Bride To Be, Bridal Wear, Prestwich, Manchester

I'm delighted to announce a new bridal wear shop is set to open in Prestwich, Manchester called Bride to Be. The Boutique, owned by the lovely Hannah Lois, is on Bury New Road in Prestwich village. It offers a large variety of wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses to brides to be, who are looking for the perfect dress to wow the one they love on their big day. All the staff have a friendly and down to earth approach to allow a good browse whilst enjoying yourself; sipping on some fizz, or coffee & cupcakes in order to find the wedding dress of your dreams and to make sure you look amazing on your special day.

The Bride's collections include wedding gowns from Alfred Sung's Always and Signature Collections, Jasmine Couture and Jasmine Colllection, Jade Daniels, Mikaella by Paloma Blanca and a Plus Size range from Callista for beautiful brides with curves. There is also a fantastic range of bridesmaids dresses from Jasmine's B2 and Alfred Sung's Lela Rose Collection. There are a great range of sizes and styles to suit all tastes, and with a large price range for wedding dresses, the boutique caters for every budget too.

Bride to Be has flexible opening hours to suit everyone, opening 6 days a week. Appointments can be made from Tuesday - Sunday or you can call in anytime for a browse. The boutique opens on the 25th June and Hannah is holding an official launch event there on Saturday 2nd July 10am - 6pm. Prospective brides can visit the boutique and enjoy champagne, canapés, coffee & cupcakes, mini manicures, pedicures, acoustic music and much more!

Some of my own wedding photographs will be up on the walls in the boutique and you can look through one of my wedding albums too, which will be on display to be browsed through.

Visit www.bridetobebyhannahlois.co.uk for more information.

Claire and Chris’s Wedding at Walton Hall, Warrington, Cheshire

The final wedding that I covered in my mad month of May was at Walton Hall in Warrington, Cheshire. It’s the first time I’ve photographed a wedding here and not the last, I sincerely hope. The venue is a big stately home in the middle of a beautifully kept park. As nice as the Hall is, the wedding was due to be held in the grounds, north-west weather dependent of course!

The skies were dark and threatening rain around half an hour before the service. The venue dressers had set out the indoor room for the service as it looked to be rained off. A mild tussle was going on as the registrar wanted it indoors but the venue coordinators were insistent that is was going to be outside as planned. The anticipation of what was to happen was nearing fever pitch (am I building this up dramatically enough for you here?)….

Anyway, about 10 minutes before the service, the clouds parted and the Cheshire sun started shining down on the park, starting a mad dash to set up the bandstand for what was to be an amazing ceremony. Claire and her bridesmaids looked amazing as they walked down the aisle in the sun. The park proved to be a splendid backdrop for the group and portrait shots, as did the staircase of the venue itself. The evening reception was held up by the Champions League final with the bride and groom's first dance happening at half time, again outside on the bandstand: Awesome stuff! The match result wasn’t quite what a lot of the lads would have hoped for, but it didn’t spoil what was a fantastic day. Highlights below!




























Congratulations to Claire and Chris. Hope you love looking at your photos as much as I loved taking them (and looking at them again actually!).

New Exciting Promo Stuff!

I attended a marketing workshop yesterday to try and get some new ideas for promoting my business. Right at the start of session, the lady running the workshop asked who had business cards. I was the only person to put my hand up. She asked me to show her my card and as I was getting my wallet out, I felt a shiver of embarrassment run through me. This was because I knew full well that I’d given my last business card to a close up magician I'd met in a Parcel Force collection office the previous day. Anyone who is friends with me on Facebook may have noticed that I've had a bit of a running battle with Parcel Force this week over their 'Express 1 day service' that I eventually received 3 days late after 3 phone calls, 2 visits to the depot and a strongly worded letter! Anyway this magician did a trick for me whilst we were waiting to be served and was quite good so I said I'd recommend him to my clients where necessary. He didnt have a business card on him so said he'd email me his details through, which he is yet to do.

Anyway, I’ve digressed into a babbling and ranting idiot now. Back to the marketing workshop. So I didn’t have a business card and felt quite ridiculous admitting this after just saying that I had one. The workshop leader gave me a mild dressing down and instructed me to never leave the house without them! I wanted to tell her that I was leaving to pick up a batch of business cards (at a 3rd attempt) immediately following the workshop. But I didn’t as this would have made me look like the a schoolboy (that I used to be) making excuses for not doing his homework.

Here they are anyway, I love them! I got 13 different photographs printed onto the front of the cards. It's like carrying a mini portfolio around in my pocket. I've simplified the contact details on the back going for a 'less is more' look. The print quality is superb and I couldn’t be happier with them. (Which is more than I can say for these poor quality iPhone photos of them.)


Pics!


Lots of pics!


Back of the cards


The postcard front


Postcard rear

The only problem I have now is that I really don't want to give them away!

Kelly and Luke’s wedding at St Annes, Crumpsall, reception at the Marriott, Worsley

With wedding season in full flow now, it’s busy busy busy right now! I’m doing quite well at keeping on top of this blog for a change. Well, for now at least….

Kelly and Luke tied the knot the other week and I had the pleasure of covering their special day. This wedding capped off a fantastic weekend for me as the previous day I was down at Wembley for the FA cup final. I sped back up the M1 after the match and got an early night to prepare myself for the early start I had the following day. I arrived at the bride’s mother’s house at 9.30am to catch all the bride and bridesmaids’ preparations. There was a great buzz around the dining room of the house with all the girls chatting and joking whilst having their hair and make up done in splendid fashion. My heart went out to the bride’s younger brother looking bemused at being stuck in the house with 8 women.

I left the bride’s house to get to St Anne’s Church in Crumpsall, Manchester to meet the groom and his groomsmen. This was quite a big wedding party, even before the guests arrived. 14 groomsmen in total, including the groom and the dads. That’s a lot of suits! The lads were doing a sterling job of greeting all the guests as they arrived at the venue and handing out carnations to everyone.

Anyway, the bridesmaids showed up and everyone was quickly ushered inside to await the bride’s arrival. Kelly arrived with her dad and looked absolutely stunning in her dress. The wedding was a traditional catholic ceremony with full mass, giving me plenty of time to get lots of photos. The service was broken up with an amazing performance by a classical singer called Bethany who left everyone gobsmacked with a fantastic rendition of Ave Maria. Over an hours worth of church time practically flew by.

From the church we left for the Marriott in Worsley. A venue I’ve photographed before, perfect for a wedding party. Unfortunately the Manchester weather was true to form and in rained from after the church until about 6pm. But it didn’t dampen any spirits, which was proven during the speeches. The best man double act was a relentless, two pronged verbal assault on the groom, which had a grand finale of a rap to the ‘The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air’ theme tune. Ingenious and hilarious! After the meal the rain had stopped for a short while, allowing me to take the bride and groom out for a quick lap of the grounds for some portrait shots. A former member of One True Voice from the TV show ‘Pop Stars, The Rivals’, provided the evening’s entertainment Djing and singing. A fantastic day for the perfect couple, highlights below!





























Congratulations to Kelly and Luke! All the best for the future from me.

Oh, and I’ll give Luke’s shop a quick plug. Luke runs Styxx Menswear in Cheetham Hill, check out his shop on Bury Old Road if you’re in the area or look online http://www.styxonline.co.uk/

Lucie and David's Wedding At The Cloisters Suite, Holiday Inn, Bolton!

Back to the Holiday Inn! This is fast becoming my most photographed wedding venue, and there is a good reason why. The venue is amazing, I’ve said it time and time again on this blog and I’m unsure whether my photo’s can really do it the justice it deserves. If you are reading this and looking for a place to tie the knot then head over there asap and see it for yourself.

Anyway, I arrived at the venue early and headed to the Cloisters Suite to snap some shots of the room whilst it was unattended. The couple had arranged for the room to be dressed to match the theme colours, and it looked spectacular. The venue dressers had done a fantastic job tying up the green colours of the bridesmaids dresses (if you’re reading this, I lost your card – drop me a line and I’ll give you a shout out on here). Once I was done I headed over to the front of the hotel to catch the lads arriving early doors to catch some liquid refreshment before the ceremony. David and his groomsmen are a top bunch of lads and were in good spirits. I jumped in the lift upstairs to catch the bride and bridesmaids' final preparations. Lucie lost an amazing 4 stone in her preparations for her big day and was featured in both Slimming World and Wedding Ideas magazine. Lucie looked stunning in a dress which really complimented her new slimline figure. The bridesmaids were in a very tasteful lime(?)ish green colour outfit, with the flower girls in dresses that matched up perfectly.

The service was held in the Cloisters Suite and featured both Lucie and David being quite emotional, as well as very eager to say ‘I will’! David’s best man and ushers did a stirling job assisting me in rounding up the necessary participants for the group shots. His best man also did a fantastic job in stitching his brother up during the speeches, as well as on the stag do by all accounts. Lucie’s Dad brought his folk band along for the evening do and the couple rounded off the day with their first dance performed by the band.





























Congratulations to the pair of you on your fantastic wedding. Good luck for the future and in all that you do!

PS: I was lucky enough to score another wedding during this day so will be returning back here in October!

Terri and Rik Get Married at The Bolholt, Bury

Last month I covered the wedding of Terri and Rik over at the Bolholt Hotel in Bury. I’ve worked this venue a few times now and have enjoyed every single event covered here. The venue seems tailor made for weddings and the highly professional coordinators work tirelessly to make sure everything on the day runs smoothly.

I started off at the madhouse that was the bride’s mothers to capture the preparations. Loads of people crammed into a terraced house, loads of noise, kids fighting, champagne flowing – ACE! Terri seemed cool as the proverbial cucumber as I followed her and the bridesmaids about whilst they sorted themselves out. I had to capture the bride making the final adjustments to her dress in the smallest space imaginable. All good fun.

I headed off to the venue around the same time as the bridesmaids and met up with Rik and the lads, struggling to find an open bar at the venue to sneak a cheeky pint in before the ceremony (unsuccessfully I might add). The venue was dressed up in spectacular fashion by Organza Occasions. The room truly was breathtaking. If you want to see anymore of their work check out www.organzaoccasions.co.uk

Anyway, I’ve known Rik for years from working together in the past, and he is generally a cool customer. But seemed to be bricking it a bit before the service (haha, sorry lad). Rik and the groomsmen pre-warned me about a trick that they were to play on Terri during the exchanging of the rings (switching his wedding ring for the one you’ll see below).

The trick was played and taken in great humour, setting up what was to be a great day. Weather was a bit windy, but the rain held off. We had a free reign of the entire venue as no other weddings were due to arrive until later on so took full advantage. Highlights below…

































The photos probably tell the story of the day better than I can, great venue, great people and a great laugh. Thanks to the pair of you for allowing me to be a part of your special day. As Rik said in his speech, PARTY ON DUDES!