Again it’s been a little while since I’ve posted – July and August are very busy months for the wedding photographer and it’s followed by a September filled with processing photographs! I have another 2 weddings and a christening to post about in the next few days plus some exciting news at the end of the week so I’m playing some serious catch-up!

At the end of July, Helen (who is now back on duty as my beautiful assistant after a busy sabbatical with our second child) and I embarked on our first wedding together since Noah was born – and coincidentally it is at the same venue as our last wedding together with David and Anna! We know the people down at the Norfolk Arms  rather well now and they have asked us to be their resident wedding photographers which is great – and it means we know the venue incredibly well!

George and Heather are two of the warmest, kindest people you could have the best fortune to meet – and from the moment we had our first meeting to discuss the photography we knew it would be a day full of smiles and love – The perfect wedding combo! We knew Heather’s parents as Heather’s mum used to look after our daughter when I was at work and Helen was at university so we knew the family already, and it was good to be able to show our gratitude by giving their family some beautiful photographs to remember their wedding day by.

The day started with us meeting the grooms party in Sheffield – they were a very willing bunch and very relaxed and up for a laugh which made the photography easy and more importantly, good fun. Once the lads had been photographed we headed over to meet the girls; the champagne was flowing and everyone was in a fantastic mood for the day ahead. I’ve put some photos from the preparations below – enjoy!

Once the preparation shots were in the bag we headed over to the church for a quick look at the venue to see how the light was falling at that time of the day – I always take a visit to the venue before shooting a wedding but it’s usually on an evening and it’s difficult to see where the light will fall on the day. We were in luck though as the church was gorgeous inside and there were large windows everywhere which made for lovely soft light. The church had also been recently renovated so it was quite modern inside – and extremely impressive!

Like I mentioned in the blog post for Ian and Rachel’s wedding (where the church they were married in was where Rachel’s father was a member of the congregation all his life) it is always great to shoot a wedding in a venue with significance to the bride and groom. The couple were married at Christ church in Fulwood, and George and Heather are both members of the congregation, so the service was really personal and obviously very emotional too. Saying that, this was the third marriage of them both (they were married in Jordan where George hails from a short time before, and again in England!) so they had plenty of practice! I’ve put some shots of the ceremony and the tea afterward below:

Once the ceremony was done everyone headed to the Norfolk arms for some beautiful dinner and the evening soiree – just before everyone sat down to eat we took the bride and groom out to Stanage Edge which is only about 2 minutes drive from the Norfolk arms where there are some stunning backdrops of the Peak district. George was also under strict instruction to get some photographs of the peak district for his family and friends back in Jordan as they don’t get much of a chance to see many green hills in that part of the world! After dinner there were some wonderful and very emotional speeches, folowed by fun and frolics for all.

Overall it was a fantastic wedding, and we had great weather all day – a rare thing in England this summer! It was great to be part of such an amazing day – and the couple and their friends and family were brilliant to work with and talk to throughout. It’s always a pleasure to photograph weddings for couples so clearly in love – so thanks from Helen and I to all concerned, especially George and Heather.

Thanks,

Justin and Helen