Yes, I'm Still Here...

You may notice that the last blog entry was way back in Nov 2014. Fear not, I'm still busy making photographs for happy clients, I've just decided to put the blog on a bit of a hiatus.

Why?

Well, here's the thing. There's already hundreds of photographs on this site - more than enough for you to be able to make a decision about whether I'm the right photographer for you. So why add even more?

The vast majority of photographers' blog posts (yes, including mine) are written with one aim - to get Google to index the pages and help improve the chance of getting the site to appear high up in the search results. So photographers post lots of pictures from every wedding they can to keep the content fresh and make the keywords available for Google to read. The posts are not really there for your benefit, but for a machine. The problem is that the machine keeps changing the rules about what it likes. And I've got better things to do than spend my time trying to figure out what this week's rules are.

Since I've never really been anywhere near the top of the search results in Google's big index I'm not really losing out by refusing to play their game. Most of my clients come via personal recommendation from previous happy couples or from other photographers. So I've stopped uploading stuff for the moment.

I'm still busy fielding enquiries, attending weddings up and down the country and delivering great photographs to my clients. Let me know if you'd like me to photograph yours - there's plenty of pictures already on here to help you make up your mind...

Carly & James's Wedding at Oxleaze Barn in the Cotswolds

Carly & James's Wedding at Oxleaze Barn in the Cotswolds

Carly and James were married at Oxleaze Barn, a relatively new wedding venue on the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire border. They didn't want any "getting ready" pictures, so it was a quite a late start for me, straight into the 4pm ceremony. Fortunately the July date and fabulous weather meant the light stayed good all afternoon and evening. In fact the weather was so hot that the groom declared a "no jackets" rule for everyone!

Kimberly & Andrew's Wedding at Ufton Court, Berkshire

Kimberly & Andrew's Wedding at Ufton Court, Berkshire

Kimberly and Andrew flew over from New York, along with nine (!) bridesmaids and Kimberly's family, to get married at the beautiful St. Mary's church in Bucklebury in West Berkshire. After the ceremony they were surprised by a horse and carriage ride to their reception at Ufton Court where guests had drinks in the main house and the wedding breakfast in the barn. The meal was followed by a "US style" conga type dance and then the traditional first dance and father/daughter dance, before the rest of the guests filled the dance floor.

Charli & Nik's Wedding at St. John's Church and Howard's House Hotel, Salisbury

Charli & Nik's Wedding at St. John's Church and Howard's House Hotel, Salisbury

Charli and Nik were married at St. John's Church, just a couple of minutes away from their home in Salisbury. Then onto Howard's House Hotel in Teffont Evias for a marquee reception in the grounds, complete with bouncy castle, space hoppers and a strange bucking bronco spinning disk thing that was a big hit with both the kids and the adults.

The meal involved guests dressing up as chefs and first aiders (!) and carving their own meat. And the best men gave a very funny speech which involved Nik getting dressed up in extreme wet-weather sailing gear!