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John and Catherine were due to get married in 2020 but that for obvious reasons didn’t happen. They set a few new dates but finally decided that no matter what they would get married on 11th July 2021. This turned out to be the England Euro 2020 final and a few things had to change, namely a big screen so everyone could watch. I asked Jon to send me a little bit about how they met. Here’s what he said: ‘So how did we meet? We met through work, John worked as a trainer, for different offices in Greater Manchester. So are paths first crossed briefly during the times he came to the office I was based in. Years later we arranged to go on a date, in Castlefield Manchester. After a few months, we both realised we had very strong feelings for one another. We dated for a few years, and we decided we needed to move in together. We talked about getting married, and on a night out with some friends, my friend Annie joked, “ you should go and see my dad, he’ll make your ring”, no pressure John. Annies dad is a retired jeweller. So we made an appointment with Annie's dad John and went to his workshop. We chose a ring, but John kept hold of it, so I had no idea when he was going to propose. Then on Easter Sunday 21st April 2019, which was Johns's Birthday, my mum and dad were having a BBQ with all the family round, and John's mum. So John decided this was the day to propose, and got down on one knee in front of our families, oh, not before my dad decided to get John a garden kneeling pad. It was the perfect day. So then we went to all the wedding fairs, and started planning and meeting with suppliers, trying on wedding dresses, and came across Bartle Hall, which was the perfect place for our wedding. We picked the date 5/9/20, and sent out save the date cards to our families and friends, then we sent out the invites in February 2020. Then came a global pandemic and the country went into lockdown in March 2020. So we just kept planning our wedding, choosing flowers, menus etc thinking everything would be ok for September. We realised our wedding might not happen, or happen as we had planned. In June we made the decision to postpone til 01/04/21. So then Christmas came, and more bad news, we couldn’t meet up with family, and in the new year, we couldn’t see how it would be possible to have 90 family and friends at our Wedding by April, and decided to postpone again, to 11/07/21. Then we were relying on the restrictions being lifted on 21/06/21. The announcement came on 14/6/21 to delay the restrictions, but the number of guests we could have was more than 30, so good news that we could have all our family and guests, but tables were restricted to six guests, and no dancing inside. So we thought we are going for it, we can’t postpone it again. So now we are so excited, and our family and friends are too, that it is actually going to happen.’ The day was wonderful. Full of tears and emotions and genuine happiness. It was so lovely that they could finally get married and their day had come. Here are a few of my favorites:

Hannah and Harry were another couple hit by 2020’s pandemic. They were due to get married in June 2020 and made the decision to postpone it a year. I remember the first time I met Hannah and Harry I was about 5 months pregnant and by the time they got married my daughter was 16 months, 2020 was a bit of a time warp. Their wedding was the first I had done since the government opened up weddings again a few weeks before, they were only allowed 30 guests but that wasn’t going to stop them they had an absolute blast. I will always remember being stage rushed at the end as I stood taking a large group photo in the Pub car park before I left, shouting thank you across the guests and waving bye as the whole group ran towards me in celebration. It felt so lovely and like I was friend rather than someone they hired and I love that about my clients. I’m so glad they managed to get married and have such a special day. I asked Hannah and Harry to tell me a bit more about how they met and got engaged for the blog, I love a good story don’t you? Here’s what Harry said: ’We originally met when in primary school circa 2001. Although Hannah doesn’t remember me from there (she was cooler than me). Our paths next crossed on 27th February 2016 on a night out in Burnley town centre. Where after some Dutch courage I re-introduced myself, it would be 6 weeks later when Hannah took an interest in me (she was playing hard to get) and in those following months we became inseparable. Enjoying going to gigs and festival together and with friends. In March 2018 I proposed to Hannah in Berlin whilst at a Liam Gallagher concert, and we’d arranged to be married on the 13th June 2020. Sadly there was a small pandemic going on which meant our plans were cancelled and in its place we expanded our family with a fluffy, floppy eared spaniel called Maggie. She makes us smile every day and we wouldn’t be without her. When the rules around weddings changed, we decided we simply didn’t want to wait, so we arranged an intimate wedding with our closest family and friends and it was the most perfect day we could have ever wished for. We love each other unconditionally and are thoroughly enjoying married life and looking forward to our story ahead.’

River was only a few weeks old when I went to photograph him and his family, Mum, Dad and brother Rupert. When I arrived Rupert was a little unsuer of this new person but after a quick chat he was quickly jumping, bouncing and climbing everywhere so I think we are now friends. I love the challenges that baby shoots can bring, the feeding, the nappy changes, the toddler being his self and running and jumping around. For me it’s all about capturing these moments and how the family I photograph are in everyday life, yes it can be beautiful, it can be crazy, it can be fun and everything in between but that’s what makes a family a family. Here are some of my favourite photos of the day.

I do love photographing Alex and Karen and their kids. Aparently their daughter is going to marry my son, they are best friends and she declared this to me the other day. If you see me at a wedding Fayres ask me to see the little injoke I made, it will all become clear when I show you haha. They wanted to get a photoshoot for Karens parents, to capture images with their grandkids and so of to Hurst Grange we set off. It was alot of fun and a little mad but I love that. It’s great to photograph the chaos and fun with younger kids. Here are some of my favourites:

Madeline’s extended family were coming up with their baby to finally meet her, her husband, and their kids and she really wanted to capture some photos of them together, to capture some of what has been missed over the past year, and of course, I said yes. We met at her family's large garden on their farm where her boys had spent a lot of time planting and creating spaces. It was lovely to capture photos for them. Your can see some of my favorites below:

A instagram message four weeks before the big day was how I found out about Gayle and Joannes wedding. I did a mini shoot with Gayle a few weeks earlier which was bought as a birthday present for her and it was then that Gayle told me we went to high school together. Now most of you that know me know my memory for anything without a camera in my hand is horrendous so sadly I don’t remember her, had I taken her photo I would, my brain is weird I know! They were hoping to get married in a few weeks time as a few family members were seriously ill and they desperately wanted them to be there for their special day. They had arranged a holiday at a cottage in Ambleside and decided to have a small ceremony there which would be shared live on facebook so their other friends and family could be a part of their special day too. After the ceremony we went to Grasmere to take a few special photos with Ralph out in his favourite place to have a paddle. It was such a lovely day. Here are a few of my favourites from the day.

It’s always lovely to get an email asking you to photograph a wedding but Vicky and Jon were having a really small, just immediate family, wedding until they could have a big reception to celebrate and they asked me to capture this for them and of course I said yes! They are so lovely and after a few initial date changes, thanks Boris, they managed to book in Saturday 29th May knowing they could definitely go ahead. It was a warm and lovely day, the excitement was in the air and the sun was shining. Games had been set up on the lawn, best man had the rings and his guitar, games were set up on th lawn and a nervous groom waited inside. Vicky arrived with her dad wearing her mums wedding dress looking like it was made just for her. The ceremony was attended by 11 people but you wouldn’t of known it was as the ron was filled with joy for them both. We spent some time taking family photos, having a confetti walk with confetti cannons bought by the mother of the groom Jacqui (amazing!) and some photos with just the two of them. I’ve popped a few of my favourites from the day below but first here’s Jon’s story of how they met and got engaged: ‘We both met and bonded over our love of music. We first crossed paths while at University at a fold music jam session at one of the student pubs, Vicky with her ukulele and me with my guitar. Our first date was a Villagers gig, after that we started going to music festivals together. We both love travelling and have been lucky enough to see amazing parts o fate world together. We’ve seen beautiful parts of the UK, mountains in north Spain, islands in the Mediterranean and our best trip so far was our 3 month stint in South and Central America. I proposed to Vicky in Peru in the gardens of an old Hacienda! We both love the outdoors and are keen rock climbers. Most weekends in the summer you’ll find us all over the north west climbing and soaking up the sun (when it’s out!). Despite the difficulties that we’ve all faced during the pandemic, we had an absolutely beautiful wedding. Sure it was small, but we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Christina put us at ease and was so helpful during the day and has captured it ways we never expected. We’re so happy that we can look back at our wedding photos and be instantly transported to that magical day with our families. Thank you so much Christina!’

It’s been a flurry of baby goodness recently and it was lovely to meet baby Oliver and his mum and dad. Abi saw a post of mine on instagram and contacted me to go and capture some of this special new time as a family. It was such a lovely shoot and I can’t wait to show you some of my favourites below. But first I thought it would be good fro Abi to explain about how she found being a new mum in Covid times. ‘Being pregnant and giving birth during a pandemic of course came with some negatives, including many family and friends never seeing my baby bump or feeling those kicks, Mike not being allowed to attend every scan or appointment and missing out on those shopping trips to kit out baby’s wardrobe, but we also found there were plenty of positives. I suffered with morning sickness for the first 20 weeks of my pregnancy, so being able to work from home and not having the pressure to socialise really helped when I felt so poorly. We also tried to put a positive spin on not being able to have visitors after Oliver’s birth. Luckily we were allowed a support bubble, which meant that we could have the support of my parents which we felt very lucky for as lots of people didn’t have those last year. We also saw the fact we weren’t allowed any other visitors as a great opportunity to spend a few weeks getting used to our new family life in our baby bubble, which was such a special time.’ Here are a few of my favourites.

Rachel, Anthony and Arthur were gifted a family shoot by Rachels sister, a previous wedding client of mine at Christmas and after waiting for lockdown to ease and restrictions to lift we finally got out and managed to book a date in the diary. We met at Longton Brickcroft in Preston and although it had rained overnight it was so much fun. Arthur was ready in his wellies for the adventure and we set off To walk and take photos. We went to find the ducks, splashed in puddles, saw a robin and a few interested cows. I love capturing photos with kids, especially younger ones as they love to still have fun and it’s such a lovely memory to keep of when they were that small. Here are a few of my favourites from the day.

I can honestly say I have never photographed a gender reveal before but I was asked if I would go and photograph Helen’s. They already had two children but wanted to celebrate with them and decided to make it into a party. There was cake and balloons and also a confetti cannon to reveal the gender of the baby. What do you think they had? Look at the photos to find out…

I've said this before and I'll say this again but photographing a families journey is one of my favourite things to capture. I photographed Becky and times engagement, wedding and now first born. It is so special being a small part of this families journey and I was so excited to get asked to go and photograph with them in their new home. I asked Becky to share a little about being a first-time mum in a pandemic. Here's what she had to say. 'Having a baby in lockdown was a strange time to have a baby, no one saw me pregnant, I had to go to the scans on my own which meant there were tears from both Tim and I, yet we both felt incredibly blessed that we were able to get through lockdown looking forward to the moment we would meet our son. As well as moving house, we found it make the restrictions a bit more manageable because we were distracted with packing and preparing for a baby! Freddie arrived on Wednesday 20th January 2021. We were so grateful Tim was allowed there for the whole labour and we felt safe in the hospital despite there being a global pandemic. We were so overjoyed with our little boy we shared it with everyone as soon as we could (Tim and I can’t keep quiet about things we’re excited about!!), yet there was a strange sense of sadness that we couldn’t immediately invite friends and family over for cuddles. As we navigated those first few days at home, though missing those visitors, we were also grateful for precious family time (and I’m not sure how I would have hosted when most days I didn’t get round to showering, we were completely exhausted and the house was such a mess!!) Our church arranged a food rota for us which was amazing! Every night for three weeks people brought round food, so not only did we have delicious meals (and drinks and snacks), we could introduce Freddie to people through the window! It felt really special and helped take the edge off that sadness that no one got cuddles. I found there were lots of pros and cons, ups and downs to having a baby in lockdown. Now restrictions are lifting life feels a bit more normal seeing people and going to baby classes, but I am so glad to have had the time as a family and for Tim to have been home a lot more to enjoy those precious first months.' Here are a few of my favourites from the shoot.

I’ve had a flurry of photoshoots in Stockport recently which has been wonderful and meeting little Harry was one of those shoots. I went to his house where he, his Mum Lizzy, and Dad Matt live. It was a lovely sunny northern morning and Harry was happy and content. It can be a little scary getting a photographer to come to take photos no matter the situation but I always like to chat with families first and get to know each other a bit more. It helps everyone relax and settle into the shoot. A parent always worries about babies being upset but there is no need to be, I have 2 kids myself and know full well what babies can be like but Harry was happy having his picture took he just needed a milk break halfway through. Here are a few of my favourites: