Nutfield Priory, Redhill, Surrey - Jan and Alan: Surrey Wedding Photographers

Good Afternoon Folks,

I recently photographed the Surrey wedding of Jan and Alan at the gorgeous Nutfield Priory in Redhill, Surrey. The day was just beautiful and it was a pleasure to photograph. Jan and Alan looked so happy together and in love, I am a silly old fool, it always brings a tear to my eye as it is so lovely to see. The wedding was a mixture of vintage and boutique and was beauifully put together; Jan and Alan you have exceptional taste. Once the wedding breakfast was over there was some mingling then the Bride and Groom departed in a rare vintage continental phantom Rolls Royce to Gravetye Manor in East Grinstead, West Sussex, and we finished the day with a smidgen of West Sussex Wedding Photography!

I have chosen three images to post, one from Gravetye Manor, one from Nutfield Priory and this brilliant cake topper that I just loved.

I hope you enjoy the images and I am looking forward to our viewing session next week when we sit down to see the whole collection together; I love that bit :)

Have a great weekend folks.

Claire

IOD 116 Pall Mall London: Wedding Photography

Good Afternoon Folks,

Well it has been a hectic weekend for me so I decided to enjoy some time off today. I wanted to share some images with you from the wedding showcase at the IoD, Pall Mall, London yesterday so I have taken a few minutes out to do a quick blog.

The weather was absolutely beautiful for Saturday's wedding and once the images have been edited I will share a couple with you. We were up extremely early yesterday to get to London and with the clocks changing it felt like the middle of the night! The day was very busy and it was lovely to chat with lots of engaged couples who are excitedly making plans for their weddings.

I thought I would share a some images of the staircase with you as I have mentioned it on numerous occasions so though it was about time you saw it for yourselves. It is so grand it never ceases to take my breath away.

Have a great week everyone.

Claire

Family Portrait Session: West Sussex Portrait Photographer

Hello Folks,

Welcome to Friday! Recently I photographed a really fun family and there was much hilarity in the studio! Nicky gave her Mum a studio experience with a framed print as a Christmas present, so they all came along and we had a fab time.

I have posted three images today, the first one is what I call 'the brow'. We all fell on the floor laughing when Lee kept doing his Roger Moore brow and I insisted that we had to get an image of the brow in action. Here it is and what a magnificent brow it is too! We then decided to speculate on Keith's previous career and I know exactly the one I mentioned just before this photo was taken, I am not going to reveal but it was funny and you can see that Eileen thought the idea incredulous. I thought I had better put a serious image on here and I just love this one of Nicky and Lee.

Have a fab weekend all and yes I am going to mention the weather again...hot, hot, hot well hot for March. Whatever you are up to have fun and if you happen to be in London on Sunday pop into 116 Pall Mall for a chat.

Ciao,

Claire

Tenterden Steam Railway - Dawn and Anthony: Kent Wedding Photography

Good Afternoon,

I recently photographed a few images of Dawn and Anthony; this mini-session was sneaked in ahead of Anthony's return to work in India. We had great fun at the Tenterden Steam Railway and I was particularly taken with Anthony's hat. I told him not to put it down anywhere as it might go walkies straight into my studio!! Their wedding is going to be at the gorgeous Great Barn in Rolvenden and this venue enjoys typical views of the gorgeous countryside that we have in Kent. The Tenterden Steam Railway has many nooks and crannies in which to photograph; I love it because you just cannot beat a good steam railway, and on a personal note, my Father taught the drivers here when it first opened as a steam railway attraction. The train scenes in the Darling Buds of May were also filmed here; this is one of my favourite programmes so lots to love.

This week's blog post is a little late because things are hotting up here at Woodland Hill Photography as wedding season is about to go into full swing. It was a fun packed weekend both in the studio and on location on Saturday and Sunday. I have been working away to get all my edits completed ahead of this week's wedding.

Enjoy your week and seeing all the trees bursting into bud is brilliant; come on Spring show yourself :)

Claire

116 Pall Mall Wedding Showcase!

Good Morning Folks,

Just a quick blog today to let you know that I will be exhibiting at the IOD, 1116 Pall Mall in London on 25th March. There are all sorts of things going on at the showcase including some very interesting workshops. The building is just gorgeous with the most fantastic staircase and huge chandeliers dotted everywhere.

I hope to see some of you there for a good old chat.

It is another busy weekend for me starting with two days in the studio followed by a location shoot so lots of variety, which they say is the spice of life; how fab!

Have a great weekend,

Claire

Grace: West Sussex Children's Photographer

Good Morning Folks,

Recently I photographed Grace's 3rd birthday party, and what a lucky little girl she is to have a lovely Mummy and Daddy to make such special memories for her.

It really was a children's paradise with bouncy castles, ball pools, slides and bouncing thingys (not sure of the correct technical term). Mummy had prepared tons of food for both the children and adults and it all tasted fab... a little too fab I think! Auntie Kirsty made the birthday cake, there is a picture here so this masterpiece will speak for itself.

The DJ played some 'banging tunes' along with a bubble and smoke machine; yes folks this was a 3rd birthday party, I bet you are all jealous now!

I have posted two images of beautiful Grace along with that magnificent cake; yummy.

I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the warmth. I can see the trees starting to wake up now; you can almost hear them yawning and stretching their branches in readiness to give us a magnificent show of blossom.

Enjoy the rest of the week and look forward to catching up with you again in a few days.

Claire

Sweet Little Blings: West Sussex Product Photography

Good Afternoon,

In a trice here we are again at Friday and what another busy week, but more of that later. Recently I photographed the amazing sweet trees for Sweet Little Blings. This is a new company and they are building up a really lovely range of products. The aromas wafting around in the studio were lovely and I this is why I opted for pink and blue tones to compliment the trees. I am posting three images today and just looking at them makes my mouth water!

So this week at Woodland Hill Photography has been very busy; I have been booking weddings for this year and I also had the most productive admin and editing days. Wednesday saw a trip to Focus, which is one of the two must do trade events for photographers. I commented on my Facebook page that the show should be re-named 'covet' as there were lots of amazing things for me to drool over.

It was lovely to catch up with my album suppliers and they won best stand at the show. The stand for this year was a real showpiece and showed their products off beautifully. I also trotted over to see my supplier of my wall art. They had some beautiful products that were unveiled. I knew their plans for some of them, but wow I was bowled over when I saw the rest. I now need to see what I am going to introduce into my product menus; this is going to be hard.

Have a great weekend everyone, I am seeing clients tomorrow, followed by a childrens' party and then a day off on Sunday. I think it is due to get warm...happy days.

Claire

A day off in Rye, East Sussex

Good Morning,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend; as promised I thought I would post something personal today. Last week I had a really lovely day off and we decided to pop over to the ancient town of Rye in East Sussex. This area is very familiar to me as I spent all my childhood holidays in and around the Rye area, and I have so many fond memories of some wonderful family times here.

We visited a spice warehouse just along the harbour road; when you arrive and park, the pungent aroma of the many herbs and spices just tickle your nose buds continually. They have a brilliant array on offer with very competitive pricing so a few purchases were made! They are a family company and so nice too, so if you are ever in the area pop in and have a smell!

We then had a lovely lunch and this stained glass window caught my eye. I also found another location for my secret project and visited a venue that is coming up for a wedding in May. All in all a very good time was had by all.

I had a very pleasant day in the studio on Saturday followed by two wedding fayres on Sunday. I attended The Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells and my fantastic assistant Lorraine attended Lansdowne Place Hotel in Hove. Both these venues are lovely so if you are getting married be sure to check them out.

The images today show one of the cobbled streets for which Rye is so famous, a stained glass window from the restaurant and a memento of our visit to the spice company.

Enjoy your week although not sure I am liking the cold but having read the latest newsletter from our 'rent a cherry tree' they say we need a few more chill hours. I think I am happy to suffer it if it means lots of cherries in July!

Claire

No10 Bridal Launch Party

Good Afternoon Folks,

Well here we are at the end of another week and I have loved being able to smell the freshly cut grass.

On Wednesday I attended the No10 launch party with the amazing Emma Tindley. The boutique is arranged over three floors and is beautifully presented. We walked into the ground floor reception area to be greeted with pink champagne and it was then up to the middle floor to see the dresses on show. No 10 are the latest stockists of Emma's collection and it was really good to see them in their new environment. No10 had showcased one of Emma's blush pink designs too.

The third floor was amazing; it had a candy bar! Oh dear what a thing to put in front of me! Apart from being a mecca for sweet lovers on the night, the third floor is dedicated to the bride. It is her area to try on dresses with sumptuous furnishings for her guests to sit on whilst they wait for the grand unveiling.

There were beautiful canapes on offer, lots of wonderful champagne but it that wasn't enough we were all given a goody bag and a posy of flowers beautifully arranged by Evelyn Cole Flowers.

I had a lovely chat with the most wonderful fudge maker and you really must give her fudge a try, it is sublime. Liz, you are really talented so pop along and see her website Mummy makes Fudge.

I am still eating sweeties and marvelling at the goodies we were given; how lucky am I.

So this weekend sees me at both The Spa Hotel Wedding Fayre and Lansdowne Place Wedding Fayre. I will be on the stand at The Spa and my lovely assistant Lorraine will be at Lansdowne Place. Both are amazing venues and if you want a wedding in beautiful surroundings you cannot go wrong with these venues that have fantastic coordinators; Ula at The Spa and Jo at the Lansdowne. I love popping in to Brighton to have a Choccywoccydodah with Jo from Elegant Stationery and Jo from the Lansdowne....yummy :)

Have a great weekend all.

Claire