Steph & Alex's wedding at Markefield Hall in Ripon

Another amazing wedding - I really really love my job!

Markenfield Hall near Ripon is a totally unique venue and it was a privilege to join Steph & Alex and their family and friends for a wonderful day. Markenfield can only cater for smaller groups with the focus being on the daytime so is perfect for a more intimate relaxed wedding. Again we had beautiful spring weather and with blue skies, fluffy clouds and blossom on the trees in the Orchard the back drop was perfect. It really is worth visiting the Markenfield website as the house has such an interesting history and looks stunning with it's famous moat and black swans. Steph & Alex had chosen a black and white theme finishing the day with a fab vintage bus (black and white of course!) that took them all to the Sun Pavilions in Harrogate for a party.

Adam & Gail's Wedding at Rudding Park

I had the great pleasure of being part of Adam & Gail's beautiful wedding at Rudding Park in Harrogate. The day was amazing fun with everyone really getting into the spirit of the celebration in the spring sunshine. Highlights of the day for me were Gail's stunning dress, the never ending smiles, being invited to eat pudding with the bride at the top table and Gail & Adam's spectacular 1st Dance. They'd prepared a very cool routine to Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere"... There was a lovely moment for me as Adam had sent Gail some beautiful flowers before the ceremony accompanied by a Rudding Park Card - we quickly discovered that he'd picked out a card that was designed by my Mum and included photographs by my Dad! Gail said she was thrilled to have two more Brabbs' featuring in her wedding day! There was another family connection as Adam's Uncle used to work with my Dad in his TV Times days - small world!

It's been very hard to whittle down the images to a handful for the blog as I was at Rudding for nearly 10 hours but here are some of my favourites from the day.

Platinum Bridal Boutique - Yeadon

I'm really passionate about building good relationships with my fellow wedding suppliers both in terms of creating a really good community of like minded professionals but also it's so great to be able to give genuine recommendations to my clients. There is such a mine field of options when it comes to planning your wedding and so often a personal word of mouth recommendation can be worth its weight in gold.

With that in mind, I'm really delighted to introduce a fab new bridal boutique in Yeadon - Platinum Bridal Boutique. Run by the very lovely Lucy & Stacey who are determined to offer something fresh and modern to Yorkshire's brides. The interior of the shop is really cool and I wish them tons of luck in their new venture. I'm looking forward to working with the girls in the near future on some fashion photography projects. I'm also extremely delighted to be offering my services for Lucy's wedding this May at Burn Hall.

Wedding season is approaching fast!

I always love the sense of anticipation when wedding season is just around the corner. Suddenly the diary is really busy with pre-wedding planning consultations and it's always so lovely to catch up with clients and find out all the final plans for their weddings. These planning meetings are so important to supporting the way that I work. By going through timings and details in fine detail it means I can just roll with things on the day allowing the couple to focus on their day with minimal awareness of the logistics of the photography. It's also a perfect opportunity to find out lots more about the couple's friends and family so I have some stories in mind when looking for those character shots. Preparation is definitely the name of the game for chilled out photography!

I have the priviledge to be photographing at a range of venues this year including Rudding Park, Markenfield Hall, The Devonshire Fell, Haleys Hotel, Harewood House, Weddings & Wellies, The Sun Pavilions and lots of fab marquees including Papa Kata Teepees. More to follow in due course on all the lovely weddings to come!

Hannah's Bat Mitzvah

It was wonderful to be part of Hannah's Bat Mitzvah celebration at The Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Community Centre in Leeds. I've recently started offering photography for Bar / Bat Mitzvahs as I was really keen to introduce my documentary approach to an event that is so full of friendship, family and fun. As with my wedding photography, it's about bringing a sense of formality when required but otherwise being an unobtrusive observer and allowing the celebrations to flow naturally - capturing people as they are. A big thank you to Hannah and all of her family and friends for making me so welcome.