Brampton Grange Wedding Venue
Posted on August 27, 2019
A popular choice for weddings in Northamptonshire. Brampton Grange is one of Northampton’s largest exclusive use venues. It is a beautiful, unique barn venue with a large country house, set in 25 acres of a private estate in Northamptonshire.
I would love to photograph a wedding here and when given the chance to organise the styled shoot, I couldn’t wait to explore the barn and country house for potential areas to photograph. As a wedding photographer I try to create a complete story of the day, include the decor of the venue and the details you’ve chosen.
This unique Northampton venue features several barns with high ceilings, timber beams and exposed brickwork, which makes the ideal setting for weddings, parties, anniversaries and other private celebrations.
The Venice barn features floor to ceiling white drapes, chandeliers and fairy lights. This seemed like the ideal setting for one of the tables to be dressed using the wedding decor we’d been given from various suppliers.
The table centrepieces were made by Sue at DunnCrafting, she also provided us with the wrist corsage and bouquet. All of which are faux flowers but who can tell!?
We were also given crockery, glassware and cutlery by Absolutely Vintage China Hire and candle favours from Kiss Air Candles.
The stunning cake and iced biscuits were made by Laura from The Greenhouse Cakerie. The flowers on the side and top of the cake were made from sugar.
Each piece complimented the next and fit the theme perfectly.
The Oak frame was built by 104 Designworks who make wonderfully bespoke pieces of furniture and the flowers attached to the frame were by Emma at Blossom & Bramble.
We even had some handmade stationary put together for us especially for the shoot, the gold leaf details make the ultimate finishing touch. I just love the drawing of Brampton Grange!
The second part of this photo shoot included our model Karen. She looked amazing and we couldn’t believe how perfectly the boho style Kenneth Winston wedding dress which Anna Wood picked out for her to wear.
I love animals, as you may tell from a couple of my other blogs, so when we spotted the horse in the field next to the house I had to include her in the photographs.
I loved organising this shoot and bringing together so many fantastic, local wedding suppliers. We are all based in Northamptonshire and cover the surrounding areas and have plenty of knowledge on local wedding venues.
I couldn’t have done this without their help and look forward to working with some of them again the future!
- Absolutely Vintage China
- Anna Wood Bridal
- Blossom & Bramble
- DunnCrafting
- Kiss Air Candles
- Love Laura Hair Design
- Love Tallulah Belle
- Rachel Chaprunne
- The Green House Cakerie
- The Little Details Company
- 104 Designworks
Studio Portraits
Posted on August 19, 2019
You may recognise this family from one of my early blog posts from last year here. Just over a year ago I had the chance to photograph Jamie, Lauren and Eira both in the Studio and outdoors at a local park.
It was a great experience, particularly as I got to play with the studio lighting to create natural looking photos.
It took a little practice but I got the results I was aiming for and I have now brought of my own soft boxes to create a similar effect.
We spent about half an hour in the studio; so that Eira wasn’t being held in the same spot for too long. She was really good though in front of the camera and 30 minutes ended up being plenty of time to capture these beautiful family moments.
For me I prefer photographing people outdoors and using as much natural light as possible. Which do you like better, studio or outdoor portraits? Let me know!
IGL Summer Ball at Cranford Hall
Posted on August 12, 2019
Back in June I had the privilege of photographing a charity event for Infrastructure Gateway Ltd‘s Summer Ball. This is held every year at Cranford Hall in Northamptonshire to celebrate the year’s achievements and raise some money.
This year the theme was The Oscars. Everyone dressed up for the occasion and looked great. Scroll down to see!
I loved the bottles sitting in the windowsill here, behind the bar. Such a practical idea, yet it makes a great photo!
As guests began to arrive, I wanted to capture as many as I could before the party began. The columns at the entrance of the hall seemed like the perfect spot.
To me it is just as important to capture the candid shots as the group shots. The higher I could get the better and one of the ladies working at Cranford Hall opened the doors allowing me to venture to the top floor of the building to get the second group photo below!
There was plenty to eat and drink throughout the night which kept everyone happy. IGL even had their own award ceremony later on; winners included ‘Mrs Hinch Award’ and ‘Most desk swaps’!
It was a fantastic evening with lots of awesome dance routines and tequila shots!
I think my favourite area was by far the Photo Booth, with plenty of props, gold and laughter.
Just as I was leaving it absolutely threw it down and the most vibrant rainbow appeared from behind Cranford Hall, I had to grab my camera from the boot of my car for one last photo.
Have you been to Cranford Hall for an event before or thinking of booking an event here? Let me know in the comments below. More details on the venue can be found here.
Kingsthorpe Lodge Barn
Posted on June 10, 2019
Styled Photoshoot
Kingsthorpe Lodge Barn is located on the edge of Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire, just outside Oundle. It is a brilliant venue for a wedding and the perfect back drop for our photoshoot.
It was lovely to work with so many new and different suppliers, some local and others further afield. I think everything came together superbly and turned out even better than expectations.
When we arrived at the Barn Rachel Williamson, our hair and makeup artist began straightaway creating Lucy’s natural makeup and up-do hair style, super efficiently. Meanwhile I scouted the area photographing the stunning flowers, dress and accessories.
I absolutely love to photograph details and specific items, Bridal Prep being one of my favourite parts of the day.
The hair accessories and one of the necklaces Lucy wears is by Alexandra Bespoke. Based in the Highlands, but delivery of her items is fast!
The gorgeous garter is handmade by Extra Special Touch.
Lucy is wearing the Ruched Tulle Bodice Ball Gown by Justin Alexander (Style 88054). This came from Courtyard Bridal Boutique. I brought my own Justin Alexander wedding dress from the lovely ladies at Courtyard and couldn’t wait to ask them if they would like to be involved.
This side profile is one of my favourites from the shoot, it shows Lucy’s highlighted cheeks in the natural light. The way the veil meets the flowers then elegantly gathers to sit on Lucy’s shoulder is what I love. How you are led from Lucy’s eye, with her winged eyeliner and cheek bone taking you to the flowers and veil.
These shots were inspired by photographer Elizabeth Messina’s style with the flowers on the floor with the bride.
Courtyard Bridal Boutique proided us with a veil to match the dress perfectly. We also were given a veil from Honey V Tiaras from London.
The barn is split into two main areas, we took most of our photos in the larger area, which could be used for your wedding breakfast, first dance and evening entertainment at Kingsthorpe Lodge Barn. There are fairy lights wrapped around the wooden beams which look really pretty. There’s even a friendly cat on the barn who wanted to be in a few of the photos!
It was a pleasure to photograph this venue, Lucy who also appears in my photos here, was a wonderful model.
I’d like to thank all the involved suppliers and cannot wait to organise the next.
Nyla’s Cake Smash Photoshoot
Posted on May 5, 2019
Nyla’s 1st birthday cake smash included fairy lights, bunting, pom poms and an epic homemade cake to celebrate.
Her birthday was the 30th March which meant her photoshoot was booked a couple of weeks before so I had plenty of time to have the photos ready.
She was hesitant at first, but once she had tried some Nyla loved the icing. Though she kept looking over at Mum and Dad for reassurance that it was okay to touch and eat the pretty cake placed in front of her. Similar to Fearne in her Cake Smash!
It was too good not to share.
After a few more mouthfuls, she decided that the props were more fun to play with than her cake.
This was another fantastic experience for me; just as unpredictable as the first but still as enjoyable. Nyla is such a happy girl who loves to smile which helped me capture some beautiful photographs of her.
We had lots of fun during this shoot; she made hardly any mess as well which was a bonus! It was lovely to see Nyla again and see how much she’s changed since her first photoshoot last year.
Hope you enjoyed looking through these, more cake smash blogs coming soon!
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