look at menu, price and size, but also how photogenic and beautiful the venue is. Consider the outdoors carefully; beautifully landscaped gardens featuring different trees and foliage will look stunning in your wedding photography and you will get more beautiful pictures. Look out for great ‘backdrops’ at your venue and consider leafy locations which feature their gardens as public attractions such as Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. Also, look for gardens that have been designed to look great all year with plenty of evergreen foliage.

If you are in the midst of planning your wedding and struggling for inspiration, wedding magazine Brides advises to create a ‘mood board’ as a starting point, with torn out pictures, fabric, even leaves and natural objects that catch your eye. Over time, they assure you that a theme will emerge as you collect together your favourite things. To help, here are a few Autumn scenes I photographed recently; you might think of horses bedecked in tartan ribbons, a white chocolate wedding cake adorned with jewel coloured mixed berries, a magical flower fairy theme, or a dewy cobweb may inspire a winter wonderland ball... have fun with your wedding planning and maybe one of these will become the inspiration for your big day!

Your wedding images on CD

Mirror Imaging has received several enquiries recently about wedding photography packages to include the wedding photographs on CD-Rom. With the introduction of digital photography and as so many homes now have computers this is becoming more and more popular. As a result, we are offering this option as an ‘add-on’ to each of the three wedding album packages. Wedding photographs are supplied at full resolution, rather than just screen viewable resolution, allowing couples to print their own quality images and play their wedding photographs to friends and family on a large TV screen. The CD-Rom will include the full selection of final photographs, not just the photographs that make it in to your album, for an additional £500. If you have already booked your wedding with Mirror Imaging and are interested in this additional choice, please contact 07968 159465.

Wedding Videographers

Many couples who are planning their wedding have the option of booking a wedding photographer, a wedding videographer, or both to record their special day. Deciding who to choose depends on personal preference, style, budget and finding talented suppliers whose approach is unobtrusive and captures the essence of your day with real flair.

I believe it is important to choose a supplier who specialises in one wedding service only. So for example, choose a trained makeup artist and a separate hairdresser, as the two are entirely different skills and you may otherwise end up compromising in one area or the other. The same goes for your wedding photographer and videographer.

Wedding videographers at the cutting edge of wedding video production take a very modern, exciting approach to capturing your day. I was most impressed recently by Reel Vision wedding videos, whose contemporary ‘taster’ trailers look professional enough for television and really build up the anticipation and emotion of the wedding day. They also work alongside your photographer smoothly and sympathetically, so both suppliers can do the best possible job for you.

Impressive editing skills make the difference between the average and the excellent – for both the wedding photographer and videographer. This is where Reel Vision seems to excel. If you are considering booking a wedding videographer (in addition, we hope, to your wedding photography!), Reel Vision’s prices start at £2,995 inc. VAT, beginning two hours before your ceremony right through to the evening dancing. For more information contact 01925 758 776.

Risley Hall Wedding Fair

Hello to everyone we met at Risley Hall Wedding Fair in Derbyshire on 25th September. This evening fair saw me teaming up with Pretty Flamingo makeup artistry to promote our individual services together with our makeover pamper days for brides to be. Many of you visiting us that evening had decided on Risley Hall as the perfect venue and were at the stage of choosing a professional wedding photographer.

I always offer a pre-booking meeting, entirely without obligation, to every couple who enquires about my wedding photography services and many couples really appreciate being able to meet up and see the albums and prints before they commit. Choosing the right wedding photographer is a really important part of planning your wedding and depends not only on you liking their style and album layout, but also that you like them as a person and are happy to share your day with them. That’s why a face to face meeting is always so valuable.

Meetings are held in and around the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire area and I am always very happy to visit a bride and groom-to-be in their home, so you can relax and look through a variety of images at leisure.

Norwood Park Makeover Photoshoot

A while back, I posted a blog about our makeover or pre wedding photoshoots at Norwood Park in Nottinghamshire. These fabulous makeover days are available to anybody who wants a gorgeous collection of portrait photographs of themselves or someone they love. Perfect for hen parties, best friends or a gift to your husband or partner, the stunning Georgian style venue is an incredibly elegant yet intimate backdrop to equally glamorous photographs!

Jenny and Amanda were pampered and preened with a professional makeover beforehand, before being photographed in the bridal room, which included a fabulous four poster bed. Neither of the girls have done any modelling before or posed for a professional photoshoot (Amanda is an energy technician and Jenny runs a driving instructor business!) They look absolutely amazing and I really hope they love the pictures.

For anyone interested in booking a makeover photoshoot at Norwood Park please contact me by email or telephone 07968 159465.

Actor and Model Portfolios

Yasin contacted me recently for some portrait photography as he’s an aspiring actor and wants to promote himself to local theatre groups and to directors, as well as having a headshot photograph he’s proud to see printed in a theatre program.

He brought several changes of clothes with him and we took some fabulous studio pictures that are very contemporary in style. Susan at Pretty Flamingo was on hand to groom, polish and even the skintone, which made his skin look amazing and helped him to relax before the photoshoot. Yasin was a real natural in front of the camera and he made it incredibly easy to get a great picture, in fact, the problem was trying to edit down the final collection, as they were so many strong images. He wrote to me shortly after reviewing the final shots to say “I so love them!”