WEDDING Cover shoot with Rock n Roll Bride

Last week WEDDING shot their latest set of covers for the rest of the year and next year. Catherine, the editor and myself art directed the shoot and Catherine invited Kat aka Rock n Roll Bride to blog about behind the scenes at the shoot... To capture it all I took a whole bunch of behind the scenes shots for Kat and thought I'd share a bit of the WEDDING magazine magic with you...

For every shoot we tend to shoot about 8 dresses on 4 different models but to achieve those results Claire Ridley, the fashion stylist sources hundreds* of dresses to pick from!
(* ok maybe nt hundreds but there were certainly a lot!!)

The uber talented Mary Jane Vaughan created some stunning bouquets and hairpieces for the shoot. This one on our model Ruth was my favourite... pink ribbon, lilly of the valley with pale pink ranunculus.

Kat captured some of her own photos on the shoot... I think the time it all takes is an eye opener- as Kat said on her blog
"The day was a long but awesome one. I had such fun hanging out with everyone and they really did make me feel like part of the family. I was honoured to have been asked by Catherine to attend, and I’m loving the fact that Wedding Magazine are realising the influence and power of wedding blogs and that they are keen to work closely with us. It’s a very exciting time in this industry of ours, and I’m over the flipping moon to be a part of it."

Kat tweeted all about the shoot and it was mad to see how quickly she got hundreds of replies!

Everyone seemed to love the styling and models!



Model Kirstie looked perfect with her plait... it might not look ground breaking but at WEDDING we were trying to move the styling forward to reflect trends whilst still appealing to lots of readers

The lovely Rose checks her emails whilst waiting for the next shot... Don't you just love iphones!

Rose is the first model we've used with very short hair which goes to show you dont have to have long hair to be a stunning bride.

Polly is actually getting married in June, we've photographed her before and she is on our cover in the next June July issue- which by coincidence is the same month she's getting married!

Kat decided she wanted to create alternative covers... The models had a great sense of humour


Trick of the trade... spot the tissue stuffed in the side of the dress to make it fit! Severin of Hepburn collection creating yet another stunning hairstyle. He was an absolute star, styling so many girls so quickly!

All in all we had a great day. The results were amazing - Look out for the cover girls over the next year or so! To read more of Kats behind the scenes blog- click here

MPA so far...

I am currently working on my MPA and selecting images is hard! Harder than I thought it would be, however yesterday with the help of my fantastic mentor Kevin Pengelly, I have created a shortlist. I have to select the images myself so no need to tell me your favourites I just wanted to share some of my favourite images with you. Once I make my final selection I will show you all...


















I decided to make the whole panel black and white, as I love dense blacks and think it sits together beautifully. Enjoy!

WEDDING WEDNESDAY - One Take Media

I must admit when we were getting married, we were undecided on whether to have a videographer. Our first thoughts were, we love photos but we'll never watch the video. How wrong we were! I can't quite remember how I discovered One take media, but on having a search for videographers I stumbled across them. They are fairly new to the wedding industry but I was impressed with what they had to offer.

In the end they created a fantastically edited video with a great short version to share with all our friends. Everything about it summed the day up and I am not sure how many times we have watched it... definitely into the hundreds now!

Anyway for this week's wedding wednesday I will let James tell you a bit more about One Take Media... and for any of my clients they are offering a fantastic discount. And the great news is the offer has no expiry date, so whenever you are getting hitched, if you book me you can take advantage of the fab offer.

Over to James...

Hello! Thanks for reading and considering wedding videography. A video, like your wedding photos, will last more than a lifetime. It will be watched and enjoyed by you and your family and friends for years. The best wedding videos are those that you can put on at any time, sit back, relax and enjoy in exactly the same way as your favourite Hollywood blockbuster. Below are a few tips to help you on your way to finding a wedding videographer that can provide you with that unique memory of your wedding day. I hope it helps!

Decide on the style you are after – Documentary or Cinematic

A documentary style (often referred to as reportage) will be a natural story of the day, generally without any special effects. A cinematic style involves the use of many effects such as music, transitions, slow motion and often provides a more convoluted film structure to enhance the storytelling. Inevitably this style is generally the most expensive as it involves much more time in post production.

For our videos we tend to have a mixture of both styles. The ceremony & speeches we shoot and edit in a documentary style, but all the other bits (opening titles, arrival of guests, reception dancing etc) are all edited in a more creative cinematic style.

Ask Your Friends

Try and get recommendations from you friends. If possible ask if you can watch their DVD! Also ask your photographer as they will have probably worked with numerous videographers and will be able to give you some suggestions depending on the style you are after and your budget.

Don’t go for ‘budget’ companies

Don't go for a company just because they're cheap. There are some out there who will charge just a couple of hundred pounds, but there is of course a reason for this, whether it is because they use very basic equipment, or due to the fact that they offer little in the way of post production.

If your budget is limited then I would suggest going for a better company, but just get the cheaper package option - for example go for a package that will just capture the ceremony

Go for a two camera package

A movie that cuts between different angles will always make for a more stimulating viewing experience.

Make sure they have a good audio set up

Good audio quality is essential for a wedding video. Most videographers will use a mix of both directional shotgun mics (used for background noise & messages from guests) and personal mics (used during the ceremony, & sometimes during speeches). Without a personal mic on you and the other key people speaking throughout the day, the audio quality is guaranteed to suffer.

One take media is run by myself, James and my partner Mark. We offer a very natural style of videography, with no staged shots and as little interference as possible. We think this is the best method of shooting, as it makes for an authentic finished movie. In order to enhance the viewing experience, we do put a lot of work into the post production of all our videos, with creative cinematic elements in the form of tasteful special effects, music and suitable transitions between scenes. Our ultimate aim is to create films that are emotional, authentic and above all extremely enjoyable to watch!

Julia & Ian Highlights from James Bishop on Vimeo.

Some of my favourites - the service

This is the time of year I like to look back at my favourite shots so I can create new sample albums. So each week I'm going to bring you a collection of wedding photography. This week it's "the service"...

The light in Mel and Charlie's church was stunning. This shot has been been entered into a recent photography competition so fingers crossed everyone else loves it as much as we do!

Lewis chose his own spot to watch the proceedings.

Martin waits for Anita to arrive. I love old churches, this one was tiny, set in the countryside of Yorkshire.

This shot is one of my all time favourites and came 3rd a photography of the year competition last year. The Barn were Melissa and Anthony got married had the most amazing lighting system, meaning the low light was easy to manipulate and highlight the two of them. No photoshop required tricks, just careful camera exposure

I adore this moment, Jenny looks over the moon


Nervous moment, waiting for his stunning wife Ellie to make her entrance

Lee and Lucy were so natural in the church, holding hands or with their arms around each other for most of the service. The great news is we will be shooting Lee's sister Emma's wedding there later this year

Lee did get quite emotional

Lucy's sister sang as a surprise at the end of their wedding... which was very emotional and she truly has the most amazing voice.

Kirsty and her hubby Stephen got married in the tiniest treehouse in Scotland overlooking Loch Goil. It was stunning...

But when Kirsty got emotional during her vows, there wasn't a dry eye in the treehouse

In reality that is just a tiny selection of my favourite shots. I hope you enjoyed them so far!

A week of blogs...

This week has been mental... we have literally been everywhere!

We started the week on WEDDING IDEAS blog with the lovely Danielle and James (with William) engagement shoot with a difference - click here to see it!

Then Rock my Wedding blogged about our actual wedding over four days along with our video too! It started with the sneak peek last saturday then followed up on Wednesday and Thursday, with the video on Friday. We had so many wonderful comments, so thank you to Rebecca, Charlotte and Adam again!

ALSO on Wednesday the super cute Louise of Whimsical wonderland weddings blogged about Mel and Charlie's wedding. Her words were so lovely, she's bookmarked the wedding for future reference- its certainly a bright lovely wedding! Read what she said and the huge selection of photos she blogged here

Then yesterday US blog WEDBITS written in association with DESSY blogged about our fabulous Dominion Theatre wedding - see more here

Last but not least Louise of Whimsical wonderland weddings named Mel (from the Welsh wedding) as part of her beautiful brides.

I have no doubt there will be more great press to come...


(Mel "beautiful bride" featured on Whimsical wonderland weddings)!

WEDDING WEDNESDAY- Bow Occasions

The second in our weekly Wedding Wednesday shout outs today. This one is very special, as its from the wonderful planner Louise, at Bow Occasions, whose wedding Ian and I will be shooting next year. Louise is actually offering a great discount on future bookings too!

Louise is giving her tip on planning your big day- over to Louise:

Firstly congratulations on your engagement. This is an extremely fun and exciting time and one which should be enjoyed and cherished. Unfortunately, the wedding planning process can easily be overshadowed with stress, be it from family pressures, finances or not knowing where to start.

So to help you along the way, I have put together some tips for those at the very early stages of the wedding planning process.

1. Budget

There are so many fun parts of planning a wedding, from choosing the dress to cake tastings but there’s no point starting these without having an idea of the budget. After all, you don’t want to find your dream venue or dress only to then realise it doesn’t work financially.

I can tell you that this is probably going to be one of the toughest parts of planning your wedding so it’s worth getting it out of the way early. Then the fun begins…

2. Guest list

Establishing a rough guest list works hand in hand with establishing your budget… after all, the more guests, the more you may need to budget. This is also a good thing to have when venue searching… You don’t want to find your dream venue and then realise that it won’t be big enough to accommodate your guests.

3. Research

Research, research, research! Find out what YOU love. Find out what your FIANCE loves. Write down what is important to you and what isn’t. Look though magazines and blogs and save the ideas you love. Put them in a safe place, be it a scrapbook or a folder on your computer. It is so important to remember that this wedding is about you and your fiancé. Your friends and family will have opinions but be true to yourself, if you don’t want a wedding cake, don’t have one. Don’t want a three course meal then don’t have one.

Optional: Hire a wedding planner

You may be under the impression that wedding planners are only for the rich and famous – wrong. Of course, wedding planners aren’t for everyone but hiring a wedding planner to assist with the whole planning process or even particular areas, is becoming more and more common. For example, Wedding Day Coordination is a great package that enables the bride and groom to relax on their wedding day. Your Wedding Planner will be there putting the finishing touches into place and will be the first port of call for suppliers, ensuring you can enjoy the day without any stress or worry.

About Bow Occasions

Bow Occasions is the brand name for Louise Angus, a wedding planner and event planner based in Kent. Bow Occasions specialises in creating unique and individual weddings and events. Louise loves weddings that are a little bit different, a bit quirky and fun.

From Full Wedding Planning & Design to Partial Planning to Wedding Day Coordination, Bow Occasions provides a wide range of wedding planning services. Bow Occasions is here to provide you with as much or as little help as you require by tailoring our wedding and event planning services to meet your needs.

Although based in Kent, Bow Occasions also covers London, Essex, Sussex and Surrey and is more than happy to travel further afield.

Special Offer

Bow Occasions is offering 10% off any wedding planning packages between now and 30^th April. Just quote ‘modernphotographic’ when enquiring.

Contact details

Website: www.bow-occasions.co.uk

Blog: www.bow-occasions.co.uk/blog

Email: hello@ bow-occasions.co.uk

Twitter: twitter.com/bowoccasions

Facebook: facebook.com/bowoccasions

The lovely Louise wrote a blog about us last year... click here to see it!