Happiness

Wedding prospects. Butter wouldn't melt. 

Dear Parents,

        "As part of our current work on the theme 'happiness' we have arranged a class wedding to be held in the village church on Wednesday 6th February."

        I found a piece of paper containing this message on my doorstep this morning.
        Fate........ I decided. Instead of, (the more likely) little bit of carelessness from a neighbouring child.

        I do know that in the past I have attended dozens of of carol services, nativity plays, concerts and recitals from the 'oh so adorable' under 5 age group, each time anticipating enchantment, and nine times out of ten have been hideously disappointed.
        The choristers are never wearing the lovely red garments with the white surplices so beloved of TV shows, in fact half of them nowadays sport, scruffy grey hoodies so you can barely see their faces at all, let alone the expressions of religious rapture that I always conjure up, in my 'hope springs eternal' imagination. Instead legions of grubby, grimacing, nose picking, squinting little monsters, present themselves, resisting all attempts to turn them into Botticelli cherubs.

Wedding cherub. The exception that proves the rule.

This little angel was slightly overawed by the half a dozen grown up bridesmaids she had to share her mothers attention with on the day.

    Probably a good thing that these two were only having a laugh as they are brother and sister!

        But I think it's a charming and brave thing my village school is planning on doing.
        Now all I need to do is find the church and the time of the ceremony! And set about getting the various permissions necessary to attend.

Daddy's little princess before she got stuck into the ice cream and started crawling around the floor.

     From the enchanting baby put on the table for the camera by its doting father, to an army of flufflily dressed tots and tinies:

Wedding frills for a pair of bridesmaids

up to and including an elegantly gowned thirteen year old singing for the guests at her mother's ceremony, there is nothing that gives more pleasure to those participating at  a wedding than having their offspring appreciated by the assembled company.

Wedding songbird, delighting the guests .

For more grown up brides and grooms visit my website

      

Sundry thoughts on Wedding dresses

January 14  2013

Lovely Lyndsey and her  bridegroom share a kiss at King Arthur's hotel on the Gower Peninsula, despite the weather

    In a magazine somewhere I came across a photographer  complaining about a bride "bulging over the top of her wedding dress!" 

    Poor lass! The dress may well have been bought six months or even a year earlier.

      Imagine her horror if in her joy at her forthcoming nuptials she, and her other half, have been indulging in too many evenings out with their friends, and too many of the lovely meals she has been cooking him. Now, on the day of the rehearsal, with 24 hours to go, she discovers the dress is so tight she can hardly breath! 

     Fifty years ago, mother, mum, nanny, gran and granma could all wield needles and sewing machines like professional seamstresses. They'd have had that dress off, the seams let out, tacked and re-stitched within a couple of hours with not a bulge in sight.           Nowadays however more than fifty percent of modern women, old enough to be parent or grandparent of the bride, pride themselves on their inability to ply any sort of needle.      Thank goodness for the green revolution bringing back all the 'old fashioned' crafts and skills otherwise come Armageddon those of us left behind will be trying to re-create the computer chip before re-inventing the wheel and brides will go to the altar in sackcloth.

     With all the developments in technology, I've yet to find a computer  that can darn a sock or let out a wedding dress.     

Wedding day glamour, a dress from 'White Mischief'  looking glorious on a very slender model.

       This type of dress, absolutely gorgeous, would look just as wonderful on a fuller figure  but it wouldn't prevent the bride's biggest mistake: choosing a photographer who couldn't see past a few bulges to the beauty every bride exudes on her wedding day.       
     In the UK wedding photographers like to take you, the bride and groom, for a wander to capture romantic portraits at some point during your day. Before the chocolate fountains and the demands of family and friends begin. This is a time for the two of you to relax together and enjoy some special moments in the early evening light. usually immediately after the ceremony and (if your photographer has any sense) before you get stuck into the champagne (renowned for creating flushed cheeks and runny mascara). 

    Americans do their romantic couple shots in a completely different way. The “Don’t let the groom see the wedding dress” taboo is reversed, as the photo shoot is before the ceremony. Before you are married! That means when you first walk down the aisle he has already seen you. (And there is much less opportunity for you to leave him, in that invidious position so beloved of British soaps: Dumped at the altar! ) But also, sadly for the photographer, there is less chance of the lovely moment when he first catches sight of you gliding towards him in all your bridal finery, and his heart fills with joy and his eyes fill with tears.

Bridegroom Alex with tears in his eyes as he first catches sight of his beautiful bride

His irreverent bride is moved to giggles

See more laughing brides and grooms on my website

Wonderful Welsh Wedding Venues

   October 4th 2012

        The idea for this blog was to dig out some of the loveliest places to get married in this great country of Wales. However once you start searching your archives for pictures it is so easy to get sidetracked. Maybe this time I’ll stick to my brief!

The Brecon Beacons softened by distance

Last weekend I visited Brecon’s Castle Hotel where I shall be covering a wedding early next year. It’s a most delightful spot with views over the Brecon Beacons making them look pretty and tame, which they definitely, are not. Every time I set off to visit a picturesque castle within their remit the mist comes down and the road simply disappears in front of me!
      Being a natural wuss and not keen to join the sheep grazing goodness knows how many hundreds of feet below me, I always find myself scrambling petrified through a perilous three point turn, above an invisible precipice and creeping back home.

Brecon Castle attached to the Castle Hotel

         Hopefully the February weather will be more clement than the deluge that was this past August (not difficult) and the couple's driver won't lose me on the mountain road from the church to the hotel (or should that be hell)! 

         Once we get there this floodlit ruin and its comfortable adjacent lodgings should provide a welcoming retreat from the wild welsh countryside and a romantic backdrop for a most attractive couple's photographs.

Margam Park still my favourite Welsh wedding venue

Not everybody can hold their wedding ceremony in a Castle or stately home with ruins. Some because  religion or budget will not allow it, but even if the ceremony takes place elsewhere, in Wales you are never far from a dramatic castle, and often, time allows after the ceremony, for the couple to visit a place that is special to their relationship.

Coity Castle near Bridgend is a very special place to newly wed Ali and Darren Wyatt

For beautiful bride Christina 'La Torre Redonda' in Nerja is as romantic inside as out

   The wedding ceremony solemnised in the stunning catholic church in Nerja on the Costa del Sol, lovely Christina also appreciates the informal romance of the Round Tower in her reception venue.

For more Castle venues and happy couples see my website 

     The next place on my visiting agenda must be St Donat's Castle near Cowbridge back home in Wales, which looks to have it all, drama on the exterior, scenic views including beaches, a romantic interior and a wonderful banqueting hall. All that's missing seems to be a clanking knight in armour ? Surely that can be arranged?

Bridal pair run off to Coity Castle

Bridgend couple add romance to their wedding celebrations

        Special people Alison Reynolds and Darren Wyatt got married at the Great House Hotel in Laleston on Saturday, August 20^th.

      As we all know the Welsh winter had already set in by then and threatened to ruin our more exotic plans.

      The night before the big day, the Friday, the bridal couple had paid a visit to a rather soggy Coity Castle to see if it was possible to shoot some pictures within it’s romantic confines. The Castle itself looked as dramatic and inviting as ever but wet grass and mud are not things most brides associate with wedding dresses and satin shoes.

     If it doesn’t rain on the day, we told ourselves. It did rain on the day….. and it stopped ……..and it rained again…… but our indomitable couple proved to be made of stern stuff, and undaunted we set off.
   Fleeing the wedding venue immediately after the ceremony, the glamorous bride swapped her high heels for something a little more resilient once we were through the Castle gateway. Once there the old stones seemed to be waiting just for us and we spent a truly happy half hour exploring Coity’s nooks and crannies, it’s archways and bridges, it’s dungeons and towers. There is no doubt in my mind that the awesome history and dramatic beauty of the deserted ruin added a sense of adventure to what was already a perfect day.
Romantic wedding photographs in Bridgend