Blog Archives

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The family group photographs you should consider for your wedding

I’m sure you’ll all have experienced the family group photos at a wedding. Whether you attended the wedding as a guest or were an important member of the wedding party, most couples want some kind of formal shots of the bride and groom with their respective families. After all, these photos will be with you for life and they are a wonderful thing to have of the day.

Some brides don’t want many formal shots and prefer to have the natural ones of people laughing, chatting and drinking, whereas other couples may want lots of group shots all featuring various people who are important to them. One thing is true – these kind of formal shots can be difficult to organise and choreograph on the day. This is why it’s important to think about the groups of people you want photographed together well in advance instead of winging it on the day.  Do let your wedding photographer know in advance too and check out my helpful guide on how to keep your wedding guests entertained during the photos!

 

Parent family photos

  • Bride and groom and bride’s parents
  • Bride and groom and groom’s parents
  • Bride and her parents
  • Groom and his parents
  • Bride and groom with both parents
  • Bride and her mum
  • Bride and her dad
  • Groom and his mum
  • Groom and his dad

 

Grandparent family photos

  • Bride and groom and bride’s grandparents
  • Bride and groom and groom’s grandparents
  • Bride and her grandparents
  • Groom and his grandparents
  • Bride and groom with all the grandparents
  • Bride and her grandma
  • Bride and her grandad
  • Groom and his grandma
  • Groom and his grandad
  • Bride and groom and bride’s parents and grandparents
  • Bride and groom and groom’s parents and grandparents
  • Bride and her mum and her grandma
  • Bride and her dad and her grandad
  • Groom and his mum and his grandma
  • Groom and his dad and his grandad

 

Sibling wedding photos

  • Bride and groom and bride’s siblings
  • Bride and groom and groom’s siblings
  • Bride and her sister(s)
  • Bride and her brother(s)
  • Bride and all her siblings
  • Groom and his sister(s)
  • Groom and his brother(s)
  • Groom and all his siblings
  • Bride and her mum and sister(s)
  • Groom and his dad and brother(s)
  • Bride and groom and their parents/siblings together

 

Formal family photo at Dave and Lindsey's wedding on the Wirral

Lindsey and Dave decided to have quite a few family photos at their Thornton Manor wedding

Big group photo at Thornton Manor

 

Sometimes, it’s also beneficial to have a think about where you’d like the photographer to take the formal shots (indoors, outdoors, etc.) and where the photographer could stand to get a good shot. For the image above, I photographed from inside Thornton Manor on the second floor to make sure I could get everybody in.

Children

It’s less traditional for couples to wait to have children until after marriage and so many brides and grooms have children that they obviously want to be involved in the day. They’re usually flowergirls or pageboys but having some lovely photos with your children is important.

  • Bride and groom and their children
  • Bride and groom, children and the bride’s parents
  • Bride and groom, children and the groom’s parents
  • Bride and groom, children and both sets of parents

 

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen family photos

  • Bride and groom and the bridesmaids
  • Bride and her bridesmaids
  • Bride and her maid of honour
  • Groom and the groomsmen
  • Groom and his best man
  • Bride and groom with the best man and maid of honour
  • Bride and groom with the groomsmen and the bridesmaids
  • Bride and the flower girls
  • Groom and the pageboys
  • Bride and groom with the flower girls and pageboys
  • Bride and the bridesmaids and the flower girls
  • Groom and the groomsmen and the pageboys

 

Bridesmaids having formal wedding photos with the bride

 

I love this ‘pretty-in-pink’ photo of the bride, Aleisha, with her bridesmaids and the cutest little flowergirls at Soughton Hall.

 

The grooms party with the groom for formal photos

 

Then Aleisha’s groom, Phil, had some photos with the groomsmen.

 

Larger group photos

  • Close family, including parents, grandparents, siblings, aunties, uncles and cousins
  • Friends, such as school friends, university friends, etc.
  • All the wedding guests

Any wedding photographer who has lots of experience shooting weddings will be able to give you plenty of advice around which family photos you can have. On the day, they will do all the organising and will tell people where to stand so you don’t have to worry about a thing!

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Wedding at Delamere Manor, Cheshire

Despite being based in North Wales, I often get the chance to photograph Chester and Cheshire weddings too. This month’s real wedding feature takes place at stunning Cheshire location, Delamere Manor.

About Delamere Manor

 

The outside of Delamere Manor in Delamere, Cheshire

 

Sitting in 100 acres of stunning Cheshire countryside, Delamere Manor is a beautiful wedding venue near Cuddington, just outside Northwich,

It is famously the ex-home of Take That superstar, Gary Barlow. Before that, it was the residence of the Wilbraham family and was built in 1784.

The venue certainly isn’t small, as it can comfortably seat 140 for the main daytime reception and up to 180 guests for the evening reception. There are nooks and crannies around every corner and I don’t think you’ll find anywhere more beautiful to eat your wedding breakfast or have outdoor photos taken.

The Wedding of Alex and Dave

The day started out at the venue itself as the bride, Alex, decided this would be the place where she would get ready. The rooms in Delamere Manor are really beautiful and make for excellent shots of the dress before it’s put on.

 

Delamere Manor bridal suite in Cheshire

 

The venue has kept the decor modern yet in keeping with the traditional look and feel of the house.

Alex’s dress was a stunning fitted lace number that flared out at the bottom to create a beautiful train. Her veil completed the look beautiful. I think everyone would agree she looks absolutely stunning!

 

The bride at Delamere Manor

 

 

 

One of my favourite moments to photograph is the bridesmaids’ reactions. It’s likely they haven’t seen the bride in the dress or, if they have, they haven’t seen her complete with hair, makeup veil, etc. You can get some amazing photos of the bridesmaids, like this one when Alex comes down the stairs!

Bridesmaids watching the bride come down the stairs

 

Alex chose a dusky pink colour for her bridesmaids’ dresses and her flowers also stuck to this colour theme. Her flower girl was Alex’s and Dave’s daughter, who matched the colour scheme in a white dress complete with flowery headband.

 

The theme of flowers was everywhere you looked. Dave wore a blue tie with delicate pink flowers on it and flowers were absolutely everywhere, including the venue, the tables, the table plan, the registry table. It all looked so beautiful. Even the naked cake had some white and pink flowers on to match the overall scheme.

A naked cake with real flowers

 

Table plan names surrounded by flowers on each table

 

The tables were decorated with candles and tonnes of real flowers, including roses and peonies. Each table was named after a Disney princess, which I thought was a wonderful touch. But on the day, the real Disney princess was Alex!

Delamere Manor has some truly stunning surroundings that make for excellent photos, such as these.

 

 

The bride standing under an arch of flowers

 

I also managed to get some lovely shots of the family having fun together.

Bride and groom swinging their flower girl on a swing

 

Congratulations again to Mr and Mrs Gleave!

You can see some more real wedding features below:

Soughton Hall

Grosvenor Pulford

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Family photo shoots: Doorstep edition!

I was gutted when the coronavirus came along and postponed most of my weddings for 2020 – gutted for the brides and grooms, but also because it’s what I do and I love it so much.

However, I wasn’t going to let it stop me from doing projects on the side. My lego wedding was very popular on social media and even got some local newspaper coverage, but I wanted to do something more, and actually continue to photograph people and families.

This is where I created doorstep photo shoots. I advertised the opportunity on my Facebook page and asked if anyone would be interested in paying to have a family photo shoot in their front garden! This enabled me to get some great photos while still social distancing. In my post, I said that some of the money would go to the Heart Foundation charity and that anyone within 20 minutes of my home, Sealand in North Wales, should get in touch to take part.

Since then, I’ve been inundated with requests from families wanting to have a mini photo shoot on their doorstep. It’s kept me busy and I’ve really enjoyed continuing my passion of photography while I can’t photograph weddings. I also like to think it’s something fun for the family to do as well, during the boredom of lockdown.

 

My first family was Jo, Paul and Eva. They were due to move house any day at the time, and so wanted some final family photos of their time there!

Family photo shoot on the doorstep - Jo, Paul and Eva

 

Eva on the doorstep pulling her tongue out

 

From there, it escalated and I got to shoot so many different families.

 

Family outside their North Wales home for doorstep photo shoot

 

Family of 4 outside of their North Wales home

 

Little oy sitting amongst the flowers outside in Wales

 

This family hadn’t seen each other since lockdown and measured out a 2 metre difference so they could all see each other!

 

Family standing 2 metres apart during lockdown

 

This next family I’ve known for some time. When their first born, Grace, came into the world, they booked me to do a newborn photo shoot. Then, a year later, I did their pre wedding photo shoot followed by their wedding a few weeks later!

They now have their son, Ewan, and wanted me to take some doorstep photos. This family have supported me so much and it was fab to get some pictures of them together.

 

Collage of family doorstep photos

 

I’ve even documented lockdown birthdays from the doorstep!

 

Lockdown birthday with a bouncy castle

 

I’m still doing doorstep shoots so if you fancy one with your family and you’re based in North Wales, get in touch! It’s £30 and £5 goes to the Heart Foundation charity.