Jo and Liam get hitched! ● Part One

[WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY POST!]

Hi everyone! I'm doing my best to keep up with my blog - I don't think I'm doing too badly, seeing as yesterday I was a bridesmaid for two of my friends. Liam and Jo married on 13/08/2014 in Stratford, London and it was an incredible service and it was a struggle not to tear up, particularly when the bride started crying…

The theme was a rainbow one, hence the bridesmaids, initially I was pretty skeptical, but in reality with us all out in full force it looked pretty good, especially considering it was in orange. It was extra special as my lovely godson came with his parents all the way from Perth, Scotland to attend! I have to give thanks to the varieties of guests who used my camera to take the majority of these photographs. The bride&groom looked stunning as when together the atmosphere was electric, you could feel the love in the air.

The Bride had a huge wooden rose bouquet which she then inserted the lucky thistle that my godson gifted her, and each bridesmaid had a little mini wooden rose bouquet too, which we got to keep too, which was a bonus as they are adorable. I have to say I loved every minute, even when she wiped her lipstick off his lips and then wiped it on her dress, she was as classy as ever [ahem!] Having my little one there made it all even better, I miss him so much when he's in Scotland.

Each bridesmaid got a little gift during the brides speech [these two aren't very traditional haha] with a little gift bag as did the parents/families of the bride and groom, which was lovely but a surprise. Inside they both wrote a little piece in a card, and I'll never get rid of mine, its such a cute thing to do, as were the little love heart wedding favours. I thought that the vintage style food and table layouts worked really well too as the reception was held in the Church hall. The first dance was super emotional, just like the speech was, but the bouquet throwing was literally terrifying as the bouquet was so heavy as it was wooden... oops! Stay tuned for Part Two!

See you soon, Rach x x x

Something a little different ● Using a film camera!

Hi Everyone!

So, this is a little bit of a random post, but nevertheless it is a post at least! I recently found an old film reel from when I was doing an Art Foundation - it pretty much sums up that year for me, (2011-2012) getting the district line regularly to and from university, Pippa on the tube, my house and trinkets inside it, the street I grew up on, redecorating the living room, my eldest cat, South London streets, more underground, working at the London 2012 olympics… It's also obvious I have a love for photographing trees, haha.

Overall, it was a pretty good year and an eventful one, and finding the film was so good as I thought I'd lost it. What I love the most about film cameras is that you never know what you might find until you develop the film, it's like playing a game of chance. My camera is a canon 5000 SLR that I bought on eBay for roughly £20 including the lens, so it was an incredible bargain really as they stopped making them in the early 2000s. I remember my Uncle having a similar camera when I was growing up and desperate to have a similar one, and during Foundation my childhood dream came true.

I've always had an interest in Photography, which really began during my A-Level; my sixth form had a darkroom and I'm fairly practised at developing the films myself, which I did with this set around two months ago at university. In truth, I'd forgotten about most of the memories on it, but what I enjoy about developing the images myself is that they're a little rough around the edges which kind of matches the images too, bizarrely. I always find that the colour on film is more saturated and richer, and the shadows more prominent. What I love most of all about film is how long and concentrated I am on capturing the perfect moment, whereas using digital SLRs I literally take thousands of photographs without thinking. It makes me more creative using film as there is no delete button, no second chances.

Every so often I delve back into film photography and relish the creativity of it which I feel I lack when using digital, and so when I'm at university I generally use film photography more for that reason, as I'm studying Fine Art. However, for this blog on the whole it will be digital, but I simply fancied experimenting with something completely different for this weeks blogpost, and also showing my more creative side. If you liked (or disliked!) this post, let me know with a few comments.!

See you soon, Rach x x x

Jo's Hen Sleepover Weekend!

This blogpost is a little different, I suddenly realised the other day how terrible I am at managing to post when I'm at work or university and so I'm trying to force myself to find time whenever I can! Last weekend, I attended a Hen Party Sleepover as my friend Jo's house in Farnham, Surrey along with 3 other bridesmaids (2 weren't able to make it) and had an amazing weekend off work as well as a banging headache for a few days! ;)

Therefore, how better to begin a weekend in the country than with a garden picnic?!

As the photographs demonstrate, we had strawberries/raspberries and cream, fruitshoots, coca-cola, fanta… As well as muller corners and doughnuts and chocolate… Perfect for a weekend off the diet! They have SUCH A LARGE GARDEN! Messy, but beautiful, it even had a steam, which for me as a Londoner is just unbelievable, ugh I'm jealous, except the lovely couple are moving to London very very VERY SOON! I adore the photo of the Bride-To-Be and teenage Sister-In-Law, it just is so so so so cute and really emphasises the feel of the whole weekend. Fleur is an adorable girl and really beautiful, Jo has found herself a good family there ha!

…Finally the other two maids arrived after getting stuck someone on the motorway, so we all had a bit of a selfie moment, as you can see, the weather is simply crazily hot at the moment, and the attic room didn't do much for the heat… In fact I think it was even hotter inside than out, but hey. Various games were played and sensible me decided to wear a white lace dress and sparkly silver heels to get in the mood to watch Frozen although I eventually missed it by falling asleep after having a few! Fleur and I wanted some chips and they were lovely but considering they were supposed to be a large portion, not enough and more like a small/child's portion from where I come from - rant over!

As the theme of the wedding itself is Rainbows, the rainbow balloons was a fabulous idea too, Rebekah should definitely become a Party Planner, never mind a vet! Overall the weekend was successful and it was great to meet the only maid I didn't know from years ago and spend some time with my favourite blushing Bride-To-Be; now I'm really geared up for the wedding as I can't make the next Hen as I'm working (boo hoo hooooooo) and fingers crossed I'll document the wedding on my blog too! Hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned, Rach x x x