Ingrid & Andy - Married!

I was drafted in to shoot Ingrid and Andy's wedding around 3 weeks before the big day - I'd met the best man, Harry, through a client shoot months before and he thought that having wedding photos would be a wonderful gift for the couple as their wedding present.

The adventure began as Danny (my second shooter for the day, recruited via the wonders of twitter!) and I drove down to Shrewsbury. Having never met or spoken to Ingrid or Andy due to the short notice of the wedding photography, I was very intrigued to see how the day would unfold! But as soon as I opened Ingrid's hotel room door, I was literally engulfed with love, warmth and kindness from these guys.

Y'all know I love my soundtracks for wedding blog posts, and for me this wedding was made especially for this song. This song is so beautiful, and it truly truly reflects the beauty, kindness and spirit in these people.



The day began at 10.30am, getting ready in the beautiful Prince Rupert Hotel...

Everybody seemed to be in a wonderful mood that day - even the passers by down below, this lady gave us a smile and a nod!



Ingrid's dress was absolutely stunning - she's a very simple kind of gal, but she fell in love with this sparkly gown. Needless to say, she looked out of this world!

One final check in the mirror before the toasts, and we're ready to leave for the Church...



The guests were in high spirits as they arrived, some real gigglers here!! :D Andy, the groom, was taking deep breaths as the time kept tickin'!



Before we left for the Church, I was chatting with Ingrid about how she met Andy and all their stories. Then she told me something so personal and sad, and it broke my heart to hear it.

Ingrid's mum had passed away while she was dating Andy, very very sadly. And strangely, within two weeks of her mum - Andy's dad passed away, too.
Whilst I was too busy tearing up at the thought of getting married without having a mum or dad there to watch and hug and laugh with, Ingrid explained just how much it had brought them together - and with Andy's mum and Ingrid's dad with them, they were there own little family.



They kept looking at each other without the other one realizing, it was adorable!





Everyone was so so proud and happy for them!





It was getting late and the darkness was coming in, so out came the confetti...




Throwing the bouquet! And then some sneaky photography teamwork from Danny and I! (the most photo journalistic approach you can get, ambush!)



It was a beauuuutifully misty night, and everyone hurried inside to the warm open fires for the rest of the evening...





Now for the speeches! Andy started off, and there wasn't a dry eye in the room as he spoke about his new beautiful wife and how lucky he was, and how proud their mum and dad would have been...



A hilarious best man's speech followed, needless to say I'm pretty sure Andy's heart sank at some of the things we learned!



A fun story about Andy -
Whilst walking in the town one day with Ingrid, a man stopped and asked him for the time. Obliging, Andy gave it to him - and 5minutes later realized his phone had been stolen! Pretty miserable as you would be, they boarded the bus home - only to spot the man who had asked him for the time (and stolen his phone) get on their bus!
He made a run for it, and Andy perused - chasing him down an alleyway and cornering him. Andy opened up the man's bag on to discover FIFTEEN mobile phones - all stolen! He spent the rest of the night dialing each and every owner, and personally delivering the mobile phones home to them. Ingrid, you married a hero!!

Let the party begin...!







And finally, pulling some shapes on the dance floor!! The DJ was from Ibiza and played some TUNES!









^^ This picture just about sums up the rest of the night! :D

Congratulations Ingrid and Andy, you truly truly and a wonderful couple and deserve all the happiness in the world!! You made me feel like family and long lost friends, enjoy your honeymoon in Cuba, and have a wonderful, long and love-filled life together!!

Larga vida a la pareja!! :D

Behind the Scenes: The Adventures of Emily in October

One of the stupidest and coldest things I have ever done in my life! But great fun, none-the-less!

Kane and I set off today for a photo day! Getting there proved to be the biggest obstacle, however. After about 30mins of prodding, shoving and dismantling of wheels, I had just about given up trying to fit my prop plane into my Beetle. Then I remembered I have a soft top roof which comes down, we strapped it in and away we flew.



Kane wanted to shoot some footage for his media coursework (a music video) and I lended myself + props + plane for the job. Here are some fun screenshots I took:







After Kane had done shooting, and I was FREEZING, I decided to proceed with the shot I had in mind. I'd come the day before and seen this bath which was covered in ice in the middle of the field. The thing that I liked most of all was the grass growing out of it, so I did a quick mock up when I got home based on this shot I took:




About to get in:



Then came the COLD!!!!



I got in 3 times. I always like to check my shots to see if they're coming out how I want them to, the shots with me to the back of the bath just looked odd, as there was icey soil at the bottom of the tub so I wasn't as submerged as I wanted to be.

Instead I switched it around and lay on my front. Here's the whole concept coming to life from mock up to final shot:



The worst thing was that afterwards, we had to drive home in the freezing cold with the ROOF DOWN on the car. I drove back in my dressing gown, much to the amusement of other drivers!

One thing I've learned since taking up photography, is that if you aren't willing to really put yourself out there to get a shot, then the shot is most likely not going to be very interesting. Sometimes you just have to man up and get in the tub.

Have a great evening everyone!

Rosie x

Claire and Steve - Married!

Something I think very carefully about when putting together these wedding blog posts is the music.
This song (To Build A Home by the Cinematic Orchestra) is one of the most special songs to me in all the world. And it reflects Steve and Claire to a T.


"There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust

This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where i feel at home

I built a home
For you,
For me"


As I was being driven to the train station by Steve's mum after the wedding, we were talking about love and failed relationships, and she said to me;

"You know, Steve thought he would never find The One - he'd been looking so hard for so long, and I remember after the last wedding we went to, he got so down. He thought it would never happen to him. A few weeks later Claire came along - isn't it funny how life works like that?"

The atmosphere was buzzing before the ceremony...

Claire looked gorgeous. Phenomenal. You couldn't have wiped the smile off her face if you tried! Her dad was absolutely glowing with pride. Steve looked like he was about to fall over.

Things started to get a little teary, my lens started to mist up...

Of course, bridesmaids are always around to lighten the mood! ;)

The speeches begun - and so did the waterworks! :) The amount of love contained within these families is unbelievable. So much love it was leaking everywhere!! :)

An unexpected twist to the best man's speech!

Cutting - wait, killing the cake :P ...

"This is a place that I call my home."

Love, Life and Being Okay with Being Alone

Love, Life and Being Okay with Being Alone

On this blog I write a whole ton about photography, a whole ton about photoshoots, weddings, editing and business ventures.

Since the events of early this year, I've not felt like being open about romantic relationships and it's been nice to take my online-heart of my sleeve for now, almost a year.



Between April '07 - Feb '10 I received SO many emails from you guys, telling me that my story had inspired you to give your own long distance relationships a go, that they had new hope in love, that they re-learned to appreciate their boyfriends, girlfriends, wives and husbands being so close by.

Reading those emails gave ME hope in return, some made me chuckle, some made me sad, but mostly and more than anything those emails gave me an overwhelming feeling of support and community that was a rock for me when I came back to the UK this February.



It's weird writing about this, and I hope I'm not crossing any lines in doing so. What I want to do with this blog post is to talk about the struggles that come with becoming single, and staying that way despite the loneliness. I've received a few emails from people, asking for my help, and how to cope;

"I try to be happy as I was before - (the girl with a heart made of stone, you know). But sometimes when I'm alone I just think about how much I miss him and I just want to see him for 5 seconds just to give him a hug and it brings me nearly to tears. Is there anything that I can do? What's wrong with him? He says, he misses me. But does he really? Rosie, I feel sad because I can't move my little self on and just ask him a simple question like, ''what do you feel after all?'' or ''Do you still think we can make it?'' Maybe I'm just afraid of his answer."

So I figured I'd share a blog post on my thoughts on love, relationships, guys and singledom (and how awesome it is)



For me, I have ALWAYS been a re-bounder. I've always had some guy to like, some romantic relationship brewing somewhere. But this time, I haven't.

There have been a few dates in my 10months of singledom, but more often than not, I've been alone, nothing brewing, and it's been a shock to my system. There have been times where I felt like I needed a boyfriend NOW, like I was going to be alone forever, that maybe I wasn't capable of being loved and other melodramatic, sweeping statements.

Luckily those moments were fleeting and in the darker times, but even when I had bounced back up there was this aching I felt for the first 7months, like I was missing something.

My life felt like it was waiting for a knight in shining amour to stroll into it, like Prince Charming would be sat waiting in the pub for me (hilarious story for another time, this actually happened).

Being Okay with Being Single

Step 1) This is going to sound cliched, silly and kinda rubbish. But music has helped me SO much. Listening to the words of people who've been there, felt that, done that, written a song about it - it made all my feelings okay.

I also kinda listened to them in healing order. Here's a selection of songs that really helped, in the order I listened to them, and a cut of the lyrics:




I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

And I won't be far from where you are if ever you should call
You meant more to me than anyone I ever loved at all
But you taught me how to trust myself and so I say to you
This is what I have to do




So it's Christmas time, it's been three years.
And someone else is knitting things for your ears.

I have come to learn I'll only see you
interrupting my dreams at night
And that's alright. And that's alright. And
that's alright. And that's alright.

I should tell you that you were my first love.

And it's alright. And it's alright. And it's alright.



Sometimes there's airplanes I can' t jump out
Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now
We are god of stories but please tell me
What there is to complain about
When you're happy like a fool
Let it take you over
When everything is out
You gotta take it in

Oh this has gotta be a good life
This has gotta be a good life
This could really be a good life, good life



And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up,
on my knees and out of luck,
I look up.
Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.



Do you know what it's like to fall on the floor
And cry your guts out 'til you got no more
Hey man now you're really living

Just saw the sun rise over the hill
Never used to give me much of a thrill
But hey man now i'm really living



It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again



And finally:



This video changed me alot. I love being alone, so much. When I was i the US I would randomly take off, storm out, headphones in and just walk. I remember once walking to a deserted parking lot, just lying on the ground, and looking up. I stayed there for about two hours, just being alone, finally. I craved it. I still do. I feel alive when I am alone. Introverted, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

This video gave me the jolt I needed to get rid of my inner urge for a relationship, my inner urge for love.
Because at the end of the day, the only person we're going to be dealing with for certain our entire lives is ourselves.



And forget "you need to love yourself before you can love someone else" - even that phrase itself still freaking talks about love like it is necessary for a person. It's not. I NEEDED to realize that.

Having someone love me, getting married, having kids and living happily ever after will never make me a complete person.

What makes me a complete person is loving being alive, and learning to embrace and celebrate every damn part of that, WHATEVER my circumstances are. I say hell yeah.

This is not a case of being an "independent woman", "not needing a man" to be happy and learning to love myself so that my next relationship can be healthy.

This is a case of mental survival against any odds life throws at me, and regardless of what happens in my love life to come, I want to be happy in LIFE.

And with that, I leave you my current song:





I kind of veered off point a little there and wrote a loooottt more than I planned on writing, but for those who have asked me for dating advice, here is the advice I swear by.

It is also why I am still single.
(but I see this as a good thing)

RULES:
1. I will not go out with a man who hasn't asked me out first.
2. I will not go out with a man who keeps me waiting by the phone.
3. I will not date a man who isn't sure he wants to date me.
4. I will not date a man who drinks or does drugs to an extent that makes me uncomfortable.
5. I will not date a man who makes me feel sexually undesirable.
6. I will not be with a man who's afraid to talk about our future.
7. I will not, under any circumstances, spend my precious time with a man who has already rejected me.
8. I will not date a man who is married.
9. I will not be with a man who is not clearly a good, kind, loving person.

I pinched all of these from this book:


He's Just Not That Into You

This is my bible of dating. Since February I have just about followed this to a T. And it's all good - learning to know when a guy just isn't into me has just about set me free!

When I was younger I would usually get pretty upset if a guy didn't want to date me, or gave me hot and cold signals, or didn't call (i sound like i'm writing the blurb haha), but now I have no problem with it - and I say 'more power to ya' to the blokes who don't want a serious relationship (but are a'okay with trying to get their wicked way!! :P Keyword here is 'trying').

It's cool, I don't mind at all - you're young, go enjoy your life and have fun. I'm not invested until I'm invested. No hard feelings. :o)

Happy days people - if you made it through to the end, I'm impressed!!

The Zips Under My Skin - before/after