Read on to see that last sentence couldn’t be further from the truth

James is one cool customer; not nervous at all.

Come on, you said, “ahhhh” didn’t you?

Yep, not nervous at all

Daughter Phoebe was close to the action throughout.  Here she is doing her best to look aloof.

Right, time to party at the Falcon Hotel in Castle Ashby.

I think the laughter below was something to do with a vajazzle – google it, unless you’re at work.

Remember i mentioned Rachel’s love of wasps?  She’s absolutely petrified in fact – good news about the orchard then!  Here’s Rachel mid-wasp-defence-mode. Kind of a flappy hand dance followed by a loud moo-ing noise (now if i was writing for ‘Are You Being Served‘ that sentence would probably lead somewhere else).

You said, ‘Ahhh’ again didn’t you?

In short, a more relaxed and fun day you couldn’t find.  Rachel & James (and Phoebe) were brilliant, this one was a breeze.  Here’s the verdict:

“Just wanted to drop you a quick mail to say THANKS for everything you did for us on our day…. and our beautiful photos. We love them! Whoop Whoop! So many people have commented on how good you were (on the day as well as your photos!!!) Couldnt agreed with them more. Looking forward to being on your blog too!!!!”

Fact fans: it’s the same distance from Lois’ childhood home to the church as it is the village pub.

They’re going to the church btw.

Having refreshed himself at the pub our hero, Mark, made the short skip from there to Stow Minster.

Married!

The organist learnt the intro to Jump by Van Halen for the procession out of the Minster

Confetti was an ad-hoc affair, which was nice.

Now just a short walk back past home to the house at the end of the road, site of the festivities.

Right, i’ve seen a few wedding gifts in my time, none of which are quite in the same league as this wedding message written in moss on some rocks.   Answers on a postcard!

To put you out of your misery it says, “I want you for all time… 4th June… Mark n Lois… ♥ Rocks”, ohhhhh

Lois is an electrician, a good one, the best, please no… not the face!  This is my new portrait signature shot.  In truth, they were performing for friends and i happened to have been in the right place at the right time

Ok, time to party on.  Off with the little shoes and on with the colour scheme friendly DMs.

First dance was to an elegant little rock number.

The night was rounded off with a little Zumba, which is a first for me!

Finally, i hadn’t encountered a couple who requested a jumping shot, until now.  Does seem appropriate though.

From a lovely comment on our Facebook page: “Thanks again Steve and Cathy, we are so pleased with the photo’s, as are all the bridesmaids, parents and family. You two were great company on top of getting some beautiful shots, and plenty funny ones. What a fun day.”

Indeed!

Tears early doors.

The vivacious Lincoln Noel was tremendous as always.

Helen did practice the stairs.

Helen & Jason thought they heard some tears from the assembled.  We know different   Neither of them knows why they giggled so much.

Now, many of the folks here are involved in some way with horses and thank goodness someone had the foresight to pack the racing pages:

There was a call for all ex-partners to return house keys

Update: “Just had a chance to sit down and look at pics! They are brilliant, you have done a super job”… then
“Album has arrived and it is AMAZING! Thank you so much for doing such a super job, we really will treasure it forever.” Yay and double yay.

What is a photographer to do when stood in a moonlit car park and the couple say, “What about a shot with Dad’s car?”. Well, light it!

We also had a few requests for night group shots. Not a problem. You want to do a double monkey, no problem

And Dave, as you know, we’ll always have the mound, let’s just leave it as something special

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