We had the privilege of attending the very funky wedding of Holly and Steven at Northampton’s Guildhall and then their reception at the Hunsbury Hill Centre. It was a great day filled with fun and laughter. It followed a village fete theme with more than the odd nice touch (see the knitted cake, below). This is a short-ish post to whet the appetite as i’m still processing the full set.

Gotta love a red bus!

The characaturist was excellent.

Plenty of fun and banter during the group shots.

Steven was unceremoniously dropped after this (and yes, i got pics).

The may pole happened, but perhaps not as the purists would have liked

Nipped over to Cambridgeshire for the marriage of Pippa and Joe at Abington Pigotts church and then on to the gorgeous South Farm: a superb venue, close to perfect. Here’s a selection from the day.

Show off!

Dodmoor House was the place to be for the marriage of Nathalie and Mark. It’s a fantastic venue – don’t delay to avoid disappointment – that even the damp British summer couldn’t affect. En fait, il pleuvait comme une vache qui pisse! We had surprises galore, several songs, a game of Mr. & Mrs. and there was entente cordiale all over the place as half the assembled guests were French (see above for some bad French). D’accord, allons y!

Nathalie’s sister arranged a surprise slideshow which got some great reactions.

This was Mark’s reaction to a pic of him in a Hooters bar… apparently, i didn’t look.

It’s a charming French tradition that the bride has a waltz with her father before the first dance.

We were back to Harrowden Hall for the marriage of Tracey and Paul. The day was chock full of emotion and humour, plenty of humour

Great Harrowden also did its best to better the weather of Hawaii – the honeymoon destination – although it couldn’t deliver on the wild dolphin front.

Fetch the guitar…

“Trraaaayseee” still ringing in my ears! How do you follow that?

As you can see Tracey was exceptionally elegant in her dress..

… but a simple change of shoes allows refinement to transform into rowdy

Finally Spinal Tap fans, Paul’s guitar even went to 11:

[Update]: direct from Hawaii, the happy couple are “chuffed to bits” with the pics. Yay!!

Virtually everything we shoot these days is on digital. The quality is superb now and when coupled with the speed, flexibility and almost limitless volume, there really is no other option for coverage of today’s fast moving weddings.

However, when i do have time to take recreational photos – not much these days – i often find myself gravitating towards film photography. More specifically, medium format and polaroid using equipment from my collection of vintage cameras.

Unfortunately, with all the folks like us embracing digital, film has taken a hit.  One particularly lamentable day saw the decision by Polaroid to cease manufacturing film.  I feverishly bought up all remaining stocks that weren’t over priced; the remaining packs now reside in the salad drawer of the fridge*.

Today however, i’m one happy [easter] bunny.  For a while i’ve been keeping tabs on the impossible project whose mission has been to try and re-engineer Polaroid film for a new generation.  Honestly, i didn’t think it would happen but yesterday saw the announcement of a new film: PX 100.  It’s black and white and optimised for my beautiful, if a little battered, late-70′s SX-70.

I’ve already ordered some, so lo-fi fun here i come!  Using cameras like this is great fun: getting back to the basics of light and composition.  OK, the pics won’t be flawless quality like we achieve with our professional digital cameras, lenses and lights,  but vive la différence!

* film keeps longer in the fridge; film isn’t more important than salad kids… honest… eat your greens… don’t do drugs.

With almost divine timing, torrential rain gave way to blazing sunshine for the wedding of Jo and Nick. Now a conspiracy theorist might see links to the fact the father of the bride was also the minister presiding at the wedding ceremony at Stapleford church – but not i no no. The godlike BBC weather site predicted it, and so it was: a brilliant day. Here’s a brief look:

For the reception, we moved to the fab Barrington Hall, a truly beautiful house.

This week’s cameo was Malcolm the cat. When out of his Suitcase Under the Bed™ [look out for it on Dragon's Den], he rampaged through the wedding preparations with feline disregard.

I really don’t know where he gets his belligerent behaviour from though, someone must be teaching him bad habits

Now listen up conspiracy fans, it turns out the vicar father of the bride happened to have a third role (you might call it a holy-ish trinity, but i wouldn’t) = photographer! He has almost as much equipment as me – an almost biblical feat in itself – and has photographed the real actual Queen, he had to make do with me and the D3 on this occasion

We found our way back up the Wellingborough Road to Harrowden Hall again…. but this time, for the Halloween wedding of Paula and Adam The day after the clocks went back meant less light and more time for ghoulish behaviour. It was an honour for me and Cathy to be part of a great day.

The emotion started early: Paula’s sister gave birth the day prior to the wedding but still managed to fulfill her bridesmaid’s duties!

On to the party, which began with a pumpkin piñata:

A rather more sedate 1st dance…

…until the chorus kicked in

We were also able to put on a Crazybooth

Final word to the bride and groom:

After all the planning and work pressures, Vicky & Ben got married at Dunchurch Park in Rugby. As you’ll have seen from the blog, we aren’t strangers to the odd away day. However, we couldn’t claim this as one, not with several people venturing over from Hong Kong – mind you, i am looking forward to the referrals from this one

The evening was a sight too: with a dance off and even a hokey cokey! – i do blame the [excellent] Midnite Function Band for that though!

Yes, destination wedding photographer… has a certain ring to it doesn’t it