Natalie & Andy - 23rd April 2011

My starting point for today's wedding was the Manor House at the Norton Park Hotel in Hampshire where the bride Natalie was getting ready. It's the first time I've shot at this location and was overwhelmed at the variety of places to take images with an aesthetic surrounding. There's a huge lake and beautiful wooded grounds with a number of rustic outbuildings and a Hampshire barn, which is used as a wedding venue, albeit not ours today. We were destined to travel about 10 minutes away.

I shot with an old mate and impassioned full time award winning pro photographer Paul Shergold - a member of our cooperative who runs his own photography business Sheer Gold Photography from Gosport in Hampshire. Paul is getting married to the lovely Nicola Saxon in August this year and I'll be shooting that one too with Nedine O'Brien. Paul is pictured above at the venue for today's wedding - The Clock Barn at Tufton Warren farm in Whitchurch, Hants.

All the suppliers to the Clock Barn are as local as possible, reducing their environmental footprint and making their impact on our planet's finite resources more responsible. I get fed up with hearing "greenwash" propaganda by opportunist companies seizing a marketing ploy and cashing in on environmental trends without actually doing anything significant, but the staff I met at the Clock Barn seemed genuinely committed to making a difference. The level of service was excellent and grub was fresh and locally sourced. I'd certainly recommend it to others.

There were four generations of Andy's family in attendance today, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to photograph them all. On the far right, on grandma's lap is Amy the daughter of Andy and Natalie. In the centre of this shot are Amy's three great grandparents and far left is her granddad trying unsuccessfully to look like he loves having his photograph taken.

This is an internal shot of the barn. 60 minutes beforehand, the Deputy Registrar Tim had been conducting the wedding ceremony.

Andy and Amy having a stroll in the grounds of the Clock Barn.

None of these cars were hired for the wedding. Andy's family and friends are enthusiasts and mechanics and the cars ended up featuring in a number of the day's shots. The sun was cracking the slabs for most of the day with a 27 degree high ensuring that those wearing suits were melting for most of the afternoon. The grounds of the Clock Barn were fortunately landscaped well with good trees for shade cover.

Not one cake but about 200 cup cakes and a regular fruit cake topped this stack. To say they were well received would be the understatement of the year. Made by hand and with love by Jenny from CutiCups.com pictured here with her work (or should that be works) of art.

As always, we only show a handful of the day's images on our blog. For a larger set please feel free to click the link here for the TPS Website. Back in London for next week's wedding (no not that one paid for by our taxes, but the lovely Keri's cousin Laura. I'll be working with Nedine again for that one, so watch this space folks.

Joanna and Allen 16 April 2011

Beautiful weather predominated on Saturday 16th April for the wedding of Joanne and Allen. I had the honour of working with one of my favourite wedding photographers Marta Demartini from Genoa. Marta's work is exceptional and she is one of those people who inspires me to do better each time I take the camera out. If ever I get a bit complacent, all I have to do is look at her outstanding work and it prompts me to try harder next time.

Our lovely bride Joanne is a school teacher so the two of them are having a short honeymoon break in Cornwall over the Easter holidays and then going to the USA during the school summer holidays. If the current weather keeps up for them, Cornwall will be beautiful (they know this already of course). I'm not sure that Cornish pasties or clotted cream will be their top priority, but I'd welcome either if you have room in your suitcase folks.

The fantastic bridesmaids dresses were all hand made by Joanne's mum Joan. Now that's what I call dedication and creativity! I have difficulty in sewing on a button so am always impressed by people who can put things like this together (I'm rubbish at DIY as well, but that's probably too much information sorry).

This was my 393rd wedding shoot and like most of the others, it came from a referral. Avid readers of our blog will possibly recognise Keri (last bridesmaid on right above) whose wedding we covered last year. After over 30 years of taking wedding images, word of mouth is still tops for getting the next event on our books. With so many people now using on-line peer reviews before buying anything, the method of recommendation may have changed, but it's still a recommendation from happy customers that count for most consumers. Clearly no service provider is going to tell clients "Our limousines keep breaking down. We turn up late frequently" or "We're really rubbish at catering and our hotel rooms smell of cats" etc, so it's really important for our potential brides and grooms to check out what the feedback is from real clients. Although there's a selection of quotes on the TPS web site "Testimonials" page (taken as verbatim quotes from people we've photographed) anyone can write a good CV that's economical with the truth. Thankfully, we have 30 year's worth of customers you can ask directly if you doubt our integrity.

This blog always has a short bit of prose and a handful of images from the event on display. For a much larger selection, go to the TPS Website page for Joanne and Allen.

We've been fully booked for April this year for some time now. Two more consecutive Saturdays to go before a bit of a break. Thankfully I love what I get to do with a camera. The best thing about the job is the people - vitally important of course when pretty much all I take photographs of is human beings. Saturday's crowd were great fun, even though jumping for joy wasn't their most finely honed skill. We wish Joanne and Allen a long, beautiful and happy union together. A pretty easy wish if what we witnessed on Saturday is anything to go by.

Laura & Kent's wedding

I've been photographing both Laura and Kent at events and other people's weddings for well over a decade now, so was very pleased when I was chosen to cover their wedding in Aston, just off the M1 motorway near Sheffield. The All Saints Church, where the ceremony took place was constructed in the 12th century and is mentioned in the Doomsday book. The Reverend Ian Jennings conducted the ceremony.

A selection of the images can be found on our web site at TPS Photos

The affection that Kent and Laura have for one another is so obvious to anyone who knows them, that I was quite surprised they took so long to decide to tie the knot. Regardless of the procrastination, everyone I spoke to said it was well worth the wait. I was briefly assisted by their son Ben (pictured above with dad).

Ben's sister Ruby decided to have a power nap after the group shot was over (others followed suit later and had to be woken up to witness the first dance, but I wont name names). Ruby was wide awake for the speeches though, chuckling above with dad. The speeches were really funny, but moving enough to ensure that Kleenex sale prices increased too. I managed not to sob myself on this occasion, but it's always a bit easier when I'm working.

The reception was held in the Aston Hall Hotel a stones throw away from the church (unless you're using GPS in which case it's a 10 minute drive!) I would like to wish Laura and Kent a long, fruitful and happy life together. As that's reliant on them getting on, I reckon they've already proved to everyone that my wish will be an easy one to come true. Congratulations and thanks again for including me on this fantastic day.