Despite the rain that persisted all day (why do they say that's good luck on a wedding day?!), Rachel and Ryan's wedding day went very well indeed.

The pair had a fairly small and laid back wedding at Ventnor Botanic Gardens, most of the guests and myself made our way to the gardens on "The Old Girl" bus, where there was an awful lot of Prosecco and laughter despite the miserable weather. It was the first time I'd been on the vintage bus and it is beautiful and the staff were so friendly and helpful. All the wonderful flowers were done by Doris Pinks Florist, and the ever fabulous Frostbite Bakery did the wedding cake!

Thank you so much Rachel and Ryan for asking Lana and I to photograph your wedding, for the kind words and for recommending us! Also a huge thank you to Rachel's mum for randomly leaving me a beautiful review.

If you'd like to see Rachel and Ryan's poppy and sunshine filled pre-wedding shoot, feel free to look here.

Hello dear blog reader, I hope you are doing well! I'd like to introduce you a total gem of a person and a talented Wedding Photographer, Nisha Haq. aka. "The best smile in wedding photography", I just call her that to be honest, but it's so true.

Nisha asked me one day if I'd be interested in doing a personal branding photo shoot with her, to be honest it's something I haven't done a huge amount of before but I really like doing them and I really enjoyed my shoot with Nisha.

Lydia, Miriam, Caoimhe & Ellie are Palisander - The Spice Girls of the world of classical music. 

I had so much fun with these four great and talented ladies on their photo shoot with me, first making a visit to The Fighting Cocks and then on to Ventnor Botanic Gardens. Who knew there are so many different sizes and types of recorders, because I definitely didn't, I couldn't believe it when they were first unpacked. 

It's always a joy to ask band to play something for a few shots. Mainly for the benefit of the photos themselves, but I do like being able to watch musicians in action, and hearing four recorders played beautifully in the Botanic Gardens (with just me as a solo audience) was such a treat. Because of the type of music and the sound of the recorders, at one point I thought Henry VIII was gunna come rocking up around one of the gardens windy paths with one of his wives or something.

Thank you so much for a lovely morning ladies, and thanks for treating me to lunch. 
Keep up with Palisander on Facebook, and on Instagram.

What was clear to me was that Ross and Tasha's wedding was all about celebrating love and having fun, and I felt that running all the way through their day. From the beginning of the day where the girls got their hair done at Cutting Edge, right through to the inebriated dancing and laughter on the dance floor in the evening.

So many tears of joy were shed at the wedding of this really lovely couple. Ross and Tasha's family and friends clearly had so much love for both of them, and were so happy to see them get married, it was truly lovely to experience and such a joy to photograph.

Also a big shout out to Tasha's Uncle to went on a McDonalds run in the morning and got all the ladies a breakfast, and thank you to Tasha for treating me to mine. Tasha was fed a couple chicken nuggets by one of her bridesmaids when time was getting on and her make up needed doing, but at the end of the day what are bridesmaids and friends for?!

Thank you both for asking me to photograph your day, and thank you for my beautiful review.

When I met up with Dan & Rachael a few months before their wedding, they told me that they wanted their wedding to be laid back and completely on their own terms. It all sounded great to me, and they got their wish! It was a very laid back and fun afternoon, with the legal side of things done at the registry office in the morning, and a wonderful and personal ceremony in the afternoon at Shalfleet Village Hall, on the Isle of Wight. 

There was lots of input from their family and friends; Rachael's hair and make up was done by one of her friends Jessica, another close friend of theirs officiated the beautiful ceremony in which the couple wrote their own vows, and there was an "Open Mic" style set up for speeches which went down very well indeed.

Rachael and Dan did all the catering, which was Vegan and I have to say bloody delicious! Hats off to you both for doing your own catering in the first place (no easy task!) but also making it as tasty as it was. Thank you both for that, and more importantly thank you for asking me to capture your totally unique day, it was brilliant!

To be honest I haven't shot many weddings that have a proper theme really running all through the day. So to shoot that was great in itself, but because Cara and Dan's 1920's themed wedding was done so well, with all the guests getting into the spirit of things too, ahh man it was even better.

Firstly I want to highlight the fact that Cara made her and Dan's wedding cake and all of the cupcakes as well, because she's the very talented lady who runs Gladys May Cakery!

On the day unfortunately there was rain all day and so there wasn't really an opportunity to enjoy the grounds, until it did stop raining for I kid you not around 15 minutes before the sun set. So we madly ruched back outside after Cara swapped her heels for her flats and managed to get some lovely shots outside without having to use umbrellas that time - yay!

The band, The Southside Fizz, did not only add an extra gorgeous sprinkling of 20's fun and glamour to the evening, but I have to say are easily one of the best wedding bands I've ever seen. They beautifully set things off for Cara and Dan's first dance, and got everybody dancing at some point which also included a random and epic dance off with Dan and one of his brothers!

Thank you both for asking me to photograph your beautiful day.

Cara and Dan's Pre-wedding shoot with their two dogs (who are absolute sweethearts!) can be seen by clicking here.