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!