Somerset Wedding Photography, Bristol Wedding Photographer, Caroline Pilling Photography

Yesterday I photographed my first wedding of 2010! It seems like ages since my last wedding back in November but I have to say I’ve been glad for the much needed break. And it meant that I came to Shelley & Mark’s wedding feeling refreshed and raring to go! Lovely to start the year off with a weekday wedding, and what better location than at the wonderful Halswell House in Goathurst Somerset.

I started my coverage of the wedding with Shelley in the master suite where she was having her make-up done by Jess from Buff Urban Day Spa in Taunton. It’s nice when you bump into other wedding suppliers again – I last worked at a wedding with Jess back in October 2008 at Maunsel House and have just recommended her to one of my other brides getting married there this year!

Because everything was taking place at Halswell House, I was able to nip downstairs and get some photographs of the boys getting ready too. I think Mark was far more nervous about the wedding than Shelley was – although his best men Phil & Dai were doing a great job of keeping him distracted!

The ceremony took place upstairs in the ballroom which is a wonderful place for photographs – the light was lovely coming in from the huge windows. Shelley was a little bit emotional as she made her entrance – I think the nerves had finally gotten to her too. Although she wasn’t the only one as bridesmaid Steph got quite teary too! But despite the tears she still managed to do a great job of her reading. Shelley and Mark had personalised their vows which made for quite a special ceremony for everyone.

After the formalities were over everyone headed downstairs for a few drinks and nibbles. Despite the glorious sunshine and blue skies it was still bitterly cold outside and no-one really wanted to brave it! I did manage to sneak Shelley and Mark away for a while and we ventured outside in the cold to get some lovely portraits of the two of them around the house, by the lake and with some seasonal snowdrops.

If you were a guest at Shelley & Mark’s wedding you can register to see the full picture gallery (after the bride and groom have seen them first!) by clicking HERE.

Suppliers: Dress: The Bridal Chest, Eltham, London (dress by San Patrick); Accessories: Tiara/hair pins: Adelia Rose; Cake: homemade/Waitrose; Florist: Bridal & bridesmaid bouquets & buttonholes: Blooming Gorgeous, House flowers: Floral Theatre; Stationery: Mandalay; Caterer: Stickydate; Make-up: Jess at Buff Urban Day Spa, Taunton.

During a quiet spell of the wedding fair on Sunday I went for a wander around the rest of Halswell House to check out some of the other vendors and upstairs I came across Lucy Hayes and her range of beautiful veils. These veils were simply gorgeous! Based in Sherborne, Dorset, Lucy personally designs and makes unique bridal veils from the finest French or English lace. Every veil is custom made and exclusively designed with the requirements of the individual bride in mind. I would love to photograph brides in any one of these designs! You can contact Lucy on 01935 389400 or email lucy@lucyhayesbridalveils.co.uk.

Also exhibiting at Halswell House’s wedding fair was Vicky from Vintage Tea Sets. I was very excited to meet Vicky and have a good look at some of her lovely tea set pieces as I’ve been following her recent tweets about how her cake stands were used at the Alice in Wonderland after premiere party the other night! Wow – they were beautiful – and the cakes she had on display were so pretty I don’t know how you’d bring yourself to eat them – look at the amazing teapot cake below. But you’ll be pleased to know I did a little taste test and can assure you that they taste delicious! I think these pieces would help make an amazing and unique wedding – you could even go for an Alice in Wonderland theme yourself!

For those brides who are getting married in the next three months and have yet to book their wedding photographer, I’m pleased to offer a special discount against my regular 2010 pricing. Please get in touch via the contact form or on 01935 848881 to have a chat with me about your day and photography requirements and to see what I can offer you.

Remember, this discount will only apply for new wedding bookings on dates I am available in the next three months.

** UPDATE ** I have just discovered a problem with the contact form that was on this blog and I have not been receiving any submissions through the form. If you have contacted me using the blog contact form in the past few days and have not received a reply please get in touch again. Thanks!

I had a great time yesterday at Halswell House’s Spring wedding fair. A good number of people turned out for the event and there were some fantastic suppliers there too! If you stopped by to look at my albums and chat with me – thank you!

I’m going to blog this week about a few of the suppliers I met with but first up is a picture of my stand, followed by a picture of Louise from Curious Company. The Curious Company provide theatrical entertainment for events, campaigns and parties. They have a huge wardrobe of ready-made characters and acts and wonderfully talented performers and bring something magical and relevant to your event. Yesterday Louise had an amazing outfit on that was like an old-fashioned ice-cream seller they used to have in cinemas! Except she was giving away free chocolates (very tasty they were too!) and she had an amazing hat that looked like a box of chocolates!