Hazlewood Castle Training Day

I love this time of the year when things are a little bit quieter. It gives me chance to choose and buy new equipment for the coming wedding season and to make the most of free days to learn more about the wonderful world of wedding photography from some of the best photographers in the country. To-day I didn't have to travel far to do this, as Chris Chambers was running a course at Hazlewood Castle near Tadcaster. Here is a selection of photographs from the day.

Oulton Hall Wedding

It's really nice when you do the wedding of someone and they are so pleased with your work that the brother books you for his wedding. Such was the case with Laura and Chris. We had filmed Chris's sister's wedding at Oulton Hall and now it was Chris's turn to get married. They must have been very happy with Oulton as they chose to get married there as well. The only change that Chris made was not to have his sister's photographer - instead they chose us, which was really nice, so we found ourselves doing both their photos and their video. After getting some shots of the girls getting ready we moved onto Oulton Church, where the ceremony was to take place. Oulton is a beautiful church and I love it. It's so light inside! We have filmed there many times and it's quite possible to walk up to to Oulton Hall from there. This was a really relaxed wedding and a great day -it does help though when you already know half of the people there. I love weddings like that!

Oulton Hall Wedding Fair 6 March 2011

Magic Moments Photo and Video are one of the recommended suppliers at Oulton Hall and we will be at their wedding fair on Sunday, so if you would like to come along and see the wide selection of our Graphistudio albums, or view a DVD filmed at Oulton Hall, then we would be very happy to see you. If you can't make it on Sunday, we shall also be at the Waterton Park Wedding Fair on Sunday 27 March. We look forward to seeing you.

Oakwell Hall Wedding

For the second wedding of the week-end we were at Oakwell Hall in Birstall. This is one of my favourite venues as there are so many great locations to take photographs, both inside the hall and in the gardens. As we are one of their recommended photographers we do seem to spend a lot time there, so I like to think that we know all the best locations. Kathryn and Jamie had seen us at the wedding fair at Oakwell Hall and had booked us after chatting to us there. Kathryn hails from the north-east and Jamie is from London, so they chose Oakwell as a venue part-way between the two. The day started with bridal preps at the lovely Bronte Cottage, before moving onto Oakwell to catch the guys arriving. Kathryn and Jamie also booked us for the wedding video, so our whole team was out for the day. Kathryn and Jamie are lovely couple who were super to work with. They had really put a lot of thought into the planning of the wedding, and they had provided a caricaturist and various games to entertain their guests between the speeches and the evening reception, which went down very well with all the guests. To round off the day, they had booked a 70's band who turned up really looking the part complete with flares and afro wigs. It was a great night and we were almost sorry when it came time for us to leave.

Cedar Court Hotel, Wakefield

Sadie e-mailed me a few weeks before her wedding with a problem that, surprisingly, is not too uncommon. She had booked her wedding photographer many months ago, but now as the wedding approached she found that she was unable to contact him. He did not return her telephone calls nor did he reply to her e-mails and she was getting very worried. In the many years that we have been in the wedding industry a year never goes by without us being contacted by a bride or groom in a panic who have been let down by their photographer or videographer. This, unfortunately, happens all too frequently and is one of the reasons why it is imperative to book a full-time, established and qualified person. So many people have set up in the last few years who meet non of these criteria, but all of whom have one thing in common - they are cheap. The old adage of "you only get what you pay for" is certainly true when it comes to wedding photography and videography. Anyway fortunately we were free and were able to make Sadie's day! As a surprise for Rob Sadie had arranged for a few cars from the TVR owner's club to turn up. My first challenge was to find a location where they could all park up for a photo! After the ceremony we took the couple off to Thornes Park in Wakefield before moving onto the Cedar Court Hotel for the reception.