Tanya & Neil – Danesfield House
Danesfield House was in its full, blooming glory last month when Tanya and Neil tied the knot. It's a stunning venue and with such a handsome couple on a lovely day photographer Stefan Zabel and myself had a field day!
Danesfield House is set within 65 acres of magnificent estate grounds within the beautiful Chiltern Hills and overlooks the River Thames near Marlow.
Sharon & Karl – Bisham Abbey
Lovely Sharon got ready at her parent's house and tied the knot with handsome hunk Karl at the beautiful Bisham Abbey overlooking the Thames near Marlow. It's just a few minutes drive from my home and I was with local photographer and good mate Dennis Orchard. Apart from taking super pics Dennis was up to his usual antics keeping everyone laughing and balancing on windowsills and precarious tables.
Alison & John at Stowe Landscape Gardens / Buckingham Old Town Hall
Alison and John finally tied the knot on a beautiful day at the magnificent Temple of Concord and Victory at Stowe Landscape Gardens. It was a wedding reflecting their personalities full of music and great entertainment. They only booked me a few days before the wedding, I can't believe they nearly didn't have it filmed!
On arrival Alison did an impromptu dance to the jazz band with her brother and watched by her father. As she entered the temple their little son Robert was transfixed by the scene unfolding. Two really magic moments captured on film.
At the Old Town Hall the evening was great fun with traditional entertainment. A lively ceilidh band was followed by Berkshire Bedlam morris dancing troupe including John who managed to escape serious injury during the stick dancing. Then the wonderful Chesham Acapella ladies choir featured Alison and a bemused young Robert.
Simon & Glinder at The Elvetham
The first civil part of Simon and Glinder's wedding took place at The Elvetham followed by a traditional Sikh ceremony and celebration a week later in Birmingham. It was the first time I had worked with Cheltenham based photographer Robin Bradshaw who kept an admirably low profile throughout despite looking like a lead singer for Oasis!
Glinder looked fantastic and didn't mind soiling her very expensive looking dress in the damp conditions outside. That's the right attitude I reckon, the dress is for looking great on the day whatever the weather. Simon grew a beard in a week for the Sikh ceremony although it had some way to go to match some of the locals, as you can see.
Clare’s Thank-you Note Makes My Day
I received this E-mail from Clare today:-
"It has been nearly 3 years since we last met but
i just wanted to say that to this day we still watch our wedding DVD and
shed a tear! The DVD is amazing and brings back every moment of our special
day.
I was watching it just last week with my 17mth old daughter who was most
excited that mummy was on tv!
If you are still working when she gets married I would have no hesitation
in calling you 
Many thanks
Clare Brooks
Easthampstead Park
August 10th 2007"
I have told Clare that I'll be pleased to film her daughter's wedding, as long as they let me out the nursing home for a day.
Anouska & James at Denham and Hedsor House
Early March brought bright sunlight to St. Mary's church at Denham and the lovely Anouska braved a freezing wind to look radiant throughout. It was good to work again with Stuart Bebb, another of my recommended photographers. The reception was at the magnificent Hedsor House and my second visit there in a few months. The couple had worked in New York and several guests came over specially for the wedding. A special treat to make them feel at home was the "Statue" of Liberty greeting guests at the reception. The wedding continued its exotic flavour into the late evening with a Sri Lankan ceremony and traditional dancing.
Working With Photographers
Having filmed over a thousand weddings and actually lost count now I have only had problems with photographers on two occasions, both over ten years ago. I'll spare you the details but on both times I recall the brides complaining about the quality of their photographs. One of them was so obnoxious that I had a nosebleed! Try operating a camcorder among wedding guests while clutching a bloody handkerchief to your face, it's not ideal.
I now know many photographers quite well and it's always great to work with them again. They often tell me horror stories about videographers getting in every shot and generally making life difficult. Hopefully they are more at ease working with someone they know. At every other wedding I seem to meet a new photographer and I start by assuring them that I'll do my best to work around them. Invariably there are no conflicts, we end up having a good chat in the meal break and exchanging cards.
All I ask of the photographer is that my film doesn't end up like this one :- http://www.youtube.com/user/takyc#p/a/u/0/gnsAnPIX_E8. I can feel my nose twitching just watching it.
Awards
Photographers are lucky to have many awards available to them, they have several associations and institutes each showering awards down to local area levels. Awards are hard to come by for videographers because competitions to enter are so few and far between! Currently the Institute of Videography annual wedding category is the only relevant major award that I know of. With my last award in 2002 I'm well aware that it's about time I won something again. So this year c'mon you brides I'm looking to make the best ever films
For the record I was DVD Videographer of the Year 2002. This award was presented by Samron Technologies who at that time were the UK's premier DVD authoring studio. In the early days of DVD wedding videographers sent their tapes to Samron for them to make the DVD versions. It was particularly pleasing because they processed thousands of weddings each year and based the award on consistent performance rather than just one specially prepared one. A bit like winning the league title rather than the cup and I am still very proud of that one!
Then there was the APV Wedding Video of the Year 1999. Organised by the Association of Professional Videographers (now discontinued) there was tough competition at the time from some larger production houses. I have to admit this was as runner up but the winner was from somewhere up in the frozen North so I did claim an unofficial Southern Area title.
Wasing Park Wedding Fayre
I keep saying I'm not doing any more fayres and here I am doing two in a row. This week's was at Wasing Park near Aldermaston. It's an interesting and unusual blend of old and new at the centre of the 4,000 acre Wasing Estate, which was established in 1759 and has been under the stewardship of the same family since then. I'm their recommended videographer (naturally) and that's great because they have hundreds of weddings there and the fayre was the busiest one I've ever been to. My stand was in between two of my recommended photographers too. I met Neale James of Breathe Pictures at the Wasing Fayre last year and was impressed by his work and professional attitude. We got on well and have done several weddings together with more scheduled for this year. On the other side was Studio Rouge which is a real family affair headed up by Keith Thompson with assistant photographers daughter Lynsey and son Jamie. The brains behind all the talent is Keith's wife Debbie. Debbie and soon to be married Lynsey were running the stand. By chance Lynsey was also at my Saturday wedding in Denham together with her fiance Chris who is also a photographer - I'm losing count of them now. Lynsey appears determined not to have a video for her wedding despite my best selling pitch. Hey ho, you can't win them all.
I've worked with Keith Thompson many times over the years. The most memorable time was filming a wedding in Monaco along with Keith and young Jamie. The wedding was incredible and we had a very interesting, amusing and exciting few days. The story of the trip is worth a separate blog entry so watch this space. Anyway browing through their albums on display reminded how good Keith is, he really does produce stunning wedding images.
Phyllis Court Club Wedding Fayre
Yesterday I braved heavy rain, floods, potholes and sacrificed watching Spurs beat Everton to attend the Phyllis Court Club wedding fayre at Henley-on-Thames where I am the recommended videographer. If you don't know the venue it's an elegant building with expansive lawns fronting the river. Phyllis Court has a distinguished history which can be traced back to 1301, when the building known as Fillets Court was the Manor of Henley-on-Thames. The Club itself was formed in 1906 and still flourishes. The staff are very attentive at weddings and I'm sure that is due to the club background. They came to the rescue by managing to find a spare connecting lead for my Blu-ray player which I'd somehow managed to leave at home, doh!
I was surprised to see Rebecca & Sean who have already booked me to film their wedding at Phyllis Court in August. They assured me they were only looking at cakes and stationary and were not looking to change their videographer, much to my relief. Besides meeting prospective brides fayres are good for networking with other suppliers. It was nice to see Nicky the tiara lady at The Bay Tree who I already recommend and good to meet a very pleasant lady photographer on the next display stand called Lily Glover who I hope to work with sometime in the future.