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31st May - wedding, Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield - Tom and Melanie

What a day! Scuddy weather all week broke on Saturday to reveal brilliant blue skies with a much welcome cooling breeze. Arriving at Hardwick Hall near Sedgefield Tom and his best man Paul were virtually dressed and ready, just time for a few button hole and cravat shots before we headed outside for shots of the guys together. Onwards to catch Melanie getting ready at her Parent's house. Although Tom and Melanie now live in Huddersfield, Melanie is originally from Sedgefield, making Sedgefield a natural choice for their wedding venue.

The civil ceremony over with the bride and groom released a pair of doves together with Tom releasing a third in remembrance of his mum, an emotional time for all the guests. The grounds at Hardwick were great for photos and a quick whiz into the trees before the wedding breakfast gave Tom and Melanie a number of excellent images. During their pre-wedding shoot the couple were naturals and so it was no surprise that during the photo shoot they quickly slipped into a number of poses and performed brilliantly when it came for the more natural images.

Following the wedding breakfast we headed out again, this time to a quiet corner of the grounds which we'd spotted earlier in the day, the sun was low in the sky and the light was excellent. 

The happy couple have now jetted off somewhere very warm and sunny, enjoy!

The importance of back up equipment was brought home on Saturday at Tom and Melanie's wedding, arriving at Hardwick Hall for shots of Tom getting ready I unpacked the cameras to find the 1DS (one of the cameras)  had managed to develop a fault since use at 8PM the previous evening. Swapping the battery, a little bit of swearing and even a kiss (the Camera not Tom!) didn't help revive what was now a five grand paperweight, and so Hannah the ever faithful assistant nipped off to the car to grab one of the two spare camera bodies whilst I started shooting on the second and third of the primary cameras. Taking five camera bodies to a wedding may seem like overkill, but... You never know! - Update: Shipped off to Canon for a warranty repair.

Shooting film in the old days was always prone to risk, film snapping, the lab losing or scratching negatives etc, digital can still be fraught with similar risks, the greatest of these being a corrupt or lost memory card. To reduce the risk of loss, many good photographers will regularly swap memory cards throughout the day, I'm now pleased to say that all three main wedding cameras use dual memory cards which means that throughout the day your precious images being recorded onto two memory cards at once, further reducing the chance of any images becoming lost or corrupt. Magazines recommend you ask your photographer if they carry spare equipment, perhaps they should also start getting more technical and recommend you ask how the photographer reduces the risk of data loss?

A local job this evening for family portraits in Castleford. 

Ben and Ide (Pronounced e-day) married on Tuesday at Waterton Park Wakefield. The weather wasn't really playing ball, however this was more than compensated by the terrific colours worn by the guests. Not be outdone by the ladies, the guys were told to wear interesting hats which were accompanied by fairly non standard wedding outfits.

Early Sunday I caught up with Jamie and Nikki at Nostell Priory near Wakefield for their pre-wedding shoot, it was also an ideal opportunity to walk through the locations and plan the timings of the day itself. Jamie and Nikki have chosen four of the days images to go in a signing frame

Jessie and Jonathon are marrying in a few months time at Waterton Park, also the ideal choice for their pre-wedding shoot.

David and Lyndsay will be marrying in Barrowford near Burnley at the end of the year. Choosing a local park as the location for the photo shoot allowed time for some swing action, a chance to feed the ducks and then a chance to race them down the lakeside.....

I caught up with Mark, Melanie and their daughter Ebony at Waterton Park early Sunday for a pre-wedding meeting and shoot, although the real star of the shoot was Ebony posing and performing for the camera like a pro!

A new venue today, just off the A1 The Bridge Inn near Wetherby is a great wedding venue, the civil ceremony room complete with ornate plaster work and low beamed ceilings in the bar and then a nice bright reception room, it was easy to see why Dale and Stacey chose The Bridge for their wedding venue.

A great day with lots of fun and even good weather to boot.

A bright sunny morning was perfect for Stephen and Nikola's pre-wedding shoot at their wedding venue, Waterton park. Although neither were overly keen on having their photos taken, they were quickly into the swing of the shoot and even suggesting poses and helping each other relax.

Rachel followed family tradition my marrying Alan at St Cuthberts Church in Ackworth. The delightful church with tree lined walk way and lynch gate allows superb photos and a friendly vicar is also very accommodating for photos allowing photography from near the alter. Allowing me to capture the couples special moments duringt he ceremony. Following photos at the church we headed off to a local lane for some classic car images before rejoining the guests up at Burntwood for the reception.

Wendy Added: Very Nice Photos

Sandra Added: You did a really fantastic job with the photos they are excellent. (Alan's Mum)

A bank holiday and no rain, well it was too much to ask! Sunday the met office got it right and it rained, rained and then just when we started taking photos again, it rained some more!

Spirits were still high and guests seemed not to notice (well not much). After group shots inside Christ Church in Liversedge, the bride and groom were quickly in the car heading to the Holiday Inn in Brighouse for their wedding reception. The hotel interior lends itself perfectly to the style that mark and Nicola were looking for and a slight break in the weather allowed us to quickly head outside for a few images.

Nicola Added:

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Scott and Rebecca were married at Burntwood Court near Brierly on Saturday. Following pre-wedding photos at Rebecca's mum's house it was onto Burntwood to catch Scott and the groomsmen who had stayed the night at Burntwood. 

The weather was once again fantastic and so once the group images had been taken Scott and Rebecca took a walk around the hotel grounds for a variety of images and some nice personal time together before the wedding breakfast.

The evening was rounded off with a firework display.

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Mark and Kelly married in a civil ceremony at Waterton Park on Friday. The forecasters thankfully got the weather wrong and the guests were able to enjoy post ceremony drinks outside on the island. This was also an opportunity for Mark and Kelly to enjoy some quiet time as we took some time away for photos of just the two of them. Although it seems like an age since there pre-wedding shoot they were both quickly into the swing of posing and making the most of the excellent views and photo opportunities.

Nicola P added: "The whole day was brilliant and your photos captured the whole day perfectly"

New larger images!

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