my favourite family..

I honestly do not have the words to tell you how much I love this family.. or how proud both me and Pete are about being Freddie's God Parents.. how gorgeous is this little dude!!  Me and Zoe have been friends since I was 14 and I've watched each of their beautiful children grow and blossom.  This beautiful family are my family.. and I don't see them nearly enough..

You can read more about them over at Zoe's blog.. Just the 6 of us.. :)

joanna..

This lady rocks my world and understands my soul... come visit again soon Joanna..

chillaxin..

We've had a few precious days off recently amidst the chaos that comes with wedding season.  Last year we gave ourselves pretty much no breaks, working until late, wedding on Saturdays, working on Sundays.. your work is your life a lot of the time but I've learnt that switching off is just as important as switching on..

My favourite way of spending a Sunday is a car boot.  There hasn't been one for a while due to the crap weather so Sunday was a real treat for me.. my best buy EVER was my new Apollo bike for £20!!  I rode to work and back on it and I absolutely LOVE it!!...

A few weeks ago my good friend Zoe from Old White Shop came up for the weekend with her fella Nathan, my best buddy Daisy and baby Freddie.  We walked through the park, ate Nando's, saw monkeys at the Nature Centre and then all crashed on the couch to watch Toy Story 3.  I got cuddles from Freddie and Pete got to have Daisy on his shoulders for pretty much the whole weekend..

We share our lovely office with Shutterbox Films and last week Dawn (one half of Shutterbox) left her full time job and became a permanent fixture in the office! Wahooo! We celebrated with a piñata...

Having a few weekends off has meant actually being in our house long enough for Max to get comfy on one of our laps.  He's being super affectionate recently.. it makes me think he actually does miss us when we're away.. :(

We socialised! Like, sat with real people, eating and drinking and we weren't taking pictures (well, only instagram).  It's weird, you get so used to being at weddings you kind of forget that you need to do nice things too.  It was Marianne Taylor's birthday so we headed down to London and ate meatballs, drank fruit punch and sat in the sunshine.  Bliss.

...and last but not least I got to hang out with Pete all Sunday.  We walked around town, bought some food from the market and then headed home to sit on the park with the papers.  

I could definitely get used to this time off malarky.. 

the weaver women..

There are literally not enough words to explain how much I love these ladies. Kelty and Hannah are the two most genuine, wonderful, supportive and crazy talented people I know. I contacted Kelty about two years ago about designing my website and the journey to what I have today has been incredible. We have become firm friends over hundreds of emails and the day I get to meet this pair in the flesh, I know I'm going to squeeze them both so hard.  There is a part of The Weaver Women with me every day and a photo of them hangs proudly next to my desk at work to make sure that one day we book that flight to go visit.

So today I want to shout from the rooftops. You might know Kelty from the wonderful Steep Street, but now Kelty and her sister Hannah have joined creative forces and re-launched their design and photography work as The Weaver House. Oh and to top it off they've added an online vintage and handmade shop to their list of amazingness.. honestly, this duo are going to make me skint.. I want to buy everything!!

I love them dearly... and I just know you lot are going to love them too... their brand spanking new website has launched today and I actually want to live in it.. go take a peek..

THE WEAVER HOUSE

Here's just a little glimpse of what you'll find..

*swoon*

So, so, so proud of you ladies....

let go...

Another wedding weekend bites the dust.  We photographed three gorgeous couples this past week.  All wonderfully warm, funny, genuine people.. such happy, relaxed in love boys and girls.  That's when I really love this job.. when the stiffness, the tension, the regiment is replaced with laughter, eyes filled with twinkles, connections, lots of fun but most of all.. when couples let go.

The best weddings for me by far are when couples let go.  They've spent months and months planning every last detail, what goes where, what happens when, when this is going to happen, what they're going to wear, what they're going to say.. a never ending spreadsheet of timings and instructions for the day to be perfect. It has to be perfect. The week before the wedding there seems to be a million and one jobs to do.. everyone wants to lend a hand, everyone has an opinion.. you have no idea if it's all going to work..

..but it will work.  And on the day you guys are no longer the wedding planners.  You're no longer the Event organiser.  You're the gig goer.. the participant.. the guest.  For this day to truly be perfect.. you have to enjoy it which means letting go.

When a Bride and Groom let go.. everyone else let's go too.  I hear laughter, I see smiles, I see emotion.. words may be fumbled over in the ceremony but with it brings laughter, tension disappears.. allowing us to feel more..

When a Bride and Groom let go.. they'll really hug their guests, they'll really hug each other, she'll not worry about the bottom of her dress, they'll throw some crazy shapes on the dance floor, they'll have guests who don't know each other making friends, they won't worry about the speeches, they won't worry about their hair, they won't worry about the weather...... they won't worry about anything.

When a Bride and Groom let go they see everything.  They see smiley faces as they walk down the aisle.. they see the person they're about to marry, they see the importance of saying their vows in front of everyone they love, they see all their friends and family having fun, they see how much love everyone has for them, they see how perfect their day is.

Allow yourselves to let go and your day will be perfect.  Promise.

Had to illustrate this post with a sneak from my dear friend Jemima's wedding to her gorgeous soul mate Phil. I blubbed like a total baby as she walked down the aisle.. 

freddie

We arrived.. and we waited..

..and then... 

...we got to meet him.. all scrummy 10lb 7oz of him.. :)

..I love these three people to the moon and back..

zoe & nathan...

This is Zoe and her man Nathan. Zoe has been my best mate for a very long time... I met her when I was about 14 (she was 4 years older than me) and we have been best mates ever since. We haven't always been up the road from each other and a lot of times we might not have seen each other for weeks or even months.. but as soon as I get in her kitchen with a cup of tea it's like we saw each other only yesterday.
Zoe and Nathan have a new shop... Old White... born out of a love of restoring and painting old furniture. She followed her dream and made it a reality and for that I am so, so, so proud of her. I'm also stupidly proud of her little family.. Jacob, Ben and Daisy. I love those three kids as if they were my own and if you go back through my blog (to a lot of the earlier stuff).. you might find some piccies of them... well, definitely Miss Daisy.. :)
So on to Cornwall... Zoe and Nathan were in Padstow on a bit of a makeover challenge so me and Pete headed down for a few days for a mini break. So what better opportunity to do a couple shoot with them both... oh, and they're only getting married in Vegas next year and you know, being best mate an' all that... I kinda have to go and take some pictures... it's be down right rude not to... :)
I'm going to do a separate post about their shop soon but for now.. check out this sexy pair... man, I love you guys...