Wedding nightmare at the end of the day....

I was just checking out The Izaak Walton Hotel in Dovedale on Trip Advisor when I came across this review showing how a perfect day can be ruined at the last by a bad experience.

Talia Protheroe-Smith writes:

"Well where do I start I booked 11 rooms out for myself and our guests to stay as we were getting married at tissington hall. I spoke to Scott and was assured all booking were fine I had the bridal suite booked and chose the one I wanted perfect. We were told we could check in after the wedding reception around midnight all would be perfect. We have the most amazing time at tissington hall all outstanding and dreams were made a reality. We arrived as a group at the izaak Walton everyone started checking in, me in my wedding dress went upto out room to walk in and see it was a basic room, so we went back to the reception and said not the right room in the mean time my parents had gone to their room to walk into two people in bed!!!! The reception guy hadn't got a clue he then gave our basic room to my parents and gave us keys to the bridal suite argh perfect we thought so my husband took our bags up ...... He then appeared with our bags look angry the bridal suite was the couples who were holding there wedding at the hotel, the room was filled with gifts and cards . We asked the receptionist what was going in and he kept smirking, there was no room for us. He just kept giving us other peoples room keys he didn't know who was in what room or how many people were staying in the hotel which is a healthy and safety nightmare. Let alone a personal security risk.eventually a guy who had a bit more of a clue appeared and proceeded to check room availability, we were then informed there was a room A double executive, what rubbish we went into the room and it was two single beds pushed together!!!!! What a great bridal suite. Our issues our that 1 we put time into checking the booking and ensuring people had suitable rooms. 2 health and safety and 3 our wedding day was completely over shadowed by there shear incompetence. We spent time and money ensuring everything ran smoothly and it was a nightmare at the izaak Walton after a truly magical day. We eventually got to go into our room about 2:20am after sitting around in my wedding dress for nearly two hours. I am still awaiting contact from the hotel manger and I gave heard nothing two weeks later!!!!!!! Avoid this hotel if you are looking for a special occasion to end a perfect day."
Much sympathy goes to Talia.

Featured on 'Brides Up North' Blog

Very happy to have been featured on the 'Brides Up North' blog last week. Please take a peek:

Brides Up North

Tutbury Castle Wedding

It’s been a busy week for editing - three weddings and some looong days but I like to be able to get images to people quite soon after the wedding day - I think that when you get back from your honeymoon you are ready to keep the momentum of the day going by reliving it through the photographs. So two weeks is my yardstick for editing and getting images to couples.
Therefore there are three weddings to blog this week but I’ll try to spread them through the week and not inundate people’s inboxes!
First is a great wedding at Tutbury Castle - fantastic venue, great couple and beautifully designed day. Have a look at the Slideshow and let me know what you think...

Wedding photography is still keeping me busy...

It's been another busy couple of weeks on the contemporary wedding photography front (it's the season after all so it should!) and I've had a couple of fantastic weddings I've photographed recently. I ventured up to Manchester Town Hall to shoot a ceremony and what a great venue - Victorian architecture in all it's glory and because Jen and Chris booked the room on a Saturday we had the whole place to ourselves (bargain!). There is also the wedding I shot in the Winter Gardens in Hexham (video below) - great day, superb venue and relaxed celebration, my three favourite things.
I'll save talk about the wedding at Tutbury Castle for next time...

Wedding Photography from this weekend...

I've decided to have a rest day today after the previous couple of days (weddings in Hexham then Birmingham) but couldn't resist pulling some images out after uploading the memory cards. Here's a quick sneak-peek...

"Bridal Preparations - Part 2"

Here is another of a very occasional series of articles I'm publishing.

The way I work there is a lot of waiting around. I’m not hurrying people to get things done or arriving after the fact and asking people to stage what has already happened, I like to be there when it does occur, hence the waiting. If I know I have loads of time to cover the preparations I’ll occasionally step out of the room to get some other texture shots - if at the bride’s/mother’s house then something personal to them that will mark this transition phase of the relationship (parental wedding photos with something apt reflected or good luck cards) or if it’s at the venue then I might take the opportunity to photograph the ceremony room/wedding breakfast details.
There will always be things happening - hair is teased, make-up applied or checked, bridesmaids arrive, mum arrives, flowers delivered - the list goes on and on but in a logical progression, everything is building to getting the dress on and going to the ceremony.
Most of the time I’m standing and observing, waiting for those moments of activity that push the story forward and then it’s a flurry of activity from me as I move around my subject getting the story from various angles and from close and wide. This is where I’m constantly aware of the light - I love to have a good amount of natural light coming from one direction and will ask that things take place in this light if it’s necessary to move people (I used to be so hardcore as to not interfere at all but then I’d just be there cursing to myself that there was this beautiful light and no-one was in it!). If the room is dual aspect and you have light flooding from two directions I have been known to ask if I can close one set of curtains to get some beautiful directional light rather than have a very overlit, flat scene - but mostly you are fighting for light rather than fighting an abundance of it.
Preparation shots fall into a couple of categories for me: detail and scene-setting. I love to get the finer detail of what is going on: dresses being fastened, hair teased, make-up applied but also the situation in general: How busy is the room?, Who is around?, How many things are happening at the same time?, What’s the scene that the bride will remember? Are there any moments when people walk in and see the bride for the first time?(When parents walk in and see their daughter for the first time on her wedding day emotions run really high and there are only a few moments to capture this - I step back so as not to be part of it but capture the scene in a wide and with some close ups).
I always arrange with my brides when they are getting into the dress so I can get the details of this happening - quite often it’s tense, joyful, difficult, exciting but never dull and it creates a natural end to the preparation phase. If there is time after the dress is on I might see if I can take a quick portrait of the bride (in that nice directional light) as this is the freshest and most perfect she will look all day and it’s often an opportunity to get a nice portrait that you can show her in the back of the camera so she knows how fantastic she looks.

Next time I want to look at the groom and everything I might try to capture about him before the ceremony (normally you’ll find him in the bar).

Blogged on 'Brides Up North'

Thanks a lot to the great 'Brides Up North' for featuring my work from the wedding of Andy and Sally. Much appreciated :)