Day: 14 December 2017

Manor by the Lake – Sarah & Kenny

Manor by the Lake – Sarah & Kenny

Manor by the Lake - Sarah & Kenny

Manor by the Lake Winter Wedding Photography

When writing these blogs and I’m thinking about the day, my overwhelming emotion is always “what an amazing day!”, because they nearly always are. But I’m aware that if I just write that every time it’s not very interesting, and also devalues the fact it really was an amazing day! But this really was an amazing day!

I first met Sarah and Kenny more than a year ago, and in what felt like no time at all we are sat back in their living room a fortnight before their day running through the final details!

I arrived at Manor by the Lake bright and early, and once again the weather gods were on my side, with clear skies and a gorgeous autumn sun low in the sky. First “job” was to get the settings photos. All the details that have so much time poured into them need capturing!

Manor by the Lake has a few different bride & groom prep options, and the great thing about them being close together is I can easily flick between them for the couple of hours leading up to the ceremony.

For their day, Sarah was getting ready in the Coach House with Kenny already suited and able to enjoy private access to the Rock Bar, which is basically an epic man-den, decked out in retro pop-culture memorabilia, and features a jukebox, pool, table football and most importantly a bar!

​The Coach house being a more traditional bridal prep space, and then once ready Sarah moved up to the bridal suit to get her dress on.

​The hope was to have the ceremony outside, a decision that sits with the registrar’s, some of which can at times be a little (how to be PC?) “un-motivated” to play ball. But as you won’t find a nicer November day, I was hopeful, and thankfully the lovely registrars for the day were only too happy to hold the ceremony outside!

This is good news for me. Just have click the highlight gallery button to see the ceremony. How gorgeous is all of it!

With Sarah and Kenny having no preference on the location for the confetti, I knew what would be best for my camera! So whilst they had a quiet moment together I gathered the guests into the sun with confetti in hand. A regular feature of “my” weddings now is to take a silly amount of confetti shots, facilitated by my awesome Sony A99ii’s ability to take an insane amount of photos per second. Which means I can also put together these nice little confetti slideshows!

Shooting weddings in the winter months are a double edged sword for a photographer. Technically you need high end equipment due to losing the sun early in the day, and most importantly you need to know what you are doing to maximise image quality and not miss a shot. I also resist flash where possible, especially for candid moments as it does tend to make people aware they are having their photo taken!

However the upside is that the daylight you do have, is often with a beautiful low sun which I love to work with. Thankfully the sun was still out when Sarah & Kenny joined me for just 10 minutes in the grounds of Manor by the Lake to snap some shots of them together. As iv said before, I love couples shoots. It’s one thing being able to capture nice images of things unfolding, but it’s another to be able to create an environment for stunning photos and place two people who have no experience having their photo taken within it! It’s a challenge way beyond an ability to use a camera well, it’s mostly about having a vision in your mind, and being able to translate that into a real image by putting the couple at ease, gain their trust, not make them feel awkward, and in my opinion to be quick!

I love this set of shots, and also love how it meant Sarah & Kenny were only away from their party for 10 minutes. It’s a day that flies by, don’t tolerate your photographer demanding hours from you!

The speeches came after the wedding breakfast, and before you know we are into the evening guests arriving and party time!

​A huge thank you to Sarah & Kenny for having me, and to Manor by the Lake for being so helpful.

It was a joy working with you both.

Lee

 

Testimonials

Absolutely Incredible

manor by the lake

We recently had the honour of Lee as our photographer at our wedding and he is absolutely incredible. Lee has been brilliant from start to finish. He is very professional, creative, efficient and extremely easy to get along with. It is clear he is very passionate about what he does.

On the day of our wedding Lee was very discreet and he captured every special moment. We are both overwhelmed with the images he has taken and we have received so many comments and compliments from friends and family. Words cannot describe how good Lee is. A picture paints a thousand words and one of our favourites is the photo using a smoke grenade. This is just one example of Lee’s creativity. Lee is a true gentleman, an absolute pleasure to work with and someone I would recommend to anyone without a moment’s hesitation. Lee, thank you for making our day complete and providing us with memories that we will both cherish for the rest of our lives.

Kenny & Sarah

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Photography As Unique As You Are

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I tell your wedding story naturally and creatively. No awkward poses, no saying cheese. My goal is for you to feel like you have a friend as your photographer, and by doing that I capture you at your most you.

I truly invest in my couples, spending time to understand what makes you tick. Even if you don’t really know what you want, in a brief chat over coffee I will understand how best to approach your day, resulting in you being relaxed and able to enjoy your wedding and resulting in a set of images tailored to you.

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Posted by Lee Hawley in Homepage Posts