This last weekend I did some wedding video for a great friend of mine who got married at the dorchester corn exchange. The preparations took place at the Kings arms, dorchester which is pretty much next door, and is a very friendly hotel indeed.

The ceremony room in the Dorchester Corn exchange is great – big windows and plenty of window light.

So like the royal wedding here’s a sneak peek of the kiss

Dorchester wedding photography and Dorchester Wedding videography combined!

I love Mudeford and Christchurch (the wedding was at Christchurch Harbour Hotel), it’s a particularly great part of Dorset, and I feel honoured to be able to photograph weddings all over Dorset. There is always something special about the sea though. I love it!

We started off by the swings and had a bit of fun.

We then went to a nearby bench where Natalies parents often sit..

It was such a lovely day in Mudeford that we went on the beach (where incidentally I lost a sock that was never to be seen again)
Here the cloud and the sky was so amazing that we got some great images with some beautiful clouds and deep blue sky (including a comedic titanic effort)

We then played about on the rocks on Christchurch beach for a bit longer

Then it was time to go to the place where Stuart proposed to Natalie, on the wall of Mudeford Quay.

Next because it was such a lovely day we went back to the beach for a little paddle and piggyback action

Then we went back to the holiday park for a final image against the sky and trees.

Many thanks to the Flash Centre for supplying all the equipment used during these seminars! Some cracking kit there – go and check them out if you need any equipment!

Here’s one photograph from the Studio lighting course – this was shot with a big 135cm octobox on a Elinchrom BXRI 250 head.
Here we went through from step 1. how to setup your studio head, how to use a light meter and what the modifies look like when applied to our model for the day (Sorrell) – I’ll be running some more courses like this soon so stay tuned or drop me an email to stay up to date!

The sunday saw me go through the basics of off camera flash (OCF) – from how to fire them, what considerations you should be looking for and how to setup a quick and easy lighting scenerio that you can take with you anywhere on a wedding or portrait session. For this we used the awesome Elinchrom Quadras – here we used a simple white shoot through umbrella to give this portait of ilya and a single bare quadra to light the background and give some seperation.

I was greeted by a slightly nervous Heather when I arrived at Cressbrook Hall – but – she soon felt at ease whilst I photographed some details and a very special bear.

Once she was ready it was time to relax before the ceremony

It was only a short drive to Eyam church nearby where I met up with Jools and photographed the rings! You might recognise them from my portfolio – these wedding rings were really special.

Then before you know it Heather arrived in a white wedding taxi!

The bridesmaids looked radiant with the flowers matching the colour scheme perfectly

Then it was time for Heather to make her big entrance (No photography allowed during the ceremony unfortunately)

The time to come out and greet all the guests as Mr & Mrs!

Then we stopped off en route back to Cressbrook Hall to get some portraits of Jools and Heather to take in the breathtaking scenery that the peak district offers

and I love the tones on this image – really has some atmosphere to it.

Then it was onto cressbrook hall proper to show off the official document and take another quick portrait before making the big entrance to all the guests.

The olives were delicous and the table plan was exquisite.

It was cupcakes for the wedding cake – with a top tier for cutting later

There was a great embarassing storyboard that had been setup with lots of happy childhood memories on.

Here again you can see the wedding bands and how special they are.

Jools had some fabulous shoes on. They even looked pretty comfortable.

Here Jools is doing his best catalogue poses as a warm up for another quick portrait shoot

We caught some lovely evening sun before heading back to the party.

I was treated to the same delicous food that the wedding party had – so thankyou very much for that guys – it’s always appreciated when I get some food Before we knew it – it was time for the speeches.

There was plenty of touching moments

and some amusing stories.

before the best man started his speech too.

then it was time for everyone to relax and mingle a little bit…

now it was time to party – no matter how old you were

a little bit of dancing…

Before the finale of the first dance (this is always a great end to the day… and Jools and Heather did us all proud.. in fact you may remember the first dance video of this.

Wow what a day! and what a wedding! Feel free to leave your comments below

I had one such letter come postcard this christmas from some an amazing couple who’s wedding I photographed up in London earlier this year. The wedding took in great catholic church, the great parks and we ended up near the naval college in greenwich. We even experienced a rainbow! It was an amazing day and sums up everything I love about being a wedding photographer… look out for the rest of the pictures in an upcoming blog post… for now see the sneak peek here.

Here is the front of the lovely postcard Simon and Marissa sent me.

and the back

the text reads:
Dear Greg,

thankyou so much for doing a beautiful ‘job’ at our wedding. You (along with ned) managed to capture some amazing moments which will allow us to hold on to those very special memories in a colourful and vivid way. We certainly didn’t realise what a huge process this ‘photographing your wedding’ business was and we – more than anything – appreciate so much your patience and flexibility. You were funny, easy going and supportive throughout and that meant the world to us. thanks again.

simon and marissa.

thanks guys!

We started the day at the Blandford Registry office (which is literally walking distance to me), which they’d put a full christmas tree in!

Then it was straight off to the morton house hotel in corfe castle for the celebration and reception afterwards. This was no traditional wedding though as Claire and Rob had done away with the formal wedding breakfast and instead had a lovely and relaxed buffet reception with delicious food and drinks.

Here are a few of my favourites so far!

Here is one with Corfe Castle in the background.

and of course we couldn’t have a christmas eve wedding without christmas trees could we?

and finally we have a signature shot with lighting to give us the beautiful blue sky,

Here’s one of my favcourites from the day and don’t forget to check out Claires website and gallery for the full set.

I was here photographing the wedding of Adam and Rebecca. I guess the party will still be going on and here’s a sneak peek for you both/all.

Enjoy and thanks for having me along!

Here are some photographs of it in the studio

Here are a couple of sneak peeks