Family Photography - Meeting Henry

A Wonderful Life by HelenHoward Photography on Exposure

Rach and Karl: A Wedding at The Ashes Exclusive Use Venue in Staffordshire

They Tied the Knot: at The Ashes Exclusive Use Venue by HelenHoward Photography on Exposure

A Wedding at Lichfield Register Office

Love Will Find You by HelenHoward Photography on Exposure

Wedding Photography in Lichfield - The Old School House, Weeford

Caroline and Chris - Lichfield Wedding Photography

They Kissed Under The Light of A Thousand Stars by HelenHoward Photography on Exposure

EMMA CASE: Welcome Home Workshop 16th September 2014

A Photography Workshop

WELCOME HOME by HelenHoward Photography on Exposure

A Wedding at Breadsall Priory: Sarah and Steven said 'I Do'

A Wedding at Breadsall Priory, Near Derby

A Valentine's Day proposal to be followed by a wedding on Valentine's Day, an intimate ceremony with family and close friends.  Congratulations to Sarah and Steven, who were married this weekend at Breadsall Priory,  a wedding venue with stunning views, beautiful grounds and a warm cosy intimate feel,  right in the heart of Derbyshire.

Here's a sneak preview of the happy couple....

I love a wedding with lots of DIY creations and personal touches.  Sarah stamped her own personality on the day by creating her own alternative bridal bouquet, carefully created from pieces of jewellery and matching hair accessories, button holes and other fantastic creations.  I am looking forward to blogging this wedding properly in due course.

If you would like to view more of my work please visit my website here.

NEW START FOR Helen Howard Wedding and Portrait Photography - looking back on an amazing year - 2014!

 Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Lichfield, Staffordshire

Wedding Photography

I have been incredibly blessed over the past eight years to have been able to photograph weddings as my full time job.  If I take myself back to 2007 when I photographed my first wedding, I do not think I would have been able to believe, or allow myself to believe that I would be able to make this 'thing' that I loved so much, into a full time occupation and actually become a wedding Photographer.  

Every now and then I pinch myself, because I have had some uninspiring jobs in the past before I became a wedding photographer.  They were stressful, high pressured and unrewarded, my life as a Logistics Project Planner for an Automotive Company could not have been further from or more different to the beautiful and satisfying job of photographing weddings, newborn babies and families.  

I met 2015 with a website that was in desperate need of a redesign and having gone through the process of choosing images I liked,  I needed to look through my extensive portfolio and try to, quite simply, define who I am or who I want to be,  in terms of a 'wedding and portrait photographer'.  I hope that my new portfolio of wedding and portrait images does define my style, my approach and my storytelling abilities.  

I have a new website, a brand spanking new client site (powered and hosted by SmugMug) and a sparkly new, refreshing (regularly updated!!!) blog to share my real wedding posts, a few personal pictures and posts and maybe a little bit of rambling on my part about subjects that matter (to me), I also hope to include some useful inspiring information, although this will in no way compete with the incredible wedding blogs already out there inspiring thousands!  It is merely for those people who have either booked me to photograph their wedding, or those people who are thinking of booking me.  If you are thinking about booking, then please do get in touch, there are a handful of  dates available in 2015 and 2016 is looking to be an incredible year too.

Here are just a few of my favourite Wedding images from 2014......

If you would like to see more of my wedding photography work please visit my main website or get in touch with me

Hxx

Emma and Andrew's Wedding Photo's from The Bridge Hotel in Prestbury, Cheshire

The Bridge Hotel Wedding Photography

Back in September 2014, I photographed the beautiful wedding of Emma and Andrew at St Peter's Church, Prestbury, followed by a lovely wedding reception at The Bridge Hotel, Prestbury.  Emma has contributed to this post, so as well as enjoying the photographs of their day, I hope you will enjoy the tips and information she has provided, detailing how they planned such a lovely and beautiful wedding in the quaint village setting of Prestbury. 

Wedding photography coverage was from bridal preparation in the morning at home through until just after the wedding breakfast and speeches.  Details of such coverage can be found here on my main wedding photography website Helen Howard Photography  

Emma's dress was beautiful, really unusual and unique, she wanted something that was very 'her' - The dress was by Pronovias  from Maria Modes Bridal Wear, Macclesfield.

FLORIST/FLORAL DESIGNER: 

The White Room, Macclesfield. Julie was brilliant, a really talented florist with a great eye for detail. She suggested we had bay trees to line the pathway at the church, something I hadn't thought of but when I arrived they really set the scene. I decided upon cream and pale pink roses, without too much foliage.

ACCESSORIES: 
I wore my Grandmas vintage bracelet, she won it at a modelling competition in 1952. I didn't spend too much on my shoes as you couldn't see them; I bought them for £20 from BHS! I didn't wear a veil, my hairdresser and good friend (he was one of the ushers) Anthony Hall at Terence Paul Hairdressing in Wilmslow had done such a good job of my hair extensions I didn't want to cover them up!

Andy and I have been together for over 10 years. We have 2 children and he proposed about 5 years ago on Christmas Eve at Revolution Bar in Wilmslow (he has never been the romantic type!).  I have to say I was pretty

shocked as I genuinely thought he would never propose, but he had got all our friends to meet us at the bar on Xmas Eve, and he popped the question.

I was speechless.  He had also been secretly in touch with my best friend to check my ring size etc. My ring was custom made in a Tiffany style by Christopher Evans in Poynton.

I used Pintrest to create a wedding board full of ideas for the flowers, table decorations etc. I only went to one wedding fair, as they are all really very much the same, but there I did find my make up artist as she was giving out mini make up trials and  I also found my florist.   I kind of knew what I wanted it was just a case of getting on the internet to find it!

FAVOURS/TABLE DECORATIONS: 

My friend Sarah Healey runs a business called HuncaMunca, so she made me some bespoke handmade cupcake soaps for the girls and beer soap for the boys!(she mixed the beer fragrance with lemon essential oil, they smelt great!). 

My other friend, Katie Mitchell provided all the tabledecorations, I wanted candelabras draped with pearls, mirrors and lots of tealights. I couldn't have been happier with what both my friends did! Perfect Days Vintage

VENUE STYLING: 

The Bridge provided all the crockery, table linens etc. and set this up the night before so that Katie could dress the tables.

The pianist, Guy Porteous, was great. I did question whether I needed to spend money on a pianist whilst Andy and I had photographs taken with Helen, Guy played his Baby Grand on the terrace and  it created a lovely

atmosphere whilst guests were having a drink.   Seeing all our friends and family together was the best and most memorable thing, everyone had a great day. 

The DJ was also brilliant, we didn't was a cheesy DJ, and he played the right amount  of floor fillers and dance music.

Emma and Andrew picked the venue because of it's locality to the church (just next door) and she also mentioned  'The Bridge has lovely gardens with the River Bollin running through, perfect for photographs. The staff were also very attentive and the room wasn't too big nor too small'.

For Honeymoon:  Andy's dad has a villa in Spain so we left the kids with nana for a week and went and crashed there! It was some much needed child free relaxation!

ANY TIPS FOR BRIDES AND GROOMS PLANNING THEIR WEDDING?

I really stressed about the fact you are paying all these vendors a lot of money and you are relying on them to turn up on time and do a good job. I felt a little out of control that I couldn't see the venue dressed before I actually walked in after I had got married. However everything went to  plan exactly how I would have wanted it and I didn't need to stress at all, everyone did such an amazing job. So try and not worry too much, the people you choose will have loads of experience in what brides expect!

CAKE: 

My friend Becky Furber is a dab hand at making cakes so I commissioned her to make our gorgeous cake, a 3 tier chocolate/orange, Victoria sponge and lemon with little matching cupcakes for the kids.

I asked Emma if she would kindly review my wedding photography services and she said  'As soon as I had spoken to you I knew I was going to use you. I didn't bother contacting anyone else! I was really pleased that you came to do a pre-shoot, a lot of wedding photographers don't do this, but it was a great opportunity to meet you and tell you what we would like from the day...Andy is also a bit camera shy and wasn't keen on posing, but you made him feel relaxed! On the day Helen, you took some amazing photographs,  a lot were not posing photos,  but people laughing, dancing and talking naturally. We really struggled to choose the photos for the album as they were all fantastic!'

The Gallery of Images can be viewed here

Congratulations to Andrew and Emma and thank you for sharing and for choosing me to photograph your beautiful day.....xx

VENDORS LIST

Flowers - The White Room, Macclesfield www.whiteroomfloraldesign.co.uk
Table Décor - Perfect Days Vintage www.perfectdaysvintage.co.uk
Favours - HuncaMunka Soaps www.huncamunka.co.uk
Cake - Friend
Pianist - Guy Porteous  www.guyporteous.co.uk
Chair Covers - North West Chair Covers  http://www.chaircoversnorthwest.co.uk
Makeup - Emma Ferguson http://www.emmafergusonmakeup.com
Wedding Dress - Maria Modes http://www.mariamodes.com
DJ - Grant Niblett www.nocturnalrevolution.co.uk


BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES: BHS and shoes from Next.

GROOMS OUTFIT: A traditional morning suit hired from John Howard in
Macclesfield. Keith Patient there was absolutely fantastic.

GROOMSMENS OUTFITS: Hired from John Howard, Macclesfield