introducing nootka rose < < chit chat > >

Earlier this year whilst helping out my good friend Sara of Monty Manatee at a wedding fair, I had the good fortune to meet the lovely lady behind Nootka Rose – a fantastic local aromatherapy product and treatment specialist. Recently, Sarah (for that is the lovely lady’s name) has been working on a new look for her brand including a shiny new website and she asked me if I would take some promo shots of her range to use online. So last week I trundled off to Southwell (a pleasure in itself) and spent an afternoon in Sarah’s garden enjoying the sunshine, the wild rambling roses and her fantastic range of aromatherapy products which includes bath salts, bath treat bars and oils. Seriously, peeps, they are delicious. My personal faves are Aphrodite and Zues, but I wouldn’t turn down an hour in the tub with any of the scents on offer. And you know what, they actually make great wedding favours. And since the ingredients are all natural and the packaging is entirely ecologically and ethically sound, you can feel good that you’re not treating yourself or your guests at the expense of the environment. Huzzah!

The new Nootka Rose site is still under wraps as I write this, but I couldn’t resist sharing a sneak peek at some of the wonderful products Sarah has on offer. Again…if only this were smellovision!

Winter Wonderland Inspiration < < styled shoot > >

My word it is full on wintery now. Having been away in Asia this time last year, I wont lie, I’m finding the crazy temperatures and gale force winds a bit much. I am longing to be back where I was a year ago, riding elephants and soaking up the sun. Happy days! But…on the upside, the wintery weather does have some aesthetic appeal. As I mentioned in my previous post, last weekend I trundled down to London for a few days to catch up with friends and while I was down there I assisted the lovely Sassy of Assassynation at a cute little wedding that took us to Marylebone Town Hall, Abbey Road and the wonderful All Star Lanes retro bowling alley in Bloomsbury (win) and joined up with a host of talented photographers from across the UK for a winter wonderland/narnia inspired shoot in Battersea Park organised by the lovely Claudia Carter. The shoot was fab. Five beautiful models, incredible hair and make-up by Julia Plant and Yasmine Potiuk and the prettiest of frocks from the one and only Luella’s Boudoir. And if that’s not enough, we were treated to some inspiring talks by some of the industry’s finest including Catherine Connor, MD of the shoot’s sponsor Aspire Photography Training, Julia West of Modern Photographic who has been art director for Wedding Magazine for several years, and the oh so creative branding genius that is Melissa Love. Wowsers there was a lot to take in. It was an incredible day from start to finish, full of wonderful, inspiring people many of which I am beginning to see as friends. Hurrah. And I got to take some pretty wintery pictures. Huge thanks to the lovely girls who froze their little backsides off for us in the arctic conditions – it really doesn’t look half as cold as it actually was. They were all absolute troopers and looked bloody lovely, as you can see.

Models: Natasha Rozhdestvensky, Lexie Lambert, Hayley Buckingham, Helena Willcocks, Flora Marshall-Dutton

And a few shots of some of the lovely photographers in action. Hurrah!

Competition Winner < < chit chat > >

Sorry for the slight delay in making this announcement – I spent a long weekend in London and didn’t have an opportunity to get online properly. Bad Hannah. The good news is, I’m home again now and happy to announce that the lovely Kelly won our hearts with her endearing story about the Bear Factory recorded message treasure hunt (I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for a stuffed toy, I really am). I was really impressed with all of the stories, I have to say. So good to hear that romance really isn’t dead, and in fact comes in so many quirky little packages. Hurrah! Don’t forget, everybody who entered is entitled to a 20% discount against my standard wedding package prices. I’ll be in touch with everybody later today to confirm the details. In the meantime, take a look at these sneak peeks of a fantastic Winter Wonderland themed bridal shoot I was fortunate enough to attend whilst down in London over the weekend. Check out that make-up! More pretty pics from this shoot coming up in a couple of days together with details of the incredibly talented team behind it.

Bridal Beauty < < styled shoot > >

You know what the hardest thing about this bridal shoot was? Trying to decide which images to share on the blog. There are just so many that I love. My apologies for uploading a tonne of piccies, but I just couldn’t help myself. The girls looked so very beautiful with their vintage bride make-overs. Thanks again to the team – and what a team we make, eh girls? Oh, and I am so thrilled to tell you all that Louise, the stunning redhead, is going to be one of my real brides next year. *squeals*

Hair : Kelly Beedham – KB Wedding hair Specialist

Make-Up : Claire O’Brien – Claire Elizabeth Make-Up Artist

Hair pieces & Jewellery : Sam - The Honey Box

Bridal Beauty Behind The Scenes < < styled shoot > >

The rest of the pics from the bridal beauty shoot will be up tomorrow, and I can hardly wait to share them. But for now, here are some behind the scenes snaps of the team in action. Kelly Beedham – KB Wedding hair Specialist & Claire O’Brien – Claire Elizabeth Make-Up Artist. AKA Team Awesome

Winter Berries < < styled shoot > >

As promised, here’s a full list of vendors and lots more pretty piccies from the shoot last week. Thanks again to all involved. I’d love to hear what you think of the shoot. I wanted to show what could be achieved with a small budget and a bit of effort so we decorated tables in my local village hall using inexpensive and handcrafted props. Do you like the homemade elements? The paper flowers, bunting and sweetie jars? I love a bit of DIY, me. Home made wedding details make me smile because (a) pretty weddings don’t have to be horribly expensive, by making your own favours, decorations or flowers you can save a small fortune in fact and (b) if it’s home made it is unique and, usually, made with love. Weddings are all about love, right? So putting your love into making those little details that people who know you well will instantly see as something that represents you is such a lovely idea! Of course, not everybody has the time, patience or indeed skills required to be a crafting queen. The various bits and pieces featured in this shoot are all simple and fairly quick to make though and I’ll be posting links to some tutorials soon. If you need more inspiration, I heartily recommend keeping an eye on Chloe’s blog (Adore By Chloe) because she features loads of lovely little ideas every week. Be creative. Add your own twist. Let your ideas run away with you. If you have fun with it, that’s sure to show and make your guests (and you) smile. And if you like the idea of DIY but you’re really not sure how to make it work for you, why not enlist Chloe’s services as a wedding stylist – she can suggest and even make pretty hand crafted details to suit your wedding and make it really sparkle. Tee hee.

Click on through to find out more about everybody involved in the shoot and definitely get in touch with them if you’re currently planning your own weddings. We would all love to hear from you!

Styling & DIY elements: Chloe at Adore By Chloe

Stationery & Fingerprint Tree : Sara Bodinar at Monty Manatee

Cake: Danielle Gotheridge at Your Unique Day in Hockley Village

Frocks & veils: Grace Couture in West Bridgford

Jewellery & headpieces: Melissa at Pearls for Lily

Hair: Kelly at KB Wedding Hair Specialist

Make-up: Laura at Laura Harrison Make-Up

Venue: Thrumpton Hall on the banks of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire

Winter Berries Sneak Peek < < styled shoot > >

Just a quickie tonight, but I couldn’t wait to post a few images from the bridal shoot I set up last week. I also want to say a HUGE thank you to the wonderful people involved, without whom it would have been a big flop. Models Susie & Tom were an absolute scream to work with and made rather a cute couple I thought. Thanks for being so patient and co-operative guys! Thanks also to Kelly and Laura for their magical hair and make-up powers. You were both fab and lovely to work with too. Chloe from Adore By Chloe worked her magic with our props and turned a very simple set up into a rather gorgeous little wedding inspiration table. Well, several, actually. I really couldn’t have done it without you so a huge thank you and a big kiss for that. Non-sloppy, of course. The dreamy cake was kindly provided by Danielle Gotheridge of Your Unique Day in Hockley Village – much appreciated. Our gorgeous frocks and veils came from the utterly fab Grace Couture in West Bridgford. Much love for that! Jewellery and glam head pieces were made by independent bridal jeweller Pearls For Lily – so glad you could come along and help out! And finally, bespoke stationery featuring a drawing of our lovely venue (Thrumpton Hall) was provided by my dear friend Sara, the brains and beauty behind Monty Manatee. I will post more images and full details for the vendors involved in this shoot later in the week together with links to a few tutorials showing how we made some of the the various DIY decorations (of which there were many). Til then, feast your eyes on this little taster:

Rocking That Frock < < styled shoot > >

Last week I won a wee competition. The prize? One of ten places on a fab little workshop. The workshop? Cherish The Dress Photography with Chris Hanley. The experience? Well, it was bloody brilliant for so many reasons, not least the fact that Chris is not only a very talented photographer but also, with his wife Claire (aka his chief fixer/fiddler), one hell of a marketeer. It was so interesting hearing them talk about their brand and the various post-wedding fashion inspired shoots they offer. Plus, extra special double bonus, the lovely Claire Gould was there from English Wedding to talk about her blog and how photographers can make use of such things to promote ourselves – basically by sharing our lovely images with the world. It was such an inspiring day. I came away full of positivity (and with a slightly longer photo gear wish list – argh) ready to crack on and take more pretty pictures. But first, I shall share with you some of the images I took on the day itself, because we spent the afternoon slinking around the awesome mill complex where Chris has his gorgeous Riverside Studio snapping away madly with a stunning real bride (thanks so much to the lovely Jayne for being such a good sport and so easy to photograph) dressed in a fab Timeless Bride frock and made up to perfection by the super sweet and crazy talented Jenni Morris. Woo hoo!

Littlehampton Beach Shoot < < styled shoot > >

You may recall the mock e-shoot I featured a couple of weeks ago which resulted from a ShutterRock shoot held down in West Sussex? Well, same day I also shot images of several other aspiring models and I thought I’d share a few of them with you now.

Littlehampton Beach Shoot < < styled shoot > >

Whilst down in West Sussex for the Jane Austen shoot at the start of the week, A number of photographers from around the UK met up at Littlehampton Beach for a ShutterRock shoot-up (a photo meet-up shoot type thing) organised by Emma & Laura, the lovely ladies at Photo Shmoto. We split up into small groups and frolicked on and around the beach with various models having a laugh and taking pretty pictures. Luckily for me, there was a gorgeous young couple modelling giving me an opportunity to have a play with some e-shoot ideas. Here are the results. How gorgeous are they? I know!!!