So lets go back to November, to Trafalgar Park, a manor house on the outskirts of Salisbury. This is straight in there as one of my favourite wedding venues, from the first sight across the long sheep-laden lawn, to the jaw dropping entrance hall and stunning historic interiors. We also refer to it as ‘the zombie house’, where some of 28 Days Later was filmed.  No machine gun posts, sandbags or zombies (hopefully) but just check out that baroque entrance hall, and if architecture’s not your thing, Irregular Choice wedding shoes anyone?

Trafalgar Park is a private house and they were so good allowing use of most of the house, from the bridal preparations upstairs to the various rooms being set up for the reception later that day. The boys appeared briefly, dropping off some bits and bobs and Wayne opened up a gift from his bride, an antique pocket watch.

Upstairs, the bride and her bridesmaids and parents were getting ready, and doing some more gift giving.

Bridesmaid Lolly is the singer in metal band Apnia with Wayne and best men Scott & Ryan, but she can turn her amazing voice to all sorts of music, and she was joined by Cat’s sister Vicky as they practised for their performance in church later. It was beautiful hearing their singing echoing through the corridors of the house. Cat received some earrings from her groom- Wayne, this is what she thought of them…

Working as a wedding photographer I feel very privileged to be part of the special moments, and this is especially true when photographing my friends. Everyone who knows Cat, knows her to be bubbly, confident, and smiley so I love this set of photos as she got into her dress and the nerves really began to set in.

In true Cat style, things were running a little late, and we rushed off to St Osmond’s Catholic church in Salisbury for the ceremony.

If you want to see what happened next come back Tuesday 28th December…

I’ve already posted the Wedding Photobooth and Engagement Portraits in Southsea

My good friends Cat & Wayne finally get married next weekend. I can’t quite remember how we know each other, it has some relation to Havant College and dingy rock clubs, but ever since forever ago they have always been together and seemingly destined to live happily ever after. They were even born on the same day. After the wedding they are going on an epic 6 month honeymoon travelling around Asia, so for their engagement photos we went for a little reminder of home. Southsea isn’t quite as nice as the Andaman Sea, but there are some great locations for photos, so we had a little wander around Albert Road and down to the seafront and the bandstand.

First up The Deco, current dingy rock pub of choice. It will be weird not having Cat and Wayne hanging about outside on a Friday night for the next few months.

I love Albert Road. They even have photogenic shutters. Down to the seafront. Had to be done really…
Can’t wait for the wedding next weekend, its going to be awesome!

Wedding photography is a pretty solitary occupation, so sometimes it’s good to go and work with other photographers and see how someone else does things. I worked with David McNeil at Victoria & Dave’s colourful wedding at the Longhouse in Bruton Somerset. Set looking across the village and countryside, the venue was decorated with fantastic summer fete style details in a mix of purples, oranges and greens, with an amazing croquembouche profiterole cake, and a tiered cheese ‘cake’.

The couple chose to see each other in the morning and did a ‘first look’ before going off around Bruton for a good long portrait session before the wedding. I really love David’s contemporary fashion style portraiture, and Victoria and Dave really gave us the time to visit lots of different locations and get creative.

Then it was time for the main event. They did things a little differently, with the groom walking down the aisle on his mothers arm, then the bridesmaids and other parents, and finally Victoria and her brother. After the ceremony everyone enjoyed a selection of drinks and nibbles in the sunshine before finding their bag of sweets denoting their table number and sitting down for the meal. I just loved the way they served the main course. A carver was selected on each table and given a chefs hat and apron and a large hunk of roast beef to serve to their table. A great way to make an event during the meal. After the speeches and a few silly pics in the photobooth everyone partied into the night to the band.

Here are a selection of my shots from the day. Thanks to David and of course Victoria & Dave for having me along!

You are welcome to leave your comments and congratulations for the happy couple below…

Here’s a selection from their wedding day. Natasha & Peter, I hope you had an amazing wedding celebration and many congratulations!