We've raved about Jill Thorning-Jensen and her fabulous wedding photography before and here we go again!

This time it's not wedding-specific but given that weddings, bumps and babies are often a natural progression - not necessarily in that order! - it seems only right that we let you know of some other ways you can work with the lovely Jill.

Jill loves working with pregnant women to capture the beauty of an incredibly special time and, once that bump turns into a beautiful bouncing baby, she's the lady who will capture the personality of your bundle of joy.

And if you check out her photographer's blog entry from 13th December 2009, you'll see why I know exactly what I'm talking about...

Until next time,

Labels: photographer, supplier

TIP 5

If you're not superstitious, why not turn things on their head and have any formal photos taken before the ceremony. You won't have to worry about fading light and it's a great way to calm your nerves.

Until tomorrow's tip,

Labels: photographer, style, tips

Sometimes, just sometimes, you work with suppliers who make you wish you never had to work with anyone but them ever again! Jill Thorning-Jensen, a documentary-style photographer based in Nantwich, Cheshire but working across the country, most definitely fits into this category.

From the moment I first spoke to Jill, in the run up to Kenton & Jen's wedding last weekend, I had a feeling that working with her was going to be a joy. It's this gut instinct that I suggest couples planning their weddings listen to when they're speaking to suppliers for the first time. First impressions are rarely too far off the mark and, if you speak to someone who makes you feel confident in their ability and relaxed enough to know that you can trust them to deliver, you won't go wrong.

Jill is passionate about photography and you can tell by the way she works. Relaxed and focused, friendly and professional, it is this approach that makes her work so appealing. Not for this lady the shouting and bossiness of some wedding photographers, nor the commandeering of the newly-married couple for hours after the ceremony to capture untold posed shots. Instead, Jill moves quietly and effortlessly amongst the guests, chatting amiably, capturing moments and working hard to deliver the images that will delight the couple for years to come.

One look at her website, especially her blog, will show you more of her fabulous work than I can possibly do justice to with words. I am genuinely excited about seeing the results of her hard work at Kenton & Jen's wedding and would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to meet, and work with, Jill. May our paths cross again soon!

Until tomorrow when it's all about cheese,

Labels: photographer, supplier, testimonial

Selecting the person who'll be responsible for capturing the official photographs (read memories) of your wedding day is a daunting task. Get it wrong and you'll always feel slightly disappointed when you look at your wedding photos. Get it right and opening your wedding album will bring all the memories of your wonderful day flooding back. Hmm, it's a tough call!

As a wedding photographer, I can recommend considering the following:

1) Look at lots of examples of your prospective photographer's work and ask to see at least one complete wedding they've shot. This will give you an idea of how consistent their work is, their photographic style and the experience they have. Beware of the photographers out there who tout themselves as the only snapper but have a fleet of other photographers working for them. Check who'll be taking your wedding photos and make sure it's the person you have met, not a student who'll be hired in for the day - it happens! You could also ask for references from previous clients, if a photographer has done a good job at previous weddings this won't be a problem.

2) Have an idea of the style of photography you want. If you like natural, informal photos that tell the story of your day, make sure your photographer works in a reportage style. If on the other hand you'd like lots of group photos and set up shots, make sure you book a photographer who can do this for you. I work somewhere in the middle, combining set up shots with reportage. I shoot 6 formal shots as standard after the wedding ceremony; all guests, friends, bride's family, groom's family, bridal party and parents. If clients require more than this, it's fine with me, but the opportunity to take candid shots is reduced by a large volume of set up shots, so please bear this in mind.

3) Ask about any qualifications or accreditations they may have. I'm a licentiate member of the Master Photographer Association which means I've been independently referenced as a full time photographer and that my work is of a professional standard. Your photographer should also hold indemnity insurance and public liability insurance, please check this out with them. It gives you some come back in the event of things going wrong!

4) Most of all choose someone you like. Your wedding photographer will be sharing your big day with you and your photos will be all the more pleasurable to look at if you remember the process of being photographed as fun. I, as many other photographers do, offer a pre-wedding shoot as part of all my wedding packages. It gives the couple getting married a chance to work with me before the big day so they know what to expect and I enjoy getting to know my clients better because it makes my job easier (and more enjoyable) on the big day.

Best of luck with your wedding planning, if you'd like any further information about what I do, please visit my website - www.lumierevrai.com

Emma O'Brien

Labels: guest-blogger, photographer, supplier, tips

Labels: decoration, photographer, supplier, tips

Wow, this week has been a busy one!

I discovered a couple of new suppliers that I want to share with you. Kieran Doherty is a photographer with 15 years of experience as a war and sports photographer. He knows exactly how to capture a fleeting moment and his experience is such that you can totally trust him to make the first edit of your photos.

Earlier this week I spoke to two of his recent wedding clients and the praise he got from both of them was fantastic! I particularly liked the idea of the 'photo booth' which he can set up somewhere in your venue for guests to go along throughout the day and take their own pictures. It's a brilliant way to capture your friends and family really enjoying themselves and, judging by the examples on Kieran's website, boy do they enjoy themselves!

Kate from Sparkle & Rose stationery sent me her latest pack of wedding designs this week and they really are beautiful. All the stationery is available in co-ordinating ranges and they also offer a bespoke design service if you want something truly original. Their flair for impressive attention to detail and great customer service means they're Magic Dust's favourite kind of supplier so check out their website and see for yourself!

We've taken a flurry of bookings and enquiries for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination for 2009 this week. It would seem that quite a few people are taking my advice and getting their planning and preparation done early so that they can relax and enjoy the run-up to their wedding, and the Christmas break, safe in the knowledge that someone who plans weddings everyday is going to make sure they get the wedding they want, not the one other people think they should have.

I love knowing that every single one of these couples is going to wake up on New Year's Day and think "Yippee, we're getting married this year and we're so excited!" rather than "Arrrggghhhh, we're getting married THIS year and we're so stressed!".

Helen & Richard Terrington, who married in October, sent me this note earlier in the week which brilliantly sums up what using Magic Dust's 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination service is really like...

"After that first meeting (Dotting the i’s) we both felt so much better about things. So much so that we then thought ‘On the Day Co-ordination’ was the way forward. It was the best planning decision we made and our only regret is that we did not hire you sooner! In fact, we think that if we had hired you from the beginning we may well have saved money on our overall budget.

In the planning stages, emails to you were answered very quickly, even the slightly deranged ones! It was so helpful to have someone with experience ‘on our side’.

It really was the best day of our lives. It was great just to be able to enjoy the day knowing there was someone on hand to deal with problems. Even little things like getting service behind the bar (for our guests that had decided to start celebrating early!) were sorted in a flash.

Magic Dust provided a really professional but also friendly and reassuring service, without any ‘over the top fluffiness’. Most importantly, you kept us focused on the fact that we were planning a marriage as well as a wedding."

If you'd like to see if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination so you too can relax and enjoy every second of your day, or you would like to book a wedding planning session to kick-start your wedding plans or you simply have a question that's been keeping you awake at night, please get in touch - we're here to help!

Until next week,

ps - you can get regular wedding planning advice from magicdust's regular newsletter, simply click here to subscribe (and don't worry, we don't give your details to anyone else - we'll only use them to send you the newsletter)

Labels: photographer, stationery, supplier, testimonial

This week has literally flown by - must have been all those lovely sunny, but cold, days putting a spring in my step!

I managed to find time this week to meet up with a few suppliers. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that we don't have 'preferred suppliers' who incentivise us to recommend them (where's the integrity in that?).

What we do have are suppliers that we prefer! When we work with suppliers who are great, we won't hesitate to recommend them to other people; if we hear people we trust raving about suppliers, we'll make sure you hear about them too and, when we are approached by suppliers we use our judgement and can spot a like-minded business man or woman at 20 paces!

Finding like-minded suppliers who have the couple getting married at the heart of their business really does make my day. It gives me faith in the good side of the wedding industry and inspires me to continue to challenge it to always put you, the people who keep us in business, first.

Check out these 3...

Kate Everall Photography The first line on the home page of Kate's website says, "I just love taking photographs" and that speaks volumes. Check out the gallery of her wedding section and see if you can get through it without welling up at the emotion she has captured in every shot (I know I couldn't!). Mix all this with the fact that Kate is a lovely, friendly person who really wants the couples she works with to enjoy their day rather than spend majority of it posing for photos that will never see the light of day, and you've got a photographer in a million. She's based in Milton Keynes but will travel so do get in touch and tell her I said hi!

Elsie Florence vintage china hire When I spoke to Sara this week (she's the brains behind Elsie Florence) she was working in France, her car had just broken down, she had a husband and children in tow as she multi-tasked her way through half-term and she was still smiling and upbeat! Her vintage china is beautiful, she has enough to cater for a sit-down wedding breakfast for 150 people and she tends to hire it out within Somerset, Devon, Wiltshire and Dorset. That said, she works closely with a trusted courier, and so is happy to arrange transport to venues further afield. For an English country garden feel or a shabby-chic stately home, this is just the sort of personal touch that we love! It makes me want to get married all over again.

Robbie Honey floral design Robbie Honey is a genius. His creations regularly feature in bridal magazines and on TV and his passion for his craft is inspiring. But what I really love about this company is that they don't take themselves too seriously and they make it easy for people to sample their services. Check out the 'About Us' section of their website and particularly Violet, the dachshund, their company mascot! And then, unfortunately only if you live or work in London but it does mean your flowers are fresh, order one of their bouquets and marvel at all the flowers and the lack of greenery - the stuff that some, less fabulous, florists use to 'pad out' mediocre bouquets!

I'll have more fabulous suppliers for you next week but if you'd like to talk to me about organising a 'Girls Night In' wedding planning session, check if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination or just need an answer to a question that's keeping you awake at night, please get in touch!

Until next week,

ps - you can get regular wedding planning advice from magicdust's regular newsletter, simply click here to subscribe (and don't worry, we don't give your details to anyone else - we'll only use them to send you the newsletter)

Labels: caterer, florist, photographer, supplier

Actually, it's Sunday already and I'm just back from working at a fantastic wedding near Warwick yesterday! The whole celebration had been planned to within an inch of its life - but we had a lot of fun doing it and it was definitely worth it just to know that everything would happen when it was supposed to, and with the minimum of stress for the bride and groom.

The day always seems to fly past for me but I'm sure that's because I'm busy from the minute I get to a venue to the minute I leave - there's no time for clock-watching!

I'd like to send a big congratulations to Sarah & Ben - thank you for asking Magic Dust to be involved in planning your wedding and an special thank you for the beautiful flowers which I'm looking at on my desk as I type! I'm really looking forward to catching up with you after your well-deserved honeymoon.

The only thing we couldn't have planned for yesterday was the absolutely gorgeous weather. The newly-weds walked out of church, just before 5pm, into glorious warm sunshine and the photographer couldn't have been more pleased with the light - I know she'll have captured some great shots.

I had the pleasure of working with a caterer - Delightful Dining - who I have worked with before. In fact, since first working with them, I have yet to find another caterer that even comes close to them!

I've waxed lyrical about the food before so this time I want to pay tribute to the waiting staff. A friendlier, more professional group of 'beautiful people' you couldn't hope to meet. From the minute they arrive until the minute they leave, they work incredibly hard, are always smiling and do their utmost to ensure that guests are looked after properly. I really mean it when I say that working with Delightful Dining is always a pleasure, never a chore!

What do you do if you're not a big fan of traditional wedding cake, you don't need to serve your cake as dessert, but you want to have something and are happy to go 'quirky' and throw tradition to the wind?

Why not head for Paxton & Whitfield, buy a selection of round cheeses (they're very happy to advise on suitable sizes and quantities) and set them up like a traditional cake!

That's what we did yesterday and I decorated the 'cake' with ribbon, figs & grapes, and the flowers from a couple of buttonholes that weren't needed - really simple but very effective. The 'cake' was then dismantled and served as an evening snack complete with crackers, oat cakes, chutneys and fruit, and proved to be a real talking point, as well as being absolutely delicious.

Finally, I know it's been a good wedding when I have to drag myself away! As I was leaving last night the DJ - who played at George Michael's 40th birthday party - was playing the kind of music that made me wish I'd had my dancing shoes on... I just know they had a great party!

If you'd like to talk to me about organising a 'Girls Night In' wedding planning session, check if we're free on your wedding date for 'On The Day' wedding co-ordination or just need an answer to a question that's keeping you awake at night, please get in touch!

Until next week,

ps - you can get regular wedding planning advice from magicdust's regular newsletter, simply click here to subscribe (and don't worry, we don't give your details to anyone else - we'll only use them to send you the newsletter)

Labels: caterer, photographer, supplier

Labels: photographer, supplier, venue