They rented a stunning Tuscan villa called La Pianella, nestled high up in the hills surrounding the historic town of Lucca. They had all been there a week before the wedding day arrived, so they had all settled in very well by the time I got there the day before the wedding! The villa comprises of two houses – the main villa and the farmhouse – both with swimming pools which were absolutely necessary in the lovely late summer heat.

The wedding ceremony was held in the heart of Lucca, after which everyone walked through the town to a wine bar for champagne and nibbles. After that we all headed back to La Pianella for the reception and meal. The food was laid out as a typical Tuscan picnic in the grounds of the villa. It was a super relaxed wedding, where people chilled out in the garden, drank lots of wine, ate great Italian food and even had a round of singing performed by some of the guests. The venue was perfect for a small, intimate wedding like Richard and Emma’s.

La Pianella, Lucca, Tuscany

Emma's wedding dress

Pretty hair clips in Emma's 'up-do'

La Pianella

Emma getting into her wedding dress

Guests getting ready in the beautiful surroundings of La Pianella

Emma and her bridesmaid's pretty dress

Groom and bestman wait nervously for the bride to appear

Richard, the Groom

Emma before departing for Lucca and the wedding ceremony

Arriving in the beautiful and historic town of Lucca

Emma & Richard arrived together in Lucca

Richard & Emma before the wedding ceremony

The guests arrive

On the way to their marriage ceremony

Wedding guests greet the bride and groom

Emma and Richard arrive

The marriage ceremony is the grand surroundings of Lucca's registry office

The marriage ceremony

Tears from Grandma

Handing over of marriage certificate and a book on Lucca (?)

The happy couple

Emma and her wedding guests

Walking through the streets of Lucca

Walking through the streets of Lucca

Wedding party procession to a bar for Champagne!

It was a very hot day!

Emma's bouquet

Groom, bestman and friends

Speeches and toasts

Champagne reception in Lucca

Emma

Arrival back at La Pianella Villa

Emma and Richard take a stroll

Emma and Richard

Emma climbing the 99 steps! (We got half way up!)

Looking down on their guests at the reception below

The happy couple

The reception in the garden of La Pianella

The picnics laid out in the garden

The guests tucking into the wonderful Italian feast!

The reception in the garden

The wedding party

The groom and his friends

Getting tired now...

Two guests singing

The guests singing along

Enjoying the entertainment

The sun sets over La Pianella

The most unusual aspect of this wedding were the 9 bridesmaids! That’s a first for me. The wedding day was a great celebration of bringing two families together from two different continents, and boy do the Americans know how to party! As soon as the music started the dancefloor came alive.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Isobel, her oganisational skills are superb and the styling of the wedding was beautiful, exactly what the bride had envisaged from over the pond in San Francisco.

Tom and Mel walked down the aisle together. Here they are about to go into the church.

What a great car to leave the church in!

The 9 bridesmaids (!) and Tom's parents' home, a beautiful setting for the reception.

Father of the bride speech

Great styling by Isobel Weddings

Even though the ceremony was at 5pm to avoid the main heat of the day, the temperature was still high at around 35 degrees. Originally the wedding was to be held at a venue near to the capital Tunis, however a curfew had been put in place so with only a few days to go before the wedding, the ceremony venue was relocated to the bride’s parents’ house, and the reception to a nearby luxury hotel. Everything went really well despite the sudden change of venues, and I’m proud to say that I coped quite well working in the heat!

The wedding rings were presented on this embroidered cushion

The fish is a symbol of good fortune in Tunisia

Daf had quite a bit of trouble tying his tie! Luckily the bestman stepped in to help.

The bride and her best friends

The ceremony was translated into English by one of the groom's best friends

Homemade traditional Tunisian sweets passed around after the ceremony

Bunches of jasmine flowers and mint tea

We were all given sugared almonds, beautifully wrapped, when leaving for the reception

A 'Just married' number plate!

Evening reception at the hotel

The First Dance

Traditional Tunisian dancing quickly took over the dancefloor!

One day he will be able to keep up with the rest of them!

I thought I would give you a little taster of some of these weddings before blogging about them in full…

Once settled at the hotel, Beckie and I swiftly opened a bottle of champagne to start off the evening whilst getting glammed up. On arrival at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts we joined the long queue to get in, where we were given our name badges and a super goody bag. Please look at the LMD blog to see the list of suppliers who provided these goodies, along with the list of everyone who helped to make this such a stunning event.

With a glass of bubbly in our hands (the start of a long night of quaffing champagne…!) we started to mingle amongst the guests. It was such a brilliant way to meet all the people from the industry who I had heard about or seen on Twitter, to finally be able to put faces to names. First I talked with Jon from Jon Keith Diamonds and his lovely wife, who was looking radiant in pregnancy. Beckie and I then consumed the yummy canapes with Andri from Always Andri Wedding Design, after which at the bar we bumped into Dominic and Helen, the creative duo from Cutture. I popped outside for some fresh air after the breath-taking show by Vicky Butterfly, where I was introduced to wedding dress designer Sassy Holford.

There were so many other lovely people I met in queues for the bar, queues for the ‘ladies’ and literally when bumping into them. I finally managed to track down the lovely Annabel from Love My Dress and I was able to congratulate her for organising such a fantastic event. People had come from far and wide to be here this night which is proof of her popularity and success as one of the top wedding bloggers out there today. Well done Annabel and thank you!

First Class!

Getting ready for the party!

Beckie from Temple Gregory by the Millennium Bridge

Always Andri and the lovely lady handing out the goody bags!

Waiting in line

Only one glass of champagne left...that'll be mine then!

AVA Event Styling

more lovely styling by  AVA Event Styling

Sweets by The Boutique Baking Company

Burlesque by Vicky Butterfly

Burlesque by Vicky Butterfly

Beckie and me enjoying the party...and the champagne!

Photos by Snaparazzi

The Millennium Bridge lit up at night

The view from the roof terrace at Coq D'Argent

Slightly breaking with tradition, Pamela and Robert were married in the morning at Chelsea Registry Office with just their brother and sister as witnesses. Later that morning Pamela returned to The Halkin Hotel, a chic boutique hotel in the heart of Knightsbridge, where she got ready with her sister and parents. The dress is from Pamela’s hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA, and her bouquet was made of blush pink peonies.

They held the marriage ceremony in the afternoon at St Anne’s Lutheran Church, which was built by Sir Christopher Wren after the great fire of London. You can find this historical church right in the heart of the city, along the remnants of London Wall.

Pamela walked down the aisle on rose petals that had been scattered (rather boisterously!) by the two cute pageboys. After the service, Pamela and Robert, with Jemma, took a walk down the backstreets of London to the reception venue, Coq D’Argent. Along the way they stopped for some portraits outside the Guildhall and along the cobbled backstreets of London. Despite the slightly rainy weather spirits were high and the umbrellas came in handy.

The reception took place at Coq D’Argent which has amazing views of the city from its roof garden, the gorgeous cake by Zoe Clark was very fitting for the surroundings.

The guests had a whale of a time, no dampening of spirits by the rain. We left them dancing the night away to the YMCA!

Pearl Pictures were recommended for this wedding by wedding planner Marie Haverly from Isabella Weddings.

Outside Chelsea Registry Office

Pamela's 'I Do' shoes!

The pageboys and Father of the Bride

The Bridesmaid's boquet

Portraits outside The Guildhall

Brides boquet and Cake by Zoe Clark

The happy couple

Josie and Antonio

We went to Victoria Park in East London, which was the perfect setting for an adventurous romance shoot.

We set about creating a comfy little area to center the shoot around, hanging a backdrop of floaty seventies fabric behind two plump cushions. Then Josie decorated the comfy area with lots of props that you may find on a picnic for two, such as small sprays of flowers nestled in jars, pastel tupperware, linen napkins, lovely old milk bottles with stripy straws and big comfy cushions covered in beautiful retro fabric. Perfect for a nice bit of serenading, enter Antonio with his guitar! (and yes, he is a very talented guitar player)

Our inspiration throughout the shoot and our overall goal was to portray the excitement of being in love and to evoke the sense of adventure and abandon couples feel in their relationships.

Josie and Antonio were very comfortable in front of the camera because everything to do with the shoot was reflective of their own personalities, they were in their own comfort zone and the pictures look relaxed and effortless.

We think this is good inspiration for couples thinking about their engagement or love shoots. It’s important that you feel comfortable in your setting and surround yourself with things you love and activities that you would naturally do together.  Then you will of course, look beautiful and relaxed! Perfect.

Josie and Antonio

1970's inspired accessories to set the scene

Vintage suitcase and good ol' 1970's tupperware!

Josie and Antonio sheltering from the wind (read gale!)

Home time

Nicholla and Chad

The house and gardens looked stunning in the spring sunshine.  The garden consists of eight different individually designed areas, carefully created and maintained by Alistair and Elizabeth Macleod Matthews, who are known for their elegant and unusual colour combinations. They ensure there is colour and life in the garden perennially and there certainly was, the tulips were out in all their Easter glory and looked wonderful.

The colour scheme was a very chic white and cornflower blue.  All the ‘grown up’ bridesmaids wore blue dresses in a style of their own choosing, and the three little flowergirls, one of whom was Nicholla’s daughter Coco, looked a picture in their little white and blue dresses.

Nicholla looked absolutely stunning, as you can see from the photos, I was particularly taken with her delicate twisted chignon that looked so perfect with her golden locks.

Nicholla's neat, elegant hair style

The two of the flowergirls getting their hair done - so cute!

The bridesmaid's bouquet

Nicholla arriving at the church in a vintage car

The couple leaving the the church looking very happy

Chenies Manor

Gorgeous Tulips - my favourite flower

The happy couple

Nicholla and Chad walking in the gardens - great dress!

The bride's bouquet

Nicholla and Coco

Flowergirls having fun running round the garden

A little guest enjoying the music

Bridesmaid, her 'flowergirl' daughter and Dad!

The marquee and the cake

The speeches causing a few laughs

Chad's mum enjoys this joke!

The band, Fully Funktional, were really entertaining

The guest getting into their stride on the dancefloor!

The musicians really got into the entertainment too

Royal Wedding Celebrations

A  month or so back I got together with a couple of lovely ladies and we decided to put on a shoot to celebrate the Royal Wedding. Knowing that people are planning the traditional celebratory parties, we decided to shoot a Royal Wedding garden party.

Making this happen was myself taking the photographs, as Jemma Watts Photography, Kate Poulter from Pat-a-cake-Pat-a-cake making the cakes and Pippa Jameson Interior Stylists doing the wonderful styling. Kate chose some very traditional English recipes, which included a Victoria Sponge, meringue nests full of juicy strawberries and raspberries, and of course good old scones with clotted cream and lashings of jam. She is so creative with her cakes that she also added in some more fun designs. We had ‘bunting cakes’, a basket-weave cake and a ‘sandcastle’ cake, which Kate decorated with Sweet William flowers, provided by Rebel Rebel, and blossom from the garden.

Scrumptious cakes and a table beautifully styled by Pippa

‘Crown’ badges made by illustrator Hanna Melin

Fresh lemonade decorated with Sweet William from Rebel Rebel

Bunting cakes

Cupcakes and meringue nests filled with juicy fruits

Bunting cakes again

Lovely table piece inspiration by Pippa

Main shot credits:
From left: Glass plates on metal cake stand, Camel & Yak. Glass cake stand (with bunting cupcakes), CocoMale. Bottle holder, Garden Trading. Wooden heart on front door, Wooden bunting, both Lily & Lime.  Fabric bunting, Backgrounds.  Glass stand for weaved cake & blue glass cake stand (with Victoria sponge)both Contemporary Home. Sugar shaker, Sorbet Living, Tall glass bottles, Crown plates & bowls, The Packhouse.  Linen napkin, Lily & Lime. Glass bottles with cordial, The Packhouse. Small etched bottle with red flower, Sage, Inspired By Life.  All cakes supplied by Pat A Cake Pat A Cake, All flowers supplied by Rebel Rebel.  Badges, I do & Wedding date by Hanna Melin.

Styling by: Pippa Jameson Interior Stylists

Photography by: Jemma at Pearl Pictures

Cakes by: Pat-a-cake-Pat-a-cake

The event was to raise money for breast cancer so I offered to photograph the event for Erika. It was a great evening of networking and learning new skills! There were 4 ladies who gave very interesting talks. We learnt how to walk in high heels, how to understand our love relationships better (!), we learnt about cosmetic proceedures for the aging woman, and we even had an introduction to Tantra. The most enterntaining part of the event was being given a short lesson in the art of Burlesque by a true burlesque legend, Jo King. She had us all out of our seats, wiggling our hips and striking seductive poses! It was a lot of fun, which you will see from the photos below….

Jo King - Burlesque Legend!

Goodies on offer during the evening, and Erika's Laboutins! Wish they were on offer too!

Nicole de Carle lingerie and Jo King

Erika Unbehaun introducing the evening and Michele teaching us how to walk in high heels!

Learning sexy (!) Burlesque moves

Learning a bit of Tantra

Erika Unbehaun from Flutterfly Events

Checking out the sexy lingerie and a lucky winner of one of the raffle prizes