Its been incredibly busy here at Fotoamour and we’ve been working every single weekend this month.
Drinks for the newly married couple at The Barton Grange
First off were Judith and Phillip at Barton Grange Hotel on 1st May. I have mentioned them briefly here before today but here are a few photos for your perusal – including the lovely Rob who unusually wasn’t sporting his flowery shirt that day!
Judith and Phillip - just married!
Rob holding court
The following Sunday I was off to Wincham Hall Hotel in Cheshire for Zoe and Stuart’s wedding. It was a gorgeous day and as you can see the bluebells were obligingly hanging on for the photos despite the fact that they really should have been past their flowery best. The gardens at the back of the hotel were really very lovely and great for photography – someone there has been very busy.
Zoe and Stuart in the bluebells woods at Wincham Hall Hotel
Zoe and Stuart were attended to by the affable toastmaster Raymond Bonnard pictured below. As usual Fotoamour got through all the formal photos in a comfortable amount of time – which I think surprised Raymond who may have been expecting a mammoth group-arranging session. We were through the groups within the usual 30 minutes which left plenty of time for capturing the beautiful and spontaneous stuff and more time for me to photograph Zoe and Stuart in those lovely woodland gardens.
Raymond Bonnard - toastmaster for the day
Cathryn and Steven’s wedding at Penwortham Methodist Church and The Leyland Hotel was last Saturday 23rd May. I have been photographing loads of civil ceremonies recently so it was a nice change to photograph inside a church, especially one so welcoming. In fact, I don’t think I have ever been allowed so much freedom in a church as I was allowed here. Not that I abused it I hope.
Just opposite was a bridge with a great cobbled road across it and these fantastic old lamposts so hoping that I will have some great stuff to show you from these weddings too.
Sunday I was back to De Vere in Blackpool with Carole and Mike – patently very much in love. It was a great family wedding – quite small but very happy and again the sun was shining.
Last Thursday a sort-of-family wedding – Emma and Pete who are related to us through my sister, Sue. The wedding took place at Statham Lodge which we know through the BIPP (they hold all their NW meetings there). The lady in charge of the day’s events was Kelly. She was very friendly and helpful and we (Martyn and I worked together on this one as it was a family event!) thought that the banqueting room looked good – light and airy which is great for a reception as so often these rooms are dark places which is rubbish for photography.
Lucy, Chloe and Josh (my triplet neices/nephew) looked lovely as did all the bridal party. We got some fab shots of Emma and Pete in a meadow full of buttercups behind the hotel. It was also full of wildlife and Emma was very game to go tramping through the undergrowth it her amazing gown – but it will be worth the effort. I will post a few as soon as I can.
Saturday Fotoamour was out both at Barton Grange with Wendy and David and Wrightington Hotel and Country Club for Jane and David. It was a glorious day, almost too hot for those of us working rather than enjoying, and both wedding parties were small. So they had a friendly and intimate feel to them – great for our photographers to be a part of something so special.
I love Barton Grange but soon somebody is going to think I get paid for all the glowing reviews I write on here about it! I have to tell you though that Genevieve, who looking after the bridal party, was someone that I haven’t met before and she is just lovely – she even bought be a glass of iced water half way through my photo session. I can’t tell you how much I love The Barton Grange!
Then, just to stir things up with rival hotels (and on the same stretch of the A6 too!) we were at The Preston Marriott today for a family party combined with photoshoot – really a Fotoparty! This was to celebrate the birthday of Father Tim Sullivan and was organised by Val and Joe Sheehan from Cork, family friends. We will post some pictures later this week but just to say that it was a simply lovely afternoon, and the light on the lawn in front of the hotel was exquisite. So some lovely photographs to come of this gathering with its very pretty children, without exception, all of whom were very pleasant and easy to work with. Even the youngest, the adorable Tom, was easily persuaded to cooperate even after quite a considerable photo session. What a good little boy!
But also it was good to work at The Preston Marriott and not least because the staff were very efficient and obviously pretty intelligent. It struck us both at how articulate they were as a whole, not just the odd one or two. And with our son being a wheelchair user, it is great to see that they have made the bar area accessible with a good sized ramp. Well done for that.
And this week? – well getting all the weddings from the last week sorted and the work out to our couples! Will be posting again soon.
X
PS Just re-reading and possibly the most frequently used adjective on this blog is …..lovely, lovely, lovely. Sorry for being so skimpy on the language when we have such a rich vocabularly – its just a bit late and I’m a bit tired. I’ll try to be more imaginative another time – sorry!
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