...a few weeks ago I had the priviledge of photographing Katie and Tim's beautiful wedding in Rye, East Sussex.

I love Rye, I like wandering around the old cobbled streets and visiting the little quaint shops so I was looking forward to Katie and Tim's wedding.

The day started off with Katie and her sister getting ready at The George in Rye - which was to be the venue for the reception.
I then went and found Tim and his best men in the gun garden for some pictures before heading to the pub for a quick drink (them, not me) pre-ceremony.
I left them to it as I made my way back to The George to meet Katie, her bridesmaids and her father for the short walk to Rye Town Hall for their ceremony.

The ceremony was beautiful, I had to stop a tear or two falling down my cheek behind my camera. I captured some great shots during the ceremony, little knowing looks between the couple!!

Ceremony over, it was time for Rex, Rye's infamous town crier to announce to everyone that they had indeed married before leading the way, with everyone behind him, back to The George for the celebrations to begin.

Once all the guests were greeted and were happy with a glass of bubbly, I took the bride and groom off for a walk around the cobbled streets of Rye to take shots of them both for 20minutes or so before heading back for detail shots before the wedding breakfast. The room where the breakfast was to take place at The George looked beautiful, I particularly liked the personalised bar mats complete with both surnames and wedding date which the guests had as favours.

Following on from my previous post showing the gorgeous photograph of the conservatory at London's Syon Park, finally, here is my post showing some photographs from Katie and Brendon's wedding last month.

I loved this wedding!! Katie and Brendon were fantastic to work with, their guests were all lovely, lovely videographer - Dan from From the Hip who was great to work with - fabulous venue and no rain!! I didn't want to leave and could quite easily have stayed longer despite the fact that I was already well past my contracted time.

We started with the preparations at the Waldorf Astoria hotel within the grounds on Syon Park.
Just look at Katie's shoes...

Katie looked gorgeous in her beautiful bridal gown, the way it flowed from the back reminded me of the soft waterfall pictures that you sometimes see - where the waterfall looks like cotton wool. Obviously the dress wasn't cotton wool, but it flowed beautifully!
Brendon looked very smart - despite the mad rush to get ready after his shopping trip to Westfield just a couple of hours earlier - to buy his shirt, tie and bridesmaids gifts!!! Nothing like leaving it to the last minute!! Still, with a little bit of encouragement from me, Brendon was ready in plenty of time to get to the church!

The ceremony went smoothly, it was a mad rush afterwards as there was another wedding waiting to get into the church as our wedding was coming out. I don't know why churches allow this to happen, it's not fair on the couples getting married plus it can be confusing for the guests.

We got back to the beautiful Syon House where we started taking the bride and groom portraits straight away. I love this venue! It's in my top 5 favourite wedding venues.
Once all the guests were back to the venue we did the requested groups, candid shots and detail shots in the stunning conservatory.
Katie and Brendon led their guests across from the house to the conservatory where they all tucked into what was a delicious meal!! It's always a treat when I get served a meal, and I honestly appreciate it because I'm usually starving! This was one of the best meals I've had - I can still taste it as I write this, yummy!!

Anyway, enough dribbling. Speeches were next on the agenda, the best man embarrasing Brendon with childhood tales - which involved a kitchen fire, don't ask!! Their poor mum!

Speeches over, it was time to cut their black and white cake, which smelt delicious. During this time, guests mingled, relaxed and generally enjoyed themselves before the dancing started with the fabulous Micheal Buble act. Talking to him before he started I found out he came from Essex so it was strange to hear him speak in an American accent during his set!!

The dreaded first dance went well and got everyone in the mood and onto the dancefloor.
Finally, it was time to leave but I couldn't leave without doing some final portraits with the cloudy night sky over, which is, in my opinion the best venue in London.

Leading the way to the stunning conservatory...

Gorgeous wedding flowers by Louise at http://www.thecrackedpot.co.uk/ - such a great name!!

Different corsages, with a touch of bling, again by Louise.

Dancing princess...

Micheal Buble....

Congratulations and thank you for looking after us, we had such a great time working with you!!

Now onto the album design....

Last weekend I met up with Emma and Wes for their pre-wedding shoot.

They are getting married later this year and after hearing about their plans, I'm excited!
I love hearing how client's wedding plans are going, it gets me excited about thier day too!

I always find that the pre-wedding shoot is ideal to get to know each other, talk about the wedding and have fun! It's also a great way for me to see how my couple are together, how they interact, body language etc plus it's a good way for me to find out if I have 'blinkers'...those of you with a fast blink rate!

The pictures from the pre-wedding shoot can also be used in a personalised guest book, so that your wedding guests can write little messages in a personalised book....whilst looking at your lovely pictures!

Here are a few of my favourites from the session...

A few weeks ago I met up with Susie and Paul for their pre-wedding shoot.

They decided to have thie shoot at a Priory Park in Reigate, which is local to them. The park was great, with an old mansion house, art deco style cafe, beautiful lake....and more which made for great portrait photos.

I can't wait for their wedding later this year which is taking place at a beautiful hotel in Sussex.

Last weekend I did a pre-wedding shoot for Louise and Chris which involved a hot air balloon!!

Chris is a pilot and together they run hot air balloon flights so we included a balloon in their pre-wedding shoot.
Unfortunately although the weather was great apparently it was the wrong kind of wind....it was quite still and calm which means you wouldn't fly anywhere in the balloon so we tethered - which meant that the balloon was attached to two 4x4 cars and it didn't go as high as it normally would. BUT it was still great fun and once the balloon was packed away in it's little case the sun made an appearance which meant we could do some fun shots of the couple together.

Here is my favourite shot of the day....

The couple wish to keep their photos private so I'll only be adding the one balloon shot.

The Royal Wedding of the decade is on Friday 29th April, Prince William will marry Kate Middleton.

We LOVE a good wedding here at Level 11 so we have a special offer to celebrate the Royal nuptials.
Book your own wedding with Level 11 (UK) and receive a complimentary personalised guest book for your wedding guests to sign.
There are still limited dates left for 2011 so get in quick and receive your free gift.

Also, not forgetting the little Princes and Princesses....we are offering a half price portrait session so you can have beautiful and professional memorabilia of your own Royal Family. 

Portrait bookings must be made by April 30th 2011.
For more information and to book contact Claire on 0845 0711178 or claire@level11.co.uk

A quick update about what's been going on.

Spring has finally sprung after a grim winter and it's been lovely seeing the daffodills and tulips in full bloom.
The extra daylight is lovely too for portrait sessions.
I love photographing children in the daffodills so I couldn't resist taking my little girl out to the park...she loved running through the daffodills and investigating them...

Things have been so busy lately and I am working hard to catch up with everything, surviving on less sleep than I usually like whilst running around after a 16mth old during the day.

Anyway, the wedding season has started with the first wedding at Tower Bridge, London. It was such a fantastic day, an intimate ceremony in the Bridgemasters Suite followed by some photographs in the roof of Tower Bridge. Unfortunately the bride and groom wish to keep their wedding photographs private so I can't share them so although you can't see their photographs, you'll just have to take my word for it that they're fantastic!!
Here are a couple of shots taken of the wedding venue, which I think is one of London's best landmarks!

The shot below is taken on the roof of Tower Bridge and what you see is graffitti....yes, graffitti - at the very top pointy bit of Tower Bridge. Apparently, it has been done by various ex-staff members.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of this years weddings starting in a few weeks and working with all of my couples. I've had lots of enquiries from our recommended venues, and taken a few recent bookings, and it sounds as though there are some fantastic weddings being planned. Before the weddings I always do a pre-wedding shoot which is a nice way of getting to know each other before the big day.

The next wedding for me is the Royal Wedding, Prince William to Kate Middleton. No, I'm not photographing it (unfortunately) however I can't stop thinking about who might have priviledge of shooting the best gig in town!! Will it be Mario Testino, he shot their official engagement photographs.
I wonder what Kate will wear, will she wear a traditional wedding dress from a dress designer such as Jenny Packham or Caroline Castigliano or perhaps she will wear a Vera Wang design. Personally, I think she will wear a slim fitting diamond/crystal encrusted dress with a fishtail skirt with a cathedral length veil (of course). How brilliant, I'm ridiculously excited about it and can't wait to have our tiara party with my little girl dressed up as a little princess.

After the Royal Wedding I have the priviledge of being a guest for the day at my friend, David's, wedding. David sometimes helps me on my weddings. I'm really looking forward to it, I will leave the 'work' camera at home and will use my little point and shoot camera. I can't wait. It'll be my little girl's first wedding, she's got her little outfit sorted and I've got my outfit sorted, can't wait to wear my hat!

At some point soon I will also be adding a new portrait gallery to the website showing all my recent maternity photography, baby and children's portraits plus new wedding photographs. I'm not very 'techy' so it might take a little longer than I'd ideally like but I will do it.

So, the next few weeks are busy, busy, busy for me....just the way I like it!!!

Enjoy the Royal Wedding!!

Claire

A couple of weeks ago I met up with Sarar and Naysam for their pre-wedding shoot in Richmond Park, Surrey.

I love Richmond, especially in the sunshine! we made the most of the late afternoon sunshine and wandered around the park, chatted about their wedding over tea and cake!
I'm really looking forward to their wedding in May.

Here are a few of my favourites.

On Saturday I met up with Kay & Aaron who are getting married next year at the beautiful Turkey Mill.

We spent a great couple of hours at Shirley Hills for their autumnal pre-wedding shoot.
Kay & Aaron were great fun and I'm really looking forward to their wedding.

Here are a couple of my favourites....

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