I've just been having a clean up on my computer. Some people like spring cleans, I find it easier to wait until autumn for this kind of behaviour. In one of the folders, I found this selection of photos I took on our friend Leena's course a couple of years ago. When I was first starting out as a photographer over ten years ago, I was really drawn to street photography, and I enjoyed the freedom that shooting from the hip gave me. I hang the camera on my shoulder and as you might have deduced, keep the camera at hip level, and press the shutter when I see something that catches my eye. Because I'm not looking through the viewfinder, the focus can be a bit hit and miss, but there lies the fun for me. Doing the course recently, reminded me how much I'd enjoyed this in the past. Here are a few from a cold market day around Hebden Bridge.
Our Wedding
Over the past few months, with all that's going on in the world, me and Suzi, like a lot of people, have sometimes been affected by things out of our control, we've sometimes struggled to see the light. So, we've been trying to remind ourselves what matters to us. Recently, we've often come back from work to look at family photos, images from the past and present, and photos of our wedding weekend last year, a weekend full of love. When things are getting weird, tough, frightening in the world, just to come back to ourselves and be reminded of the love we have surrounding us from friends, family, and each other can be so powerful. I want to cherish that more and more each day. Last week, I looked at all our wedding photos again, and it brought back all that happiness and love. I've been wanting to write a blog about it for a while, but now seems to be the right time, and we've had quite a few folk asking us to show our photos lately, so we thought we'd share them here, and tell you a little bit about our days - yes, we had 2!!
Me and Suze have been together for quite a while now, and we wanted to wait until we could get married, in the same way as other couples. There were two venues near to Hebden Bridge that we absolutely loved, so we decided to incorporate them both into our celebrations, and spread this over the weekend. On the first day, we had the legal ceremony down at Gibson Mill surrounded by a small gathering of friends and family. In true West Yorkshire fashion, we had a lot of weather! We all walked through Hardcastle Crags to get to the venue.
We had quite a few tears, and a few giggles too when Suzi nearly married the Registrar by saying her vows to her!
And then - Day 2! First - the preps...
I had asked Fiona from Firenza Floral Designs to create a headpiece for me and I think my description was 'I'd just like some moss and twigs or something!' She ran with it, and created a thing of beauty - I loved it. Debbie from Zeitgeist placed it in my hair very expertly!
Meanwhile, my cousin Liz was with Suzi..
And then, a short walk through town to get the bus up to Wainsgate Chapel. It was a super way for us just to have a few chats with friends before the ceremony, and to take in the views. We asked the driver to take us onto the moors, so some of our friends from further afield could see the view from the tops!
One of our favourite moments, was being greeted by the band Mr Wilson's & The Second Liners (they play 90's Hacienda classics in a New Orleans street band style!). They marched us down the lane to the chapel to Happy Mondays 'Step On'. That moment will stay with us forever! I've just been listening to this very tune whilst writing this - take a listen too if you fancy - I bet you'll be tapping your feet! https://soundcloud.com/mr-wilsons-secondliners/step-on
And then - to the ceremony. This was such an important part of it for us. We always wanted to do things our way, and writing our vows and tailoring this to fit who we are was a big thing for us. So when we met Jan from Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings for the first time and ate pancakes, we knew she was absolutely the right person. I've just read back through the ceremony and the readings, and I have just shed a little tear. Our friend Shilpa and my sister Katy read perfectly, we shared our vows, and our friends Hannah, Ffion & Euan sang beautifully. I don't think either of us had anticipated how nervous we were going to be, but we just kept holding hands tightly.
And then we headed outside for dancing to Mr Wilson's, and some liquid refreshments!
Hannah had worked so hard to titivate the old school room where we held the reception, of course with lots of lights! We loved the lanterns from The Hanging Lantern Company. It was such a treat to climb the stairs up to the room and see it all laid out, for a feast!
And Fiona had created beautiful florals for the tables.
After food (including cheese and cakes made by our friends), we said a few words, and then turned the room around for the evening's celebrations.
A few weeks before the wedding, me and Suze were driving to a job. 'Dream A Little Dream' came on the radio, and Suze suggested we have the tune as part of our wedding playlist. I had a word with my friends Dave & Euan and we 'surprised' Suze with it at the beginning of the night. I say surprised as I have an inkling she may have heard us sound-checking!
We always knew we wanted to book the amazing Me & Deboe for our wedding. In fact, we'd seen them at Wainsgate for the first time a few years previous. They are just super talented and absolutely got the party started with a mix of covers and their own fab tunes!
After Me & Deboe, we had a short breather before the Ceilidh began. The wonderful King Cole. And after that, a wedding playlist with some of our favourite tunes, and songs people had added to it. Much more dancing ensued!
A few months before the ceremony, Jan, our celebrant on the Saturday, suggested a reading to us. One that we'd never heard before, and one that touched us immediately as soon as we'd heard it. My sister read it out on the day, and we wanted to share it here. It's a quote by Jeanette Winterson:
“You don't fall in love like you fall in a hole. You fall like falling through space. It’s like you jump off your own private planet to visit someone else’s planet. And when you get there it all looks different: the flowers, the animals, the colours people wear. It is a big surprise falling in love because you thought you had everything just right on your own planet, and that was true, in a way, but then somebody signalled to you across space and the only way you could visit was to take a giant jump. Away you go, falling into someone else’s orbit and after a while you might decide to pull your two planets together and call it home. And you can bring your dog. Or your cat. Your goldfish, hamster, collection of stones, all your odd socks. (The ones you lost, including the holes, are on the new planet you found.)
And you can bring your friends to visit. And read your favourite stories to each other. And the falling was really the big jump that you had to make to be with someone you don’t want to be without. That’s it.
PS You have to be brave.”
Thanks to all our family and friends for their help and support both in the run up, on the day, and the days after.
And here's a link to the wonderful suppliers we had on the day.
Celebrant: http://www.thememoryboxceremonies.co.uk/
Flowers: http://www.firenzafloraldesign.co.uk/
Hair: http://www.zeitgeisthair.com/
Photography: http://www.elenicaulcott.com/
Music: http://mrwilsons.org.uk/ http://www.meanddeboe.com/ https://www.facebook.com/kingcolefolk/
Food: http://www.designhousehospitality.co.uk/
Venues: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardcastle-crags/features/your-wedding-at-hardcastle-crags http://wainsgate.co.uk/
Bus: http://www.yorkshireheritagebus.co.uk/
Alice's First Steps.
My Mum loves to tell the story of when I started walking, at the ripe old age of two and a bit. Before I was upwardly mobile, I had refined the art of shuffling around on my posterior to get from a to b. When my sister came along four years later, she had a pile of hand-me-downs, all a little threadbare around the bottom. A little concerned about me not standing on my own two feet, my Mum took me to the doctor, who declared 'oh there's nothing wrong with her, she's just lazy'. That's the bit my Mum loves retelling...
Not so for Alice! We've been documenting her life for the past nine months. The week before our last shoot, Alice had taken her first tentative steps at home, and she was pretty happy about it! We took a trip up to a meadow above Hebden Bridge one sunny Sunday with Alice, Archie, Jane & Carolynne. It felt pretty special to be capturing this chapter in her life, and all at the tender age of one...
From this....
To this.....
There's no stopping her now!