Thursday 14 April 2011

Vintage Bride with tea and shortbread

Helen and her husband are good friends of Rob and I, knowing your couple can have as many advantages as disadvantages. Fortunately (for me at least) our relationship offered us the opportunity to gatecrash what was essentially a closed affair.

The wedding party consisted of the bride and groom's parents and siblings only. An intimate celebration for two private people. Quite the opposite to most of the weddings I have attended and poles apart from my own wedding on many a level.

Hassop Hall was the venue, a privately owned house in Derbyshire near Bakewell. The ceremony was at 11:00, tea and shortbread served immediately after and all photos were wrapped up by lunch at 13:30. Rob and I were de-rigged back on the road by 14:00. One of the shortest shoots I have ever been on.

I mentioned before that this wedding offered me advantages. I was able to sneak in to Helen's dressing room and capture the many emotions that rippled over her face, nerves, elation and the overwhelming conflicting grips of stage fright and confidence. Such honest accounts can be hindered by knowing someone too much, or too little. Perhaps says more about Helen's character than anything else.

Helen's dress is over 80 years old, bought from a vintage bridal fair. The dress was tweaked and fitted by her talented mum, a former Home Economics teacher, the lady who also created the wedding cake.

Details of names and suppliers to follow shortly, but I can advise that the stunning feathered headpiece was created by one of my tweeps DC Bouquets.








Gemma and Colin Hartsorn, Stockport - October Wedding

Gemma is my father's cousin's daughter. Probably easier to call her my cousin. Around March time, Gemma contacted me with an enquiry about wedding photography, and of course I jumped at the chance.

In that Gemma is family I offered my services for the full day, so I was able to spend time with her and the bridesmaids while they dressed and preened.

Hair was by Paisley Gamble - 07872 550181, details of dress, shoes etc to follow.

The ceremony took place at Stockport Town Hall with a reception at Peruga in Marple.

Here is a snapshot of their big day.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Wedding Stationery - Sophie Ellis-Waring

One of my most favourite ways of finding new products, artists and services is by trawling Twitter and other people's blogs. By getting to know the person and developing a connection, albeit superficial at first, I gain much more appreciation for what that person creates.

Sophie Ellis-Waring was one of the first crafters I found on twitter. If I remember correctly my favourite cafe (The Chocolate Cafe) was following her, and I thought I'd see what Sophie was doing. Another hook was that Sophie lives in my home town, just down the road from my sister as it happens, all local businesses deserve support.

The business is called Cards by Sophie, and that is exactly what you can buy. Cards and wedding stationery.

Sophie set up her business in 2009 after planning her own wedding and struggling to find modern wedding stationery at a reasonable price. “When I was choosing my wedding stationery, I found it so difficult to find something that was just as I wanted. I wanted to be able to personalise it, change the colours and get the design just right for me. So I decided to create a collection that is simple, stylish, contemporary and affordable... just what you're looking for.”

And create them she has. Cards by Sophie offers two main products. The first is a bespoke, handmade range tailored to the client's theme. The second range features printed designs, these again can be personailsed with words and embelishments.

Sophie takes advantage of the e-commerce world, her website shows examples of the products and customers can order from the site.

For more information and to order a sample, Cards by Sophie or follow her on twitter @CardsbySophie





Friday 1 April 2011

Su Blackwell - Books telling stories

Born in Sheffield, a grduate of the RCA, Su Blackwell is based in her London studios where she creates fabulous things, mainly out of paper.

Here are some examples of her book scultures, where elements of the page are cut out and brought to life. Also shown are some of the installations that were feature in the exhibition at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth last year.

Not only are these pieces a thing of wonder from a practical perpective, they are so delicate and fragile, they bring the story to life, characters and scenes literally jump of the page. They also evoke the imagination of our inner child. As a child I spent many an hour sat in the top branches of a willow tree, or in 'fairy' dens in the bushes where I would create whole series of fairytales. These works by Su transport me right back to those times.


Su's blog