So naughty old me got a bit slack with my blogging again at the tail end of 2011. I usually do a big post to sum up the year in pictures however with the crazy lead up to the festive season my good intentions got shunned! I am going to briefly do a few shots of some of the years highlights however on a more personal level. Anyone reading my blog gets bombarded by wedding pictures so I thought I would provide you with something different on the photo front.

Right at the beginning of last year I had a email from the BBC about one of my shots being published in a book they were bringing out. I had shot some horses that my mum bought from Adam (off of Adams Farm – Countryfile) in the snow last Winter and they were interested in publishing the shot in the new book he was bringing out. Here is what the book looks likeThis is how my little credit appears inside the book

It was so exciting to see my picture in a book. Its always amazing having any work published but I think having a “non wedding” pic in a BOOK was pretty off the scale for me! Here is the picture that got published over a double page spread!

So now onto February. My good friends Donna & George got married in March 2010 and got straight on the case with starting a family. February 2011 bought the happy and safe arrival of Rhys, their beautiful little boy. Myself and Donna met years ago when we both worked in Tesco’s whilst we were students. Donna went up North (Sheffield to be precise) to study and ended up staying there. I think everything turned out pretty well though as she met her husband and bought this little man into the world. Congrats guys couldn’t be happier for you. So now onto March. I do quite a bit of work for a brewery in Bedford called Wells & Young’s. I have worked with them for years and have to say love visiting the brewery. They are a family run business and all the staff are lovely, friendly people. They approached me last year to talk about a big campaign they were doing for Bombardier Beer. To accompany the campaign they were doing a TV advert along with a load of online stuff! I was asked to be their stills photographer on set. I was so excited about the whole concept however to top everything off they would be having Rik Mayall as “The Bombardier” (the character they had generated for the ad’s). Working on set with everyone and doing something totally different was amazing and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity. Here are some shots from the 6 days shooting. So from there lots of my images were used as part of the campaign and in the advertising. Best of all though one of my shots got made into a life size standee which went out to various businesses, supermarkets, pubs etc. You can see the shot below. I have a standee that takes pride of place in my studio (although my clients have said it looks like student digs rather than a studio), fine by me! By the way if you want to see the full ad click here.So we move onto April. This was by far the best month EVER for me. Not only did work take me out to THE BIG APPLE  to shoot a engagement shoot but Daz bought me a cupcake from the Vanilla Bakery (you have to be a “Sex & the city” fan to get that). It wasn’t just any old cupcake though, it had two little words piped on the top………….”MARRY ME”? Yes as most of you know I got engaged in April. It was so exciting to spend time their with Daz and also to agree to spend the rest of my life with my soul mate. Here are a few shots from the shoot and myself and Daz about town in NEW YORK CITY baby!!!!!!Daz is incredibly patient with me and the time that I dedicate to the business, for this I am eternally grateful! Thank you so much Daz, I love you heaps and heaps!! xxMay saw me turn 30, eeeeeeeeeeeeek not something i tend to shout about but hey if any of you wanted to know bad enough I am sure you would find out. Daz organised a fab party for me at our local village hall where we did the theme of hats, wigs and glasses. We laid on a hog roast and music and all my friends traveled far and wide to be there. Thanks guys your the best!! Here is a pic of myself and Daz in our matching glasses (yep sad I know). If you wanna check out all the craziness that went on at my birthday party here are the pics on my facebook page.

And so to June. My oldest longest best friend got hitched in June and what an amazing day it was! Myself and Bex both grew up in Clophill and were inseparable when we were young. Its always special to have someone in your life that you go way back with. There are just some people in life that you know will never let you down and Bex is one of them. To mark how much she means to me I wrote a poem that I red as a speech on her wedding day. I was pretty nervous but it was something I really wanted to do for her. Bex and Chris looked wonderful on their wedding day. Just a brief thank you to my friend Julie for doing her photography and doing an amazing job. Here is a shot of them on their big day. Myself and Daz with our great friends Helen & Trampus (well Sean if we are being proper), who are getting married in a few months. I seriously can’t wait!!!!!! x

Next in line is July. You may remember me posting some pics of a gorgeous little chappie called NOAH. I shot Jo and Lee’s wedding way back when in 2009 (i think, man where has the time gone). When traveling up to their wedding in Sheffield I managed to blow up my Fiat Punto (yes I was racing the Sat Nav). After phoning Daz in tears he agreed to get the train up to meet me so he could help me get everything sorted and recovery back to Bedfordshire. So he lept on the train in flip flops and a back pack and turned up at the wedding to take my stuff onto the travel lodge where i was staying. Jo & Lee were well into their evening celebrations and bouncing around on the dance floor. They bowled over to Daz and said “dude get a drink and stay and party with us”. That was the beginning of the friendship and since then we have been on holidays together, done a few Glastonbury’s, weekends away, seen a ridiculous amount of bands and now Lee is Daz’s best man at our wedding. Lastly Daz was asked to be Noah’s godfather which is such a honor. Here are some pics of the wee man (although he is totally different now).

AUGUST!! It was another wedding, not a job either, more good friends. Zoe and Pete got hitched in a cute little church in Marston followed by a laid back reception at a pub. Myself and Zoe don’t go way way back like Bex however I consider her a wonderful friend. The best way to sum her up is you could be having the most rubbish day and feeling really low and Zoe will put a smile on your face. Whenever I spend time with her its constant laughter and like they say “its the best medicine”. I had a great time being bridesmaid at their wedding and managed to steal a few pics of them with their camper van! Couldn’t resist putting a shot up of the three musketeers!

September consisted of me coming off the social radar and getting my head down for some serious weddings. September 2011 was my busiest month of the year with a total of 5 weddings, lots of kids shoots and commercial jobs. I am not going to post any pics up for this month however I am going to say a massive THANK YOU to all my lovely clients. My couples are just wonderful, being a part of their day is such a honor and giving them the everlasting memory of it is greater still. So many of my couples go onto have babies and return for bump shoots, baby shoots and then the kids as they grow up. It is so lovely to meet people and then know I will go on to capture their lives and growing families. I do have the best job in the world and its because you all book me that I can keep going on my own journey.

October was time for a break! We jetted off to Spain with our good friends James & Nat. This is another couple whose wedding I shot many moons ago and they have since became really good friends. That’s the great thing about this job, you get to meet lovely people and build friendships for life. Its not so great though when your doing your wedding list (hehe). Anyway a certain someone (Natalie yes you) has been on at me to put some pics on facebook from the holiday. I dont know about any of the other photographers but i find it so hard to find time to do things with personal pics, they always end up taking a back seat to my work. So as promised Nat here are a few personal pics from the holiday. It was a massive amount of fun including lots of San Gria consumption, playing a card game called cheat, silly beach games and getting arrested…………..yes that’s another story!

November I was Miss Nixon running photography club! I work with Pilgrims School in Bedford a lot and this year I started to run a after school club. I devised a little curriculum for the children having different themes each week. We did various things such as portraits, landscapes, pet week (Vince came into School) and even did underwater photography. It is so much fun working with the children however I get a little sad at the end of it as I get so attached to them. Here is the class of 2011.December, can you believe it was just last month. Christmas feels like yonks ago! Anyway I did a beautiful shoot of Stevens Cottage at Christmas but have left all the shots at home so you will have to use your imagination for logs burning, warm mince pies & cream, knitted decorations, Christmas bunting, mulled wine and little treasures hanging off every beam. Not to mention the pooch Vinster in his Christmas antlers! Its been a amazing year 2011 and sorry again for the post being a bit late. I hope 2012 brings everyone lots of health, happiness and laughter. Lots of love xxx

Well I know I do this every single year but yet again my blog has been totally neglected! You find yourself in quite a viscous circle sometimes as you are shooting lots with loads of lovely things you can possibly blog but just dont seem to find the time. We are approaching the end of the season now and the work seems to kick in even more. With super amounts of editing lined up and album designs booking its hard to know where to start. I have had a few brides lately asking if i am going to blog their weddings but its tricky to find time with all the above stacked up.

However I thought my blog deserved a bit of picture action, so I have a nice light hearted fun wedding to post. I haven’t gone mad with the images so its just a few of my favorites from the day. A totally cute couple Liam & Hayley who had a small civil ceremony at Latimer Place in Chesham. The sun was shining and the wind was pretty fierce but it stayed dry and everyone got out in the gardens for yummy fish and chip canapes (my favorite by the way). Liam had some family over from Oz so it was the perfect oppurtunity to have a catch up and leap around quite literally with his bro!

When Liam and Hayley came back for their viewing they bought me a little pressie (soooooooooo sweet). It was a patchwork Owl Cushion for the sofa in my studio. It was so thoughtful and kind of them and takes pride position with my Mr & Mrs Cushion! Should you want to buy yourself one they can be found here.

Awwwww you gotta love a first kiss!I said jump in the air (as a joke) and they did, fair playI promise to blog some more fabulous weddings next week! x

Oh and by the way if you need some sunshine in your life check out Hayley & Liam’s Engagement shoot!

Well I have been thinking for a while now I never did a blog post about our trip to New York back in April. I am sure I am not the only one that has been thinking a great deal about the city today. I think we can probably all say we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard the devastating news that a plain had struck one of the twin towers. It was a devastating moment and one that almost didn’t feel real. As the events un folded in the news of that fateful day I think the whole world went into complete shock at the reality of what had just happened.

New York is a beautiful city and one that will always be close to myself and Daz’s hearts as it is where we got engaged. I felt today I wanted to post some pictures to say NEW YORK we are thinking of you and all the people that tragically lost their lives xx

This was my first time ever shooting at Luton Hoo and WOW what a venue! There are very few venues locally I haven’t shot at so its always quite exciting to explore somewhere new.
Karen got ready at Luton Hoo and when I saw her dress and fabulous Benjamin Adams shoes it was inevitable this girl was going to look gorgeous! Karen is one of these girls that could throw a bin bag on and look stunning and yet she is so unaware of her inner and outer beauty.
Lots of people now try and make their wedding very quirky and different (which is great by the way) but sometimes its lovely to do a traditional white wedding. Lots of cream roses, a classic fitting dress and elegant ivory details. This day had all the classic white wedding charm and it looked beautiful. Another thing myself and Karen were ridiculously excited about was her Peggy Porschen Cake. I met Peggy briefly years ago and its safe to say I have been a bit of a stalker since. When Karen told me she was having a Peggy Porschen Cake (yes I’m going to name drop again) we both agreed she is cake royalty, I think Paul thought we had gone mad. Peggy runs classes to which I would definitely love to do one day so I can graduate from the Peggy Porschen Academy.
Anyway back to the wedding…….the sun shone on us all day (meaning May turned out to be a scorcher for all my brides) which is always nice. With Peroni’s for the boys and champers for the girls it was a lovely chilled afternoon for the guests who got to enjoy Luton Hoo grounds. When going in for the breakfast Karen had surprised Paul with some singing waiters (the company name escapes me but il post it up once I know). I have never seen these before and wasn’t sure what I would make of it. Welllllllllll, its was FAB!!!! The look on all the guests faces when they thought a “full of himself” chef was making some big speech was priceless and then breaking into song, even more priceless. All round a fab, day despite it making me wish I could sing opera. Thanks for having me Karen & Paul. xx

Celia & Steve, what can I say! Lovely people, warm, friendly and very welcoming!! I met Celia a while back through a networking group and was chuffed to bits when they came over to meet me and decided to go ahead and book! Their wedding took place at Caswell House in Brize Norton and they had an outdoor ceremony due to the sunshine beaming on us! Lots of people had made a hell of a trip to the wedding from Steve’s homeland, New Zealand.

I managed to really blub during this wedding as the couple were surprised with a live link up via Skype. There were a few family members that sadly couldn’t make it due to a new arrival so why not make an appearance via the web! It was a fabulous moment and although they say never rely on technology, it worked really well. Lovely day guys, THANK YOU! xx

I am going to try “less is more”, no big explanation as to who what where and when just clean and simple.

Amy & Jamie Engagement Shoot

I love this next shot!















Amy & Jamie wearing the strip of the team that he plays for.

Back in April myself and Daz went out to New York where i was doing a pre-wedding shoot for some lovely clients Laura & Martin. New York is one of their favorite places in the world so we managed to arrange a trip all together out there so they could use the fabulous city as a back drop for their shoot.

It was a jam packed day where we dashed around the city making the most of dry weather and some nice sunshine. Lucky we chose the day we did as the following days it rained! We met and started the shoot at Grand Central Station. The we headed to the downtown area where we had a pitt stop at the amazing Pizzeria Lombardi’s. People are mad for these pizzas queuing up (or should i say joining the line) right around the block. I can totally see why it was so popular as they were delicious and certainly gave me energy to shoot all day long!

After this we headed down through Soho and then across to Brooklyn. We had to choose our locations and just stick with a few as there was no way we could fit everything in. It was great fun to work somewhere different and get some amazing pictures in a truly amazing city!

As you can see I am still blogging last years weddings…………..sorry!!!! It has been hard hooking up with my brides and grooms and I wanted them to see their pics before I started getting blog happy with everything.

Toni & Adam got married at the BEAUTIFUL Blenheim Palace. I had visited the venue with them a few months prior to the wedding and was so excited about going back there to shoot their Christmas themed winter wedding. As some of you may know from looking at the date above the 18th December was when good old blighty had enough snow for us to host the Winter Olympics. I have the lovely Sally Elvin shoot the wedding with me and we battled the snow covered roads in the morning to make it to the venue in Woodstock, Oxfordshire (which was badly hit). We made it there just half an hour late but it was already dawning on us how we would get home again……..or should I say to London where we were due to shoot my last wedding of the year the following day.

I got some gorgeous shots of Toni getting ready at The Bear hotel. Toni had chose a Maggie Soterro dress which complimented her slim figure beautifully. In the room was Toni and Adam’s staffie dog called Gucci (I am a sucker for dogs so couldn’t resist some pictures). Unfortunately she was not alloved to the palace however still managed to get involved in the day with all the getting ready shenanigans.

Myself and Sally headed to Blenheim around 2.30pm. The couple were planning to get married at 1.30pm however the snow was causing lots of problems for guests getting to the venue. The couple decided to push the wedding back as really wanted as many people to be there as possible. Little did they know it would end up being 5.30pm until they got married (after 5.45pm it is not legal) so to say “cutting it fine” was an understatement. The registrars got there just in the nic of time and the couple were married in a stunning and emotional ceremony.

It was a lovely atmosphere with the snow falling outside and all the partying going on in the palace in the warm. The speeches were brilliant especially when Toni’s Dad surprised her by pulling out her cabbage patch kid called “Kenny”. Toni had no idea that her parents had kept it so it was a lovely moment when she got her hands on him. I had a cabbage patch kid, as I am sure did half the female gusts there that were born in the 80′s. Everyone was cooing at Kenny!!!

There was lots of celebrating and dancing going on by the time myself and Sally left. We ended up staying in Woodstock that evening and due to the help of Gary and Richard from Gorgeous Films we got the last two rooms left in the town. Myself and Sally had to stay in a double bed despite only having met once. We had the clothes we stood up in and just enough charged gear to get me through the next day. When people come and meet me they often ask what I would do if i was ill or the weather was bad. I always say it would take a lot to keep me from shooting a wedding, as this experience proved! We made some lovely friends that day, the bride and groom and the guys from Gorgeous films. Its a day I wont forget in a hurry thats for sure!!

Eeeeeeeeeeek This wedding was shot back in October……….seriously where is the time going? I am going to have to get on a mental blogging vibe if I intend to get everything blogged in time for  Christmas.

Ok – so Jess & Tom got married at the beautiful church in Olney followed by a reception at The Swan Hotel in Bedford. Jess has picked a deep purple colour theme for the wedding which went really well with the Autumn colours. The weather did hold out and although it was threatening to rain when we came out the church, actually all we got was a lovely dramatic sky and a few specs of rain. I think English brides are so used to our dia weather and know that natural light makes for great pics, so are happy to get out in all terains.

Jess is a school teacher and all of her class came along to the church and sang whilst the couple signed the register. It was so sweet and all the guests were in awe of them belting out their little hymns. All in all it was a great day, one which I was happy to be a part of. With Jess and Tom off on their honeymoon tomorrow, hopefully they will manage to get a sneak peak on the post before departing. Bon Voyage guys! x

I used to make these things all the time as a kid!I love this shot of Jess – it looks more like Barbados than Olney….