On Saturday I photographed the A-MAZE-ING wedding of Sheena and Andy at the gorgeous Sundridge Park Manor, Bromley. 10 minutes from where I live!

Here are just a few quick photographs that I 'favourited' as I'm editing and processing them!!

More photos and full blog post to come once the bride and groom have seen their album design and the rest of the photographs.

Bride having her jewellery put on by her sister and neice who were bridesmaid and flowergirl.  

Beautiful bride! Beautiful dress!

I love, love, love this photograph. I love their experessions and the negative space around them! Not a typical wedding portrait - love it!

...Back in March I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Tracy & Dave, at the Grasshopper Inn in Westerham.

I met Tracy and Dave sometime last year, we got on well and we did their pre-wedding shoot in the Autumn.  

On the morning of the wedding, we woke up to snow! Thick, cold, snow which was still falling on my way to Tracy's house! As I drove through Biggin Hill it looked like a scene from Narnia, so pretty!
I arrived to mild panic, Tracy's make up artist/hair stylist had had a car accident earlier that morning and so was unable to attend!! Frantic tweets from me and phonecalls/texts from the make up artist to the bride trying to arrange replacements.

Fortunately, a make up artist and hair stylist arrived in time to do Tracy and her two bridesmaids. They drove 2 hours to get to Tracy's and were absolutely brilliant! Unfazed, Tracy got in to the spirit of things and opened the champagne!!

After a couple of hours with the bride, bride’s son and bridesmaids, I made my way to the Grasshopper to see the groom, Dave, and photograph details/arrivals.

Dave was in good spirits, despite a few nerves which is to be expected.

The snow was still falling and had turned to sleet as Tracy and her half of the bridal party arrived! Still smiling and still unfazed the gorgeous bride was ready to marry her waiting groom.

The ceremony was beautiful and intimate and once over it was time for a few pictures before the bride and groom were whisked away for a short drive before coming back to The Grasshopper to greet their guests and a few group photographs.

Next was the wedding breakfast before speeches followed by more guests arriving for the evening reception! I had been looking forward to the evening because Tracy and Dave had arranged for a Blues Brothers band, a 12piece band, to entertain everybody! They were brilliant, thoroughly entertaining!! I love a live band at weddings!

I left as the party was in full swing, happy and singing loudly to ‘everybody needs somebody’ on my way home!!

So, after a busy couple of months I'm back to blogging!
I've made it my new year resolution to blog more often this year, but seem to have failed already!

So here I am, with a beautiful post Christmas wedding. The wedding of Gemma and Steve in Kent.

I met up with Steve at Brandshatch Place Hotel where he was getting ready with his best man and ushers.

Steve seemed quite relaxed, if a little nervous as we 'mocked' getting ready because it was too early to actually get ready. As I was about to finish and leave to get to Gemma's hotel, Steve received his wedding gift from his bride - a beautiful pair of Mulberry cufflinks and wallet! I 'heart' Mulberry and drop hints to my husband every birthday and Christmas to have a new Mulberry bag - sadly it falls on deaf ears!

So, I finished with the guys and headed to the bride's hotel, which was also the reception venue, to meet Gemma and her 7 bridesmaids all getting ready and drinking champagne! Lovely!!

Here I photographed all the little details. I love photographing the small details of the day, details that you spend a lot of time and money on!! 

Once the bride's hair and make up was finished it was time to get dressed! Gemma looked absolutely beautiful in her gorgeous gown and Louboutin shoes.

After spending an hour or so with the girls I headed to the church in West Malling to capture the arrival of guests, photograph the guys and arrival of the bride and bridesmaids in a mahoosive Hummer!
Fortunately the rain (just about) held off. It was grey and damp with light rain during the guests arrival however it held off during the important bits of the day which was brilliant!!

It was a beautiful service, quite emotional at points especially when a poem was read out which was written especially for the bride by her groom!  

After the ceremony and a few group photographs it was onto the hotel for drinks, mingling, dinner, speeches and dancing!!

Here are (a few) of my favourite shots from the day.

Answers on a postcard for the shot below...

Congratulations to you both. Thank you for allowing me to capture your day for you!!

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

Well, you know me - a bit slack on the blogging!!

It's about time I blogged this fabulous wedding. The wedding of Alex and Owen at Brandshatch Place and Spa Hotel, Kent.

The day was a beautiful warm, spring day. The sky was blue, the daffodils were out and everything was taking place at the hotel which was fantastic. It really makes everything run smoothly and with less stress when cutting out the travelling between different locations.

I met up with Owen who was having a sneaky pint with his best man and ushers. We did a few preparation shots before I headed off to see Alex, her mum and bridesmaids who were busy getting ready and drinking champagne! The way it should be!

I knew Alex would make a beautiful bride and I wasn't disappointed! She looked absolutely stunning in her slim fitting, lace gown.
We took a few portrait shots shortly before Alex's dad arrived to see his daughter as a bride - one of my favourite moments of a wedding!!

So then it was onto the ceremony in the Terrace Suite followed by the drinks reception and a few group photographs.

I left once the emotional speeches were over with a smile on my face knowing that I had captured some great photographs of this beautiful couple!

So, you know i'm a bit rubbish at keeping this blog up to date...I know, poor show but it will change!

Anyway, one year ago today Tonya and Charles got married at the lovely Brandshatch Place and Spa hotel, in Fawkham - near Brandshatch.

They had two ceremony's, one civil and one blessing. Both were equally lovely and full of emotion.

My day started at Tonya and Charles home to capture the bridal details and all the excitement of the girls getting ready. Surprisingly Charles was there, but only quickly as he delivered a beautiful bouquet of flowers for his gorgeous bride.

I left their home and made my way to the hotel to capture the groom's details and capture Charles getting ready with his best man and brother. Gotta say, more nervous-ness in their room than there was at their home!

The bride arrived a little bit late and Tonya looked beautiful in her oyster coloured gown.

Check out her gorgeous pink shoes!

Wednesday again, which means Wedding Wednesday.

Here are a couple of sneaky peaks from my most recent wedding on Sunday...the very sparkly wedding of Donna and Michael at one of my favourite wedding venues, Cooling Castle Barn.

A day that was full of emotion, windy weather, bling and most of all laughter!

I will blog more pictures once I have shared the album and gallery with the bride and groom but for now here are two of my favourites!

Capturing the emotion of the father of the bride speech, as read by the bride's brother...

Claire x

...A few weeks ago I had the priviledge of photographing Kerri-Anne and Robin's wedding at the beautfiul Cooling Castle Barn, one of the most popular wedding venue's in Kent!

The wedding day was a bit like 'Don't Tell the Bride' except the bride and the groom didn't have a clue about their day, except for what they were wearing and their first dance choice.
The day was full of surprises, from the flowers arriving in the morning to the menu which was revealed in the morning, which made it all very exciting.

The biggest surprise of all was the bride's father's speech. In the 13 years that I have been a photographer, I have witnessed lots of lovely speeches full of emotion but I have never witnessed a more brilliant and emotional speech than this one. I was chatting to Paul in the morning and he told me what he had planned and why. It was because he knew that the emotion may get the better of him so he decided to don a 'Sinatra'-esque trilby and sing his own lyrics to a Sinatra song! It was brilliant and lovely capturing the surprise on the bride and groom's faces.

After a day full of surprises for the bride and groom, arranged by Kerri-Anne's mum and sister, the bride and groom had their own little surprise for the first dance which included a dance routine - practised shortly before during the sunset photographs that we took.

All too quickly, as always, it was time for my day to come to an end and I left leaving the excellent band - thetzars.com - entertaining the guests.

One of my favourite moments from every wedding that I do is the first time that the brides father see's his daughter for the first time on her wedding day!

The boys...

Boys again...

Bride's arrival...

Blue sky overhead...

Romantic....

Beautiful bride....

A big hug after the first dance...

...here are a few quirky details from the recent wedding of Louise and Chris at Cooling Castle Barn, Rochester.

'Splendid' was the word of the day! A fab day was had however the bride and groom wish to remain private so I will only show you the following few details which made me laugh...except for the cheese-cake, which didn't make me laugh because it was just a very nice three tiered cake of cheese but I thought it made a nice change from the traditional wedding cakes.

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure to photograph Robert and Elizabeth's wedding at Hever Castle.

The weather on the day was awful, grey, wet and windy. We were hoping for just a little bit of sunshine but we were disappointed. This didn't matter though as I met up with Robert and Elizabeth at Hever Castle a few days before for a chat about their day and the weather couldn't have been more different. As we walked around I took a few venue shots...just in case!

The weather on the day didn't dampen spirits as we used the beautiful interior of Hever Castle...and also went for a little walk to the Italian Gardens - who says we can't shoot outside when it rains!

Anyway, here are a few of my favourites from the day. The gallery will be online in the next day or so however you'll have to get the password from the bride and groom - not me.