Portraits - Lucy Stendall

I adore this girl. She saved my bacon when I was pregnant, she is absolutely lovely and I couldn't believe  when we met up the other week that we'd never done it before. 

We chased down some gorgeous evening light as the sun set on another beautifully warm day in Derbyshire and did a little bit of a shoot swap. Frankly I cannot believe that this lady thinks she isn't photogenic! I could take portraits of her every day.

 

 

 

 

So, that's another fab photographer ticked off my list of my to-shoot list.

Here's to lots more golden evenings and nattering!

Welcome Home - Emma Case's Workshop

Look, let's be straight with each other. We all have our people that we admire. That we'd act like a dork in front of if we ever came face to face. Like that time I met Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene that I can't even bring myself to type about because it's THAT embarrassing. And because I'm just about to tell you that the first time I met Emma (as Kirsten Mavric put it 'probably the most loved person in the UK wedding industry') I thought of all the clever witty things I could say, the cool way to approach her, how not to embarrass myself. And then the words "YoulikeRiloKileyIlikeRiloKileyWhataGreatAlbumTheExecutionOfAllThingsIs" ran out of my mouth. Or garbled words to that effect. Then I think I spent the rest of the conversation telling Emma what a tool I was. I hate the word "cringe" but yeah... cringe. 


Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when an email dropped into my inbox... Emma's Welcome Home Workshop places were on sale. Without a second thought I rushed and booked my place (a good move as they sold like hot cakes) and was excited. And then I remembered what a blithering idiot I had been the first time. That's when I started getting nervous. Here I was unable to hold my own in a short conversation and I didn't think twice before booking myself in for a whole day? 


So, yesterday I decided to make things as stress-free as possible. To set off with plenty of time. And then my bus drove past me. And then my train never showed up. Twice. I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, dreading my inevitable being-a-tit-ness. I arrived, out of breath and flustered, rained on and frizzy-haired. And it was a total disaster.


PSYCH! It was one of the best days EVER. I credit that mostly to Emma and Pete. Their warmth towards us was just incredible. If they thought I was a tit, I never would have known. Emma wanted to make us feel at home and we did. We had goodie bags, cups of tea and hugs. Within the first hour I was so much more relaxed than I could have anticipated. It also helped that I was surrounded by some really amazing people, Lee from Shutterbox Films; my fellow 'Homies' Kirsten Mavric, Penny from Tigerlily Weddings, James Melia, Sally Thurell, Nicki Feltham, Denise Noone, Kelly Green, Michelle Waspe, Amanda Thomsen; Emma's sister Jodie and our gorgeous couple Lauren and Steve. 


I was blown away by how open Emma was. I loved her honesty. I love that I've come away with ideas on how to make my business better but also feeling validated and happy with the way that I do lots of things. We also had the chance to tag along with Emma as she shot with real-life couple and total STUNNERS Lauren & Steve. She even gave us a little bit of time with the couple to pose them ourselves. Lauren was wearing a beautiful Fur Coat No Knickers dress and the MUA was Makeup By Jodie. We also had the pleasure of shooting a totally gorgeous table set up with an array of beautiful knick-knacks and treasures by Emma's sister Jodie and Lauren. It was just way too gorgeous. I need more owls in my house. *Swoon* 


We also turned the cameras on each other which was a lot more fun that I thought it would be. I usually hate my photo being taken but the adorable Sally Turrell took a couple that I actually really like. We also played with polaroids and I can't wait to see how they came out!


So, this post is probably long enough and besides I can't wait to give you a glimpse into how I saw the day. I let go of stressing too much about the photos, because I wanted to focus on just soaking everything in and enjoying the day but obviously I was still snapping away like a mad thing. 

 

 

 

 Here's a couple I took of Sally when we were playing around. How gorgeous is she?!

What an incredible day. It flew by and I'm still taking it in. I'm so happy to have been there, to have met everyone, to have kept the feeling-like-a-tit to the minimum. 


Thank you so much Emma.