I thought I wish I could have seen him take the stage and share the excitement that he felt before every performance. When I was about 10 I remember being taken to Dury Lane by my Mother. The stage hand that showed us around remembered my Grandfather, the great Harry Welchman, with obvious fond memories. He said “your Grandfather would stand on that stage (it’s enormous) with a full orchestra playing and when he sang you could hear every note above the orchestra without any microphones.” I remember how amazed I felt – how could one person’s voice fill such a huge theatre and top the whole orchestra; when I listened to his voice today I could understand how – fabulous!

I left to go back to the studio where I finished processing the images for a recent wedding before getting changed to go to Tregenna Castle. Beautiful sunshine for today’s wedding. It was such fun; more details to follow later. Got back home to receive confirmation of a booking for 2011 and another request for a meet later this year for a Christmas wedding in 2011. Gave Laura the Bride to Be a call and set up a meet for later in the year for a get together. 

What an amazing day full of excitement; I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such a wonderful family and to be able to share in the excitement of so many wedding day celebrations.

Brides can arrange for a blessing,  at their chosen venue, where ever they wish. For example a wedding I photographed some years ago went like this; the couple went to the registry office, just the couple, a few days before their beach wedding did the I do bit and signed the register. I went with them to get a couple of shots as a keep sake. 

The “wedding” really a blessing took place on a beach infront of about 100 guests. The vicar offered prayers and blessings, including the wedding  rings, and music was played before their ceremony;  if I remember rightly a couple of hyms were sung. It was really special and fortunately so was the weather which helped big time. The wedding reception venue was on standby in case of bad weather and was not far from the beach.

It’s re-inactment of a wedding but if a beach wedding is your dream at least you know how it’s possible to “get married on a beach”.

Another couple celebrated their wedding in a very unusual spot which I’ll talk about in another post and which may give those of you wanting to plan a wedding with a difference some ideas.

There are at least 3 wedding venues I have worked at recently, in Cornwall, that are licensed for outdoor wedding ceremonies: Tregenna Castle at St Ives, Boscundle Manor at Par near St Austell and The Rose in Vale Country House Hotel near St Agnes. In addition if you would like to get married outdoors with sea views Tregenna is the place and is close to some fabulous beaches.

The Rose in Vale is near St Agnes and there are mine workings, cliffs and sea views a short drive away. I have taken couples to locations nearby which make  great wedding photography back drops.

I photographed a crazy civil partnership at Boscundle Manor. The ceremony was held outside and a marquee had been set up for the wedding guests – it worked really well and the couple were delighted which let’s face it is most important.

Can you have a wedding ceremony on a beach will be the subject of another post.

The last day of July I had the pleasure of travelling to Oxford to photograph Lee and Karrina’s wedding at Ardington House. I travelled up on the Thursday and thoroughly enjoyed the pre wedding get together when I had the chance to meet up with family and friends and enjoy great food and one or two drinks. The wedding day was fabulous a great couple, a wonderful location and glorious weather. Left the wedding at 10pm and drove to Okehampton where I stayed overnight and was close to Wadebridge to photograph Gary and Luisa Jane’s wedding the following day.

I will be posting on a regular basis but just wanted to thank all the fabulous people I have met at the weddings I have photographed so far this year and of course to my delightful brides and their grooms thanks so much for allowing me to capture the magic of your fab weddings. Wedding photography is exciting and meeting the many people is great fun.

The online galleries have proved very popular as many of my couples have come from abroad. People who couldn’t make the weddings in person have been able to share in the wedding day through the photography. There have been numerous thank you emails which I will be including in future postings.

Leon is busy designing the wedding albums and has just had a fab email with much praise from Kim and Steve who were married in July. Their album will be sent off for production later on and they are looking forward to seeing the finished product. I look foward to seeing them when they come down to pick up their album in the near future. Kim and Steve if you read this; enjoyed your wedding big time and am so pleased that I’ll be seeing you at your friends wedding in 2011. Look forward to that drink when you collect your album.

Looking at the diary for 2009, it’s going to be a busy year. In 2008 we secured more wedding bookings than in any previous year. The great thing from my point of view is the great brides, grooms and their wedding guests  I’ve worked with and whose company I’ve enjoyed.

I constantly aim to take my wedding photography to a different level with each wedding I photograph, always looking for the unusual but above all working to capture the personalities of everyone at the wedding.

Weddings photographed in Cornwall will be featured in future postings so feel free to come back to have a look. If you are planning a wedding please feel free to give me a call or drop me an email to have chat and discuss any ideas you may have about your wedding photography.

Thanks to all of our brides and grooms whose weddings we have covered, it has been such a pleasure to work with you all and many many thanks for all the appreciative emails and phone calls – always good to receive feedback.

September is probably going to be even busier than August as there are many couples who have yet to make their selection of photographs for their wedding album page designs – I have a feeling we are going to receive lots of orders which when added to the number of weddings that I shall be photographing – well all I can say is it’s going to be a mega month! Leon and I look forward to it.

Lucy and Ross’s wedding will be good fun, about 110 guests so plenty of photography opportunities on their wedding day. I will be staying for the wedding reception and will take them down to Porthminster beach and into St Ives between the wedding breakfast and the start of the evening wedding celebrations.

If you thought wedding photography is boring – think again! This position is a great one for testing the strength of ones stomach muscles - Ha Ha.

2009 will be a brilliant year and is going to be really good fun looking at the weddings booked so far and the couples I’ve met.

Budget is something that many people are concerned about – whatever your wedding is going to cost the  wedding rings and photographs will be all that’s tangibly left after the wedding day. There’s so much advice from so many new wedding web sites that are appearing on a regular basis all teling couples who the best suppliers are, sadly the vast majority are on a payment basis and a listing doesn’t mean that the supplier is necessarily good it means they’ve paid to be listed. I know because I get so many emails asking me to list my business on directories. Just shows how popular Cornwall is for weddings!