I met up with Kim and Pete on Monday evening in central London and I immediately understood what they meant in their email about being a very ’smiley’ couple - it was hard to get them to adopt a straight face for some of the shots! We made our way around the winding streets of St. James’s and Mayfair admiring all the designer shops and art dealers. The red doors you see here are part of Christie’s auction house.

We had a great evening and I just know that shooting their wedding at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond is going to be really fun and informal. Enjoy some of their images from the night.

…is happening to Kim Hawkins Wedding Photography - I am very pleased to say that one of my weddings from June (Laura and Rob) will be the featured wedding in the new issue of Your Herts and Beds Wedding magazine,  the sole aim of which is to provide brides & grooms with regional information, inspiration, and advice relevant to their own wedding.

The October/November issue (in which the wedding will feature across four pages) will be on sale in all newsagents and supermarkets in the whole of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire in mid-September and will also be distributed at the National Wedding Shows both at the Birmingham NEC and London Olympia in the Autumn.

I will show pictures of the feature here when I get my copy!

Yesterday I met with Keira and Matt who will celebrate their wedding next month in Lemsford. We walked around St. Albans with its Roman remains and cathedral capturing lovely romantic and natural shots of the two of them on the way - it made for a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday! Enjoy some of their images.

Debi and Phil were married within the walled garden of Shenley Park in Hertfordshire on Sunday and what  beautiful setting it made with the sunshine beating down. Their sons and daughters were all involved - their daughters were bridesmaids and their sons held the four legs of the Chuppah - the Jewish wedding ‘tent’ under which they took their vows. The food was glorious in its variety and colour - especially the puddings - so I’ve included a couple of shots of those. See if your mouth waters at the sight of the strawberries!

Last Saturday was another beautiful day, which was just as well as Becki and Matt had set their hearts on an outdoor wedding in the hotel they had chosen as their venue for both the ceremony and reception. The wedding took place in the courtyard of the hotel within a lovely gazebo and after the ceremony we headed off to Rye Gatehouse in Hoddesdon for the group and portrait shots, as the setting is great and offers loads of opportunities for beautiful photographs. Here’s a selection from their special day.

When I first met Steph and Ian way back in February, we hit it off straight away as we share one common interest - The Beatles. We met up again this week for their pre-wedding shoot and as their wedding reception will be held in Cambridge in November, it seemed the obvious choice of location for their portrait images.

I was treated to a lunch in a (gasp!) vegetarian cafe called Rainbow and I must admit (being a meat eater) I thought the fare would be fairly bland but I was pleasantly surprised - I had a cauliflower, potato and chick pea curry with sticky rice and a warm chapatti and it was delicious! Thanks, guys and if I could be totally cheesy  -you really Pleased, Pleased Me! (groan)

Anyway, here are some fab images of the couple - looking forward to the wedding!

I’ve known Selena for many years, since she was an Army Cadet and I was an Adult Instructor with the Army Cadet Force. Robin is an officer in the REME corps (Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers) of the regular Army, and I was really pleased to be shooting their wedding last Saturday in Arborfield Garrison near Wokingham. The weather was glorious as they left the garrison church under the swords of the Honour Guard (fellow officer friends of the couple) and the party moved to one of the most stunning Officers’ Mess I’ve seen - West Court.

The barn dance commenced later in the evening to the sound of a live band, which was absolutely brilliant fun and a great way to get people up and dancing!

I had over 900 hits on my blog in one day last week, and I set out to discover what had led to this huge figure. Upon looking into my blog’s statistics, I noticed that nearly all the visits had come by way of a website called You and Your Wedding. I clicked on the link and was taken to the page you see here - Tina, my bride from last week had posted a message on their forum along with a link to my blog and had received many replies - loads of them were commenting on how beautiful her photographs were (Tina’s also left a comment on this very blog - look to the top right of this blog under ‘comments’).

It’s great when feedback like this is received and it’s not often I get a chance to blow my own trumpet, but I have to say that reading the comments that other brides to be had posted left me with a lovely warm glow inside - read all the comments at http://www.youandyourwedding.co.uk/chatroom/topic/226204?startnum=1

Yagnesh and Tina were married in a civil ceremony yesterday and will fly out to India for the religious ceremony in two weeks time. Unfortunately the summer seems to have taken a break in these parts (ie: the UK) as the heavens opened as soon as the ceremony finished. Not to be stopped, however, I captured the group shots whilst standing in the rain with an umbrella balanced under my chin while the guests stayed dry under a glass porch outside the Spirella building - looking at the resulting images you’d never know there was a monsoon happening! At around 8 o’ clock the sun came out and we dashed downstairs to capture some images with the resulting glorious red sky.

Here are some images from the wedding - everybody had a whale of a time, including me!

Andrew and Ian celebrated their 6 years together with a civil ceremony at Marylebone Register Office in central London last Saturday, joined by their friends and families. After the ceremony, a red Routemaster bus ferried us all through central London to Tower Hill, where we boarded the Erasmus cruiser for a trip up the Thames on what was a beautifully sunny and warm day. The party got into full swing as the sun went down and night-time London came to life either side of the Thames as we glided along - a very different and enjoyable way to celebrate!