As 2012 comes to a close I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my clients, both past, present and future, and of course the fantastic venues and wedding suppliers who recommend me for all your support in 2012.
I'd especially like to thank my husband, daughter, family and friends for putting up with me!

It's been a fantastic year, full of lots of memories - both for me and for my lovely clients. Lots of beautiful weddings I've had the priviledge of photographing, lots of gorgeous families and lots of scrummy newborn babies who I've photographed.

I'm very lucky to do something that I love and it really is a priviledge, and a honour, to be asked to be your photographer.

This year has had lots of highlights for me, the first was becoming a finalist at the Kent Wedding Awards for the Wedding Photographer of the Year. Sadly I didn't win the title but I will be entering again!!
I also travelled to County Mayo, Ireland to photograph the beautiful wedding celebrations of Alannah and Tom at the gorgeous Mount Falcon Country Estate. You can read about it and see some of the photographs earlier in this blog.
I photographed the youngest newborn I've ever photographed (apart from my own daughter), baby Jack at just 4 days new.
I photographed the daughter of one of my wedding couples exactly one year on from their wedding - and their daughter has the same name as my daughter.
Lots of highlights in 2012 that I can't list them all.

I'm excited as we enter 2013, lots of lovely weddings to look forward too and new babies already booked in for their first photo shoot with me.

BUT, I'm most excited about 2013 as it is my 15th year as a professional photographer so I will be celebrating my 15 years with monthly offers and the odd giveway! So, please do keep an eye on the blog and also keep up to date by giving my facebook page a 'like', www.facebook.com/level11 and you could just benefit!!

I am also excited to be exhibiting at the Wedding Fair at Glow, Bluewater (http://weddingfairatbluewater.com/) in February, 8-10th, and again in October. Plus I will also be exhibiting at the Baby and Toddler Show at Glow, Bluewater in April. 
So, if your planning your wedding please do come along in February and see me at stand S8 for some very special show offers and a look through some of my gorgeous wedding albums.

I have 20 pairs of complimentary tickets to the wedding show to give away, to grab yours please just email me at claire@level11.co.uk

Finally, I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope it's full of love, happiness and fun with good health to enjoy every moment!

Here are just a few of my favourite photographs that I've captured in 2012...

Here's to a sucessful 2013 filled with lots more wonderful memories!

Claire xxxxx

Back in June, on Fathers Day, I had the absolute pleasure of photographing the wedding of Donna and Michael at one of my favourite venues, Cooling Castle Barn.

The day was sunny, warm, windy and filled with lots and lots of laughter!! In fact, laughter is one of things I remember about Donna and Michael's wedding! And bling! 

I started the day with Michael, his best man and boys getting ready. I love the concentration on the boys faces in this shot!!

I made my way down the block to meet the bride and ladies who were all very calm, and laughing! Dressed in their 'blingy' t-shirts and slippers! In fact, 'bling' was the theme of the day - I loved it!!
The beautiful flowers and table displays were by the fantastic Flowers and Sparkle

Once everyone had their places, Donna walked into the ceremony with her eldest son and was met at the bottom of the stairs by her dad who did a little jig as he walked through the curtain!

Once the ceremony was over and after a few minutes, I grabbed the opportunity to spend about 10 minutes with the couple taking photographs of them alone whilst their guests filed out into the gardens to enjoy reception drinks in the sunshine!

The day was filled with emotion, love and laughter. It was a real pleasure to be a part of it and capture some great memories for Donna and Michael to remember.

Love, love, love this shot!

24 hours late on the blog but here is yesterday's Wedding Wednesday.

 A quick sneaky peak from Friday's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn. The couple's theme was springtime and yellow so I couldn't resist doing a few shots in the field opposite the venue which was full of beautiful yellow rapeseed.

...early February was beautiful! Very cold but the light was fantastic!

Lisa and Kordel's wedding was beautiful too!! Lisa made a stunning bride, I knew she would as she's naturally beautiful but once she had her Maggie Sottero wedding dress on and matching veil, complete with Audrey hepburn hair she looked absolutely stunning!

The day started off with Kordel and best man Chris at Chris's house for 'mock' getting ready shots! Yep, they put their suits on only to take them off for their journey to Cooling Castle Barn where they would get re-dressed!! This enabled me to capture some shots for the album before I headed off to their house to capture the Lisa and the ladies getting ready. The morning ended in a bit of a rush which was a shame as it meant we couldn't get any shots at home with the bride, her bridesmaids, parents etc but we had the shots we needed for the album.

So, onto beautiful Cooling Castle Barn...I always love working here, and especially in the beautiful winter sunshine!

Lisa arrived, the guests assembled and the ceremony took place.
Ceremony over, the guests all enjoyed reception drinks whilst the bride and groom disappeared of in the gorgeous Rolls Royce Phantom for a few minutes together.

I met them outside for pictures when they got back which is where we were treated to some gorgeous light!! I couldn't stop taking pictures!!

After the bride and groom pictures we went onto start shooting the list of groups. Everyone braved it for the bigger groups so we could take advantage of the sunshine.

Soon it was time for guests to enter the beautifully decorated barn for where they were treated to a yummy three course meal followed by some heartfelt speeches.

Soon after, it was time for everyone to relax after dinner whilst the band set up ready for the evening party to commence. During this time we had a request from Lisa to take pictures of some L.O.V.E sparklers however it didn't quite go to plan, firstly we lost the L so we started with E.V.O (lol!) but then we found the missing L by which time the others had burnt quite quickly....anyway, we got a few shots just not what I had envisaged!

Next it was time for the first dance and the party which started with the fantastic band Under The Covers  I left after the second dance which was a shame as I was quite enjoying the band!!

Here are a couple of pictures from the day...more to follow!

Come and meet Claire at the Cooling Castle Barn wedding open day on Sunday 4th September 2011 from 11am-5pm.

If you don't know the venue come along to see how beautiful it is and if you already know the venue...come along and enjoy!!!

On Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing Dawn & Sam's wedding.
After a pretty (literally) mad week of heavy snowfall around the country, worse in Kent of course, I was a little worried whether the wedding would be going ahead. I had been watching the weather forecast all week and saw on the news that some couples had to cancel their weddings so I called Dawn a couple of days before to get an update. Fortunately everything was going to plan.

Brief rundown...
I arrived at the cottage where Dawn was getting ready and decided to take a walk outside to grab a few shots. I didn't realise how deep the snow was...it was halfway up my leg, around 15inches!!
Preparation shots done...started to make my way to the church to meet Sam but got stuck on the icey hill outside the cottage. My car was sliding all over the place and couldn't get up the hill!! Bride's brother arrives to take Dawn and her dad to the church, panic sets in that I won't be able to get there so decided that if the car wouldn't move then I'd leave it there and go with the bride!
Fortunately the lovely farmer who owned the cottage came to the rescue with his tractor and towed me to the main road!
Met up with the brides car en route to the church and we both made it to the church 40 minutes late!!! Being towed and being late for a wedding are both firsts for me in 12 years photographing weddings....and not to be repeated!!

The wedding was lovely. After the church service, Mr. & Mrs. F enjoyed mince pies and mulled wine with their guests before making their way to Cooling Castle Barn where they entered a real Winter Wonderland. The barn looked fantastic with the beautifully decorated Christmas trees and reindeer lights and the snow just set it off.

Last week's run of three weddings was tiring but satisfying! I've been looking forward to Alison & Mark's wedding for ages, since they booked us at Cooling Castle's wedding open day last year. Alison loves being photographed (which is a rare quality in a bride!) and I knew we'd get some gorgeous shots of the two of them.

Their wedding took place outside in the fantastic gazeebo, and the sun shone - happy days!

I know Alison will have spotted this blog before I've finished typing it - she's been bombarding me with emails demanding to see them so here we are Alison....just for you!