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!

...it is with muchos excitement that I am pleased to annouce that I am now a recommended photographer at the very beautiful Mount Falcon Country House in County Mayo, Ireland!!!

It is such a stunning venue, the grounds are simply stunning and the staff are all so lovely.
Mount Falcon is set in 100 acres of magical woodlands, between Foxford and Ballina in County Mayo - a most beautiful part of the West of Ireland.
Unique, intimate and made of all things fairytale, Mount Falcon was originally created from the love of one young man for his bride, whom he thought was so special that she deserved to live in a 'castle'.
A beautiful wedding venue set in a beautiful landscape with a Downton Abbey style charm!!

http://www.mountfalcon.com/

...A few weeks ago I travelled to a little village just outside Royal Berkshire to meet up with the lovely Sarar and Naysam, and their new baby daughter Aaliyah.

I photographed their wedding almost 2 years ago and a few months ago we met up again for a baby bump shoot in Greenwich.

I was so excited to meet beautiful little Aaliyah and use some of my new pretty things that I use for my baby photography.
Fortunately Aaliyah played along nicely and slept well after a few milk top ups.

Such a pretty little girl, she is going to be spoilt rotten by all of her lovely family!!

Here are just a few sneaky peaks...

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!!

Back in November I photographed two gorgeous little girls in the beautiful Autumn sunshine.
I met their mummy at the Baby and Toddler show at Bluewater in October and after seeing examples of my work she booked a location portrait session with me.

I love the Autumn, I love hearing the crunch of crispy leaves as you walk, I love the beautiful colours and the light that Autumn brings!

We met up just after lunch one Sunday afternoon and took a walk to two local parks. We spent a while chasing each other around the park and throwing leaves up in the air whilst I captured some lovely natural photographs.

In September I flew to County Mayo in Ireland to photograph the beautiful wedding of Alannah and Tom at the stunning Mount Falcon Country Estate.

We arrived in Ireland the day before the wedding to wet, grey, windy weather however not long after arriving at Mount Falcon the weather started to change for the better.

Many of Alannah & Tom's family and friends were already at Mount Falcon as they were celebrating Alannah's father's 60th birthday a couple of days before and gradually throughout the day more guests started to arrive which added to the already great atmosphere. The bride and groom, along with friends and family, were getting the room ready in which the wedding breakfast was to be had. The room was filled with beautiful white flowers, Jo Malone candles, sweets and other gorgeous pretty things.

After we were there for a couple of hours we walked around the estate to find the best places for photographs - which was easy as there were so many beautiful spots! During the evening we went along to the beautiful cathedral in nearby Ballina for a recce and also to join everyone for the rehersal, which was quite moving! After some dinner in town we made our way back to Mount Falcon for a few drinks before leaving Alannah, Tom and their family and friends to enjoy the pre-wedding celebrations.

The morning of the wedding started with the sun shining and me visiting Alannah's room, the bridal suite, which was BIG but it had to be as she had 8 bridesmaids, 2 flower girls and 2 page boys!! Sounds like a bit of a logistical nightmare but actually it was brilliant! Chris, the bride's hairdresser, friend and mum of one of the bridesmaids, did an amazing job keeping everything on time. All the bridesmaids had matching hair styles which looked fantastic. 
The bride was calm and enjoying the atmosphere of the morning, and was surprised when she received her groom's gift to her - a beautiful pair of diamond earings that matched her diamond engagement ring.

After a while I made my way to the groom's lodge where he was with his best men and ushers - all chilled out on the sofa watching TV, much to my amusement. Tom had already received his gift from his bride which was a stunning Rolex watch so whilst the boys all started to get ready I photographed the watch and other bits before moving on to document the boys getting ready. They all looked very dapper in their matching Charles Tyrwhitt suits.
Once I had finished, the boys made their way to the pub and I made my way back to the bridal suite to capture the final moments of the bridal preparations.

The bride slipped into her beautiful dress which was from Pronovias and looked absolutely amazing!! Her dress, along with her 100 foot (ok, not quite that long, but it was long) veil suited Alannah perfectly. Nothing could prepare me for one of my favourite moments of a wedding - the moment a bride's father see's his daughter for the first time as a bride. As soon as Alannah's dad saw her he was overwhelmed with pure emotion!! I'm so glad to have captured it as it quite simply 'captured the moment'.

After a few photographs we made our way to the Cathedral - in the rain!
As Tom eagerly awaited the arrival of his beautiful bride, the bridesmaids, flowergirls and page boys made their way up the aisle in pairs. And then it was the moment everyone had been waiting for....the arrival of the bride!

Alannah made her way up the aisle to her smiling groom on the arm of her proud dad. Such a beautiful moment, especially from the balcony as it showed her beautiful dress to full effect - a Princess Diana moment.

The ceremony was beautiful and full of emotion.

The couple made their way down the aisle as husband and wife and made the dash into the car to escape the Irish rain.
We made a dash for it to get back to Mount Falcon to capture their arrival.

Everyone arrived to enjoy a glass of champagne whilst we started on the few requested group photographs and took the oportunity to grab some beautiful photographs with the bride and groom.

It wasn't long before everyone was ushered into the beautiful room for the wedding breakfast. The room was filled with the scent of Jo Malone candles and white hydrangeas.
Once everyone enjoyed a delicious dinner it was time for the emotional speeches - which left many in tears.

A short break followed so everyone could enjoy the sweetie table and cigars before being called back for the first dance by the amazing band.

The celebrations continued long into the night - well, until 7am the following morning to be exact  
I left during the dancing to collapse into bed before getting ready to leave the next day.

Typically, the day after there was glorious weather! Such a shame it hadn't happened the day before but it didn't spoil the day, nothing could've spoilt this wedding day. It was perfect, in every way!!

Here are some of my (many) favourite photographs. I loved this wedding and it was such a priviledge to be asked to be a part of it so thank you to Alannah, Tom and their family and friends for having us.

I loved photographing this wedding. I feel priviledged to have captured beautiful memories for Alannah and Tom to cherish forever. We felt part of the celebrations from beginning to end so thank you from us to Alannah and Tom and their family and friends for having us. We wish you all the very best and hope to see you again.

Claire x

So, here I was going through some photographs for marketing purposes and found this lovely photograph that I took in October at the beautiful, intimate wedding of Leigh and Steve, their two mums and their six children at the Archbishops Palace in Maidstone.

If your interested in having your intimate wedding photographed please do get in touch.

Claire x

A couple of weeks ago I met up with Carly and James whose wedding I photographed at Cooling Castle Barn last year on Guy Fawkes Night.

It was lovely to see them again exactly a year later to photograph their beautiful baby daughter, Elsie. I love the name Elsie - it's my own daughter's name too!!

Elsie was a little bit older than the usual 10 days new, which is when I like to photograph newborn babies, however at only 5 weeks we still managed to capture beautiful, scrummy photographs of her 'newness'.
After some milk top ups from mummy and daddy, Elsie and I had some cuddles as I settled her for her photo shoot. Such a good girl once she went off and we were able to capture some gorgeous baby photographs that her parents and family will treasure forever.

Here are a few of my favourites....

If your interested in having your newborn baby photographed or if you have a young baby and would like some baby photographs please give me a call on 0845 0711178.

Claire x

At the end of August I had the pleasure of photographing the lovely wedding of the equally lovely Richard and Jo. We first met to chat about their day over a coffee back in March and I felt like I already knew them! I was excited about photographing their day and finally it was here!

The theme was 'relaxed English country garden', which was exactly what it was!! With a little bit of 'Don't Tell The Bride' thrown in.

Jo knew hardly any details of her wedding day as Richard, along with the help of his mum, kept details of the day a secret until the actual day.

So, the day started with me arriving at Richard's parents home in High Halstow, near Cooling, Kent, which is where he was getting ready and which was also the location of the reception. 
The gardens and the marquee looked absolutely stunning!! The sun was out, the lawn was freshly cut, the floral decorations placed on the tables, the fabric for the table and cushion coverings were beautiful, all the little gorgeous details really set the theme of the day....and the bride knew nothing about it!

After I photographed all the details I made my way to see the bride and her bridesmaids for some prep shots. Needless to say everyone was excited and it wasn't long before the champagne was open!
After an hour or so it was time for one of Jo's surprises..the bridal car!! After a few squeels of excitement it was time for Jo to get into her dress.

A few family shots later it was time to leave for the ceremony which took place at the Archbishops Palace in Maidstone, Kent.
I arrived just as Richard and the guys were making their way from the pub. As the groom and guests took their seats inside the ceremony room, the bride arrived with her dad and was met by Jo & Richard's gorgeous, excited little daughter.

Finally, it was the moment everyone was waiting for....the bride met her waiting groom and the emotional ceremony began. The smiles on their faces said it all.

After the ceremony, husband and wife made their way out to the courtyard to greet their guests before leaving to go to a secret location which had been arranged by Richard's mum. This was one surprise that even Richard didn't know about.
I met them at the secret location to spend some private moments alone with them before making our way to Richard's parents house for the reception.

Such a relaxed afternoon, everyone was in great spirits despite the weather, which had changed from sunny to on and off drizzly rain, and the celebrations continued long into the night!

I had a great time working with Jo, Richard, their family and friends and I look forward to seeing Jo, Richard and Lexie again next year!!  

Here are a few favourites from the day.

Here come the boys...

Big group, photographed by climbing through a sash window onto a wet flat roof. Good job I don't mind heights!

Claire x

Meet 5 week old Baby Elsie

I photographed Elsie's mummy & daddy's wedding day at Cooling Castle Barn almost one year to the day - it was their first anniversary the day after I went to their home to photograph her - so it was lovely to see them again with their new daughter!

At 5 weeks new, Elsie was a little older than most of the babies I photograph as I usually photorgaph newborn babies within the first 10 days.
Elsie took a while to settle but once she was asleep and settled I managed to get some beautiful shots of her.

More to follow....x