We’ve just had a lovely email from Kerri-Anne whose wedding we did last week at Channels Golf Club! It’s lovely to be appreciated…

Hello Pete

I’m so glad you both had a great time – It’s lovely to know!

We are both so looking forward to seeing the DVD!

I can say with honesty that any big party we have and would like captured on film, you will be the first people we come to! Also when any friends get married I will point them in your direction as you were fantastic!

Kerri-Anne

www.pkphotovideo.co.uk

Just received the following email from another satisfied customer Thanks guys, it was a real pleasure!

Hi Pete

We have received the albums safe and well and they are absolutely fab!!! Thank you so much for all your work in helping to create such wonderful memories of our special day. My Mum is thrilled with her album too.

Many thanks once again!

Jacqui and Richard
xx

I recently received the most amazing letter from a wedding we have just completed from last year. Clare & David were married at Stockbrook Manor in Essex, last year. It was a really fun wedding and I have to say I really, really enjoyed myself! Thanks for the words Clare, I really appreciate them!

Clare & David

Hey Pete

I received the wedding album today at work and I am over the moon with it. You were right about not having any more pictures in it and everyone at work said it was fantastically done and were very impressed. I am sure David will think the same when he sees it later.

We also got our wedding DVD from our best man this week and that is brilliant. You even made an appearance on the video at the end of the 2nd dance lol!

Thanks again for all you help and support and for being such a fantastic photographer and making our day and all our memories even more special. When we eventually have children, we will most certainly come to you for pictures as I am sure your childrens photography will have taken off by then.

Best wishes to your wife and children for the future and will hopefully speak to you once we have children of our own.

Take Care

Clare & David

www.pkphotovideo.co.uk

Stephen & Marguerites wedding at Quendon Hall, Parklands, Essex

So, this Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing Stephen & Marguerites wedding at the beautiful Quendon Hall in North Essex.

We woke up to the most amazing, beautiful day, perfect for wedding photography, and I have to say, after months of really hard winter weddings, it puts more than a little spring in your step to wake up to some sunshine!!!

Stephen just arrived at the same time as me, and I have to say he was pretty cool and calm. Generally most guys really can’t concentrate at this time, but he was certainly holding it together.

After a few photographs of the grounds I headed up to see Marguerite. She was looking stunning in a beautiful… towel!!!  No, I didn’t take any pictures, it may not seem like it, but I do have a heart!

shoes at Parklands, Quendon Hall, Essex

Anyway, I got some great photographs of the shoes, flowers, dress. The bridal suite at Parklands is absolutley perfect a photogrpahers dream, lots of space, lovely natural light, through the large windows, and the room is decorated in really theatrical colours. It makes a massive difference to have this sort of high quality space available, it makes our job so much easier!

As promised, I left Marguerite to it and headed downstairs to grab some shots of the guys.

The Sunglasses at Parklands, Essex.

From that point on, it was go, go, go!!! Guests arriving, registrars (The Uttlesford disrict registrars are GREAT by the way) The only thing that remained was to get some last minute photographs of Marguerite in all of her finery.

To say that Marguerite looked absolutely great is just not good enough, she looked FABULOUS. I think that every choice she had made regarding dress, hair and make up was perfect for her. I particularly liked her hair, and dare I say it, the Tiara really worked, I know it was painful darling, but it was worth it! (Well I would say that wouldn’t I? I didn’t have to wear the thing!)

The bridal suite at Parklands, Essex.

Soon after it was W-time, so I headed downstairs for the actual ceremony. I have to say that considering how incredibly nervous they were both so obviously were, it all went so smoothly. Poor Stephen fluffed a few lines, but no problem there! Honestly Stephen, I’ve known Registrars do it, so it’s no biggie Obviously your wife may not let you live down so quickly, but that’s her perogative!

The ceremony at Parklands, Quendon Hall

So then everyone spilled out into the grounds for the formal photographs outside. Now I’m not saying it’s Melissa, the fornt of houses fault (but it is), but when we came out, it wasn’t as sunny as the day started, but as any photographer will tell you that’s not a problem at all, just so long as it’s not bloody raining!!!
We started with the obligatory group shot of everyone that has become the norm, followed by the family shots. There is one thing that’s an absolute truth in the photography and film industry “Never work with Animals or Children!” How true! Marguerite had 2 very young bridesmaids and we just could not get them to stand still, for love nor money! Thankfully their mum was a bridesmaid and we managed to get a few shots of them before they ran off screaming and rolling on the floor… Ah kids, you gotta love ‘em!

After the formals, we went  for a quick walk around the grounds at Parklands to get some lovely photographs of the Bride and Groom in the stunning grounds.

Bride & Groom, Parklands, Essex

It was nice to see the blossom on the trees, and the daffodils out, all of which made a nice backdrop for the photographs of Stephen & Marguerite.

After the cake shot we headed back to the main lawn to get some informal shots of Bride, Groom and guests. This was when something quite strange happened… Marguerite announced that she wanted to throw her bouquet. Now you may think this happens at every wedding, but in fact it is very rare! most Brides pay too much money for their bouquet to lob it at someone, but Marguerite was adamant!

Bride throwing Bouquet at Parklands, Quendon Hall, Essex.

Now I’m not saying this was a setup, but COME ON, it went straight to the chief Bridesmaid!!! Unfair! In fairness though she does deserve it, she was lovely (but cheeky).

I think everyone had a great time, Parklands, Quendon Hall offers a wealth of opportunity for wedding photography and Stephen & Marguerite were lovely, as were their friends. I have some great shots, especially with the spring flowers coming through, and I had a great time.

Congratulations guys, I hope you had a really great day and I know you’re going to have a great life together, because you’re great together…
PK x

Emma & Al, The Fennes Estate, Bocking, Essex, Wedding photography & video

Emma & Al got married at the Fennes Estate, Bocking, Braintree.

A great time was had by all, especially Emma, who just seemed to be enjoying every single minute of her day.

Al was as cool as anything, nothing seemed to phaze him at all, and just took it in  his stride.
Apologies for all the late postings on our blog, it has been a very busy summer!

www.pkphotovideo.co.uk

The wedding photography of Joanna & Ged at St. Marys Church, Bocking and The Fennes Estate

Thankfully we woke up to an amazing, beautiful sunny day today! Following last weeks wedding, I really needed a sunny day to boost my spirits, and boy did I get a great one!

I arrived, once again, earlier than the bride and had a small moment of doubt, when I went upstairs at the Fennes to find only the cleaners about… Had I got the right day??? Where is everyone??? Thankfully, the Bridesmaids came running up the stairs at this point and I gave a small sigh of relief!

I managed to get a few shots of the girls getting ready, but sadly Jo was delayed at the hairdressers, and I didn’t get an opportunity to get any shots of her getting ready.

Never mind, onwards and upwards! I moved on to St. Marys Church to capture Ged and K.I.T.T, yes K.I.T.T of Knight Rider fame! Everyone was suitably impressed.

St. Marys is a beautiful church and I got some shots of Ged and the Best Man in the grounds. Then we ran into problem No. 2. Where are the flowers??? Anyone? Of course, they’re at the Fennes!

Not a problem, the brides brother turned up with them shortly before we were due to go in, all is well!

Or so we thought…

11.55am. Where is the Bride? Joanna had opted to be driven by a Routemaster bus from Fennes to the Church. Had it broken down?

Then, the call…

The bus it turns out is stuck in traffic!! Thankfully Carlos at the Fennes Estate drove the Bride, Bridesmaids and Grandparents down to the church. Way to go Carlos, you’re a hero!

So we got started at St. Mary’s and from there on in, everything was just perfect. The service, held by Father Phillip was great, just the right amount of humour, along with a serious message about the nature of marriage. As far as I’m aware, not one hymn had to be missed out, even though the Bride was 25 mins late. (There was another wedding immediately after)

Father Phillip is absolutely brilliant. His words are “You don’t get in my way, and I won’t get in yours” It is such a refreshing change. Provided we are discreet, we can do whatever we want in the way of photography, and it makes a massive difference to the results.

I’m happy to say he likes a bit of a laugh, along with the rest of us and thought it would make a great picture “If we all pointed at the Groom” I like to see that Father Tristan is following Father Phillips footsteps and promises to be a great guy too.

As we were signing, I told the Bride and Groom that if the bus hadn’t arrived, they would be getting delivered to the Fennes in my beautiful Alfa Romeo… Sportwagon.

Hmm. Not exactly what they’d planned…
We walked out of the church into the most glorious sunny day, and the bus had arrived. Carlos was there feverishly pouring wine for all the guests!

Joanna, patted me on the back, I looked at her, she looked at Ged, we all started laughing…

So, we went on a magical mystery tour of Braintree, in the old Routemaster bus and ended up at the Fennes Estate, no dramas.

We got some fabulous photographs of everyone at the Fennes, and managed to catch up on the photography we’d missed earlier. The grounds of Fennes looked fantastic, and everyone just seemed to be so happy.

This was the first day of the year that I’ve been able to get a group shot of everyone on the grass, as opposed to on the drive. it looked fantastic.

I think a special hello has to go out to Matthew Stirling of www.stirlingstunts.co.uk He is the most amazing close up magician I think I have ever seen, he has a real personality to go with it. I think everyone (including myself) was utterly amazed to see him perform. Stunning!

All in all, I think that everyone had a really, really great day, the morning was a little bit shaky, but it’s amazing how much of a difference the sun can make to a day. Everyone is just naturally so much happier!

A special thanks has to go to Carlos too. He really pulled out the stops to make sure that everything happened. At the end of the day it’s not in his job description to ferry people around, but it’s a testament to him and the staff at Fennes that they are so willing to help out to ensure that the day runs smoothly. www.fennes.co.uk

Good luck Joanna and Ged, it was a great day, I particularly enjoyed ” The wheels on the bus”!

PK

www.pkphotovideo.co.uk

The wedding photgraphy of Paul & Miriam, Hylands House, Chelmsford, Essex, & Tollesbury Cruising Club.

Ok, this is a bit of a special one, because Miriam and Paul are our very good friends.

Right, Paul and Miriam are to say the least ‘a little out doorsy’ They both love sailing, Paul has been sailing since he was 5 and Miriam even lived on her boat for a time. They met at the cruising club and there was a sweepstake going around the club as to how long it would be before they got together.

Why am I telling you this? mostly because it’s sweet, but also because it might explain a lot of things to those reading!

So, to start with, the reception was held in a polytunnel, which ordinarily goes over the swimming pool. Miriam, a landscape architect, wanted to use local flora fawna for the table decorations, and neither wanted to spend an obscene amount of money! To decorate the Poly tunnel, Robin, Pauls Dad borrowed the spinnakers from some of their friends to use as decoration, and Miriam used grass and Cow Parsley as table decorations, sounds mad doesn’t it? Well, yes it is a bit, but that’s them to a tee! The end result looked pretty cool though…

I met Paul at the Tollesbury Cruising Club for breakfast at 8.15am. Yes, 8.15 am bleeurgh. Breakfast was great and it was a really nice start to the day. Paul got dressed and we got some photographs of him by Polo IV.

From there I took a quick jaunt across to their flat to get some shots of Miriam, whom we are used to seeing in Jeans or something ‘out doorsy’. Wow! she can really do elegant when she wants! I was gobsmacked, she looked lovely.

Photography was mostly candid, just some shots of Miriam getting ready along with detail photographs of her shoes, flowers etc. Flowers were supplied locally by Chris at www.calanthus.co.uk Miriam said she was great and I thought they looked very nice. (Come on, I’m a guy!!!)

It was about this time that unfortunately, the rain started. : (

the service was held at Hylands House, Chelmsford, Essex. Which is a stunning spot for photography. Because of the numbers we had the service in the gold room, with new registrars!

Due to the rain and heavy clouds, light was a little scarce, to say the least, but I am really happy with the photography, under very difficult circumstances. (But hey, that’s what I get paid for) I have often said that a real photographer really shines when the weather is difficult and I think this photograph really proves it!

I have to include this picture of my two boys, Alex and Christian. Alex has my old snap shot camera, and shows a little promise, perhaps he ‘ll take over the business some day…

By now it was raining, proper British rain.
At Hylands House, this isn’t real problem, photography was taken in the small ceremony room, which is gorgeous!

Favourite shot of the day was taken in the doorway to Hylands, which I have always loved.

Just as we left Hylands House, a ‘Guard of Honour’ with boat hooks and flags gathered at the front of the house, everyone braved the rain to see Paul and Miriam off!

Upon arrival in Tollesbury, we stopped at the Mud flats for a quick picture. This is where Miriam moors her boat, the Grey Goose. Needless to say it is incredibly special to her (even though it is essentially a swamp) and we all battled the wind, spitting rain and cold to get a few pictures. In spite of all this, Paul and Miriam didn’t let it dampen their spirits and looked as happy as I’ve ever seen them…

Then we headed on to the Cruising Club, for Pimms and photographs. And more Pimms.

Food was great and the atmosphere was lovely. A really great crowd of people, bought together by Paul and Miriam. Tracey and I met Pauls Cousins, Wendy & Paul and their kids, for the first time on Saturday and by the end of the evening, we’d arranged to go on holiday together!!!

After the speeches, everyone was coaxed on to the Mud Flats for a blessing by Rev. Tony, a vicar who runs a charity helping youngsters learn to sail in Tollesbury. This guy doesn’t look like a vicar, or sound like a vicar, he was absolutely bloody brilliant.

If you want a religious blessing to go with your civil ceremony, I would thoroughly recommend him, please give me a call and I will give you his details! “May your carbon footprint be small!”

Paul and Miriam had the wedding they wanted. The fact  that it rained didn’t bother them a jot. Nor, did it bother their guests. I think it’s testament to Paul and Miriam that so many people went to the Mud Flats in the freezing cold to be a part of their day. .

PK

www.pkphotovideo.co.uk

The wedding photography of Stephanie & Simon, Great St. Marys, Sawbridgeworth & Quendon Hall, Parklands.

I had a really close call with the weather today, I thought it was going to start pouring down from the moment I arrived! Thankfully though, we managed to get all of our pictures outside.

Special mention has to go to Rick and Linda who spent all winter preparing their garden for the wedding! Many thanks to Rick for the guided tour of the grounds, it just goes to show how good a garden can look if you’re willing to put some effort in! I am not worthy…

Stephanie wasn’t ready when I arrived, of course, in fact, she was still at the hairdressers! It wasn’t a problem though, we had plenty of time. It wasn’t too long before all the girls were ready and we got some great shots of them in Ricks garden. Lovely.

When I arrived at the church, there was nobody there! I had a small moment of doubt, was it the right church??? Of course it was, everybody and I mean everybody was at the pub! Small note to self, head straight to the pub, bypass the church…

Anyway, everyone arrived on time, and the service soon began. Great St. Mary’s is a lovely church for photographs, the grounds are nice and the interior is quite bright. Sadly though, as is often the case with church weddings, we were restricted to a couple of shots from the back of the church.

After the service we had ample time to cover the formal photography in the grounds of St. Mary’s. We finished with the confetti shot at the gate and then headed on to…

Parklands.

Sorry everyone, I didn’t manage to get the name of the company who owned the fabulous car…

Anyway, back to Parklands, Quedon Hall, it is always stunning. Stephanie was very cold, I gave her the choice inside, or out? For her, there simply wasn’t a choice, it had to be outside. Not once did I hear her complain about being cold.

We got a selection of photographs outside, covering all of the grounds. I have to admit, we were a lot quicker than normal, I was really worried that the heavens were going to open any minute!!!

Many thanks to Kevin, who took his Best Man duties seriously, and really helped round people up and keep things moving… however, no thanks go to Kevin for shouting through the window how warm it was inside!!! Cheers mate, we were just a little chilly outside!

Here’s an unusual photograph, me!!!! As taken by the Grooms Mum, it’s me and Kevin, the Best Man. With a little help on the framing she could be a really great photographer!!!

Thank you very much Stephanie & Simon, and all the guests, I had a lovely time. I’m really sorry you guys didn’t have the weather you hoped for, but all said and done, it was a great day as far as I’m concerened.

PK.

www.pkphotovideo.co.uk

The wedding photography of Neil and Louise at Boreham House, Chelmsford, Essex

My first wedding yesterday at Chelmsfords newest wedding venue Boreham House.

What can I say, it was absolutely fantastic!!! The building is sublime, the setting perfect, I don’t have a single bad thing to say about it. The great thing is, I think it’s probably going to get a lot better too!

Louise was really relaxed, which I always find a little un-nerving, it’s so rare! I expect to walk into a room full of nervous people, not peace and calm!

Anyway, I got some lovely shots of the exterior and interiors, along with some photography of the lovely flowers in the brand spanking new (bloody expensive) pavilion.

Neil arrived on time, fetched by Steve at Boreham House, in his Bentley. I asked Steve if he’d mind if I borrowed his car, he gave me a funny look and politely refused.

Please note the ‘Starsky and Hutch’ pose…

The service went without a hitch, the lovely Sonia of Chelmsford Registry office, who I haven’t seen in ages, took the ceremony. Lovely to see you again Sonia!

The ceremony room is gorgeous, the carved fire surrounds work well with the colour of the room and the chandelier is lovely too. The Bride and Groom stood opposite the French doors, which meant we had some lovely natural light.

After the wedding service, I managed to get some great photographs of the Bride and Groom in the interiors of the house. I love the Henry VIII staircase, the colour of the wood is just beautiful and there are a lot of opportunities for some great photos.

Obviously we had to get some photographs of the Bride and Groom in the front of the house, the pillars are magnificent.

After these we moved to the rear of Boreham House, and got some great formal photographs of the family and some fun candid photography of the guests.

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, the bridesmaids were well behaved, Neil’s Dad was lovely. A really pleasant afternoon, all in all.

Boreham House is going to be the most sought after venue in the Chelmsford area, I have absolutely no doubt about it, I feel privileged to be their recommended photographer! I know that sounds cheesy, but there are some places that you actually feel honoured to be, and this one of them.

Alright, I’ll stop gushing now, before I make you sick! I’ll keep you up to date with more weddings in the future…

Princess of the month.

Every month our son Alex (6) chooses his favourite ‘princess’.

Alex has been around weddings all of his life and loves to look at “The pretty princesses” Anyway, we thought it would be kind of fun if he chose his favourite every month.

The winner will receive a
10″ x 8″ print from their wedding day and
will be eligible to win
‘Princess of the year’

The winner this month is:

Tracey

We don’t know what it is, but Alex thinks you’ve got it!