Candice & Ben : Wedding at Southend Barns, Chichester

A little sneak peek of Candice & Ben's gorgeous wedding at Southend Barns near Chichester on Saturday...what a beautiful day. Congratulations guys! :) 

Cambridge engagement shoot

Louise and Nabori's pre wedding shoot in Cambridge was just lovely.  It was great to meet them and chat all things wedding - I can't wait until their big day in August! :) 

A little note...

On Friday evening I received an email that made me cry tears of joy, I'm such a soppy nut. It was from Kirsty and Patrick to say thank you for their wedding photos that they had just received...I asked Kirsty if I could share her note on my blog as it kind of encompasses everything I hope my clients will experience when they choose me as their photographer....this is the little box they received...

"Alexa we are absolutely thrilled! we are totally and utterly in LOVE with the pictures and want to say a huge thank you for capturing the genuine happiness of the day!

When we looked for a wedding photographer, we were utterly terrified at how invasive and false the pictures we saw were. You managed to make the entire day so relaxed and it was so lovely to have you at our wedding!  I have had SO many comments from our friends and family to say how lovely you were and how nice it was to have you sharing our special day, you were more like a guest than our wedding photographer!

We were so excited to open our 'little box of goodies' and my favourite part was the super cool and practical memory stick!  As soon as the online gallery is open we will be ordering our favourites so we can get them framed!

Lots of love and keep in touch! If we can do anything to help promote your amazing-ness then let us know because you deserve every success!

 

Kirst and Paddy x"

Thank you to Kirsty & Patrick for being so awesome and also to your friends and family who made me so welcome! Yay!

A little time off in North Wales...

I spent the last few days in North Wales after Laura and Andy's wedding in Anglesey. My husband is originally from the area so we spent some time exploring out favourite places (in between me doing lots and lots of wedding photo editing!) My camera stayed firmly in it's bag all week, but I just thought I'd do a quick blog of my instagram photos :) I adore being outdoors and the weather on Aberffraw beach yesterday was what can only be described as epic....

We went to Llanberis, walked up the Vivian path for a view of the lake and Snowdon and then came back down for a huuuge cuppa and some lunch at Pete's Eats (fave cafe ever!)

Anglesey is blooming - blossom and gorse are everywhere amongst the rugged landscape...

Ah croeso! LOVE the Menai bridge :)

Jumping off sand dunes never grows old..

I discovered a gorgeous little shop in Menai Bridge called Cwtch - selling absolutely gorgeous gifts and art...I spent about half an hour chatting to it's owner Jess (she's super lovely) and it was great to chat to a fellow creativ. Check it out Cwtch if your'e in the area or have a look in their online shop....http://www.shopcwtch.com/

And then I met a gorgeous whippet called Ted...

It was great to get away for a few days, to be honest I was working very hard whilst I was there but it was great to be able to take a morning and afternoon off to go out exploring with Daf...and it was also great to unwind after quite a few shoots recently...nothing better than a bath, a pear cider and a copy of Oh Comely magazine :)

Fruity fruity! How I shoot....

I love my job - it was lovely to hang out with Miriam in her south London home...She's a dietician and wanted friendly, interesting portraits for her website. It was a bit of a fruity, light hearted, fun shoot. Awesome hair and make up by Elbie van Eeden. 

It always intrigues me when I look at other photographer's work as to how a shoot comes to life and how it's set up.  So I thought I might write a little about how this shoot came about. I spoke to Miriam about what she was looking for and we put together a pinterest board of ideas that we were inspired by. We then thought about how these ideas could translate into a shoot in her home.  Miriam loved really creative portraits but didn't want to put potentia clients off by seeming too 'wacky'. She sent me her mood board for her new website design so I knew which colours and style she was going for.. I chose a neautral grey paper background (I bought it from Calumet but I know you can get them online too) and Miriam chose her clothes to and Elbie co-ordinated the make up colours to be fresh and 'pop' against the background...

Miriam has a conservatory so this was perfect! Lit from above from the glass roof and from in front from the patio doors gave a very natural feel to the images without the need for lighting. I love how these portraits show a little of Miriam's personality without being over the top 'quirky' - friendly and approachable. 

Laura & Andy - sneak peek!

A very special wedding - at the bride's home, dress made by her mum, tiny chapel ceremony and couples portraits in a green house. :) Andy & Laura were married on Church Island on the Menai Strait in the tiniest darkest church you ever did see, it was such a beautiful ceremony. Then they held their reception at a botanical garden where Laura grew up. Just so much love and everything was handmade and done themselves, just awesome. Huge congratulations guys!

Miriam : creative portraits