Keri and Craig are getting married in just under 3 weeks! They are such a lovely couple, and I loved hearing all about their wedding plans. It will be a good party! For their pre-wedding shoot we headed to Oxford where Craig proposed))

Mark and Samantha are getting married in July. They chose Kew Gardens as the place for their pre-wedding aka family shoot. They have an adorable one year old girl, who is just about to start walking! I must say it was a good exercise chasing her around the gardens! We got some cute images with blossom and bluebells. Luckily it was one of those days when the sun was shining.

I blogged the images from Stephanie and Gary’s wedding in Dodmoor House, Northamptonshire a few weeks back. Last week though I finally got to see their wedding film trailer by Your Perfect Day Wedding Films and it brought back the memories about how lovely the day was! I must say it’s always more challenging when there is photography and filming going on during the wedding day. I always try to work as a team with every supplier who is present on the day. In the end, we all want for the wedding to be the best experience our bride and groom have! It was so easy to work with Richard. His unobtrusive style perfectly suited Stephanie and Gary’s personalities and their relaxed style. He captured the day perfectly! I love the music choice for the film))

You can also see the film on Your Perfect Day blog))

Tune in next Tuesday for a sneak peek of a new wedding!

Hello, I’m Priscilla Miller and I’m one of Dasha’s newlyweds. I got married on the 14th of April at Henley on Thames Town Hall, then had the reception at Monks Barn in Hurley. I’m not ashamed to say I began looking for a photographer before my husband even popped the question. I had an inkling it wasn’t too far off, and as a teacher I’m quite an organized person so I began to look around for a few ideas. I found Dasha on a great photography website, and I am so glad I did. She captured everything so wonderfully, and has become a real friend. She has asked me to share my experience of wedding planning, so I hope my experience is useful to any future brides to be.

ORGANIZE, BUT DONT GO NUTS!

I loved planning the wedding! It took away from all the school-based work related stresses, and gave me a great excuse to procrastinate while still feel that I was using my time well!

The best thing I did when beginning to organize, was create a to do list. My bridesmaids and I got some nibbles, and together we went through several wedding guides and wrote up on a loooooooooong piece of wallpaper roll everything that needed to be done month by month. It stretched half the room! Having that done made the whole task seem suddenly manageable. The key here though is that once we had done that, we didn’t need to look at it again. All I would say is don’t think you need to book everything by a certain date. The things that are important to you get onto ASAP, otherwise you might find the perfect caterer and they are already booked. Everything else you will always have time at some point to sort out.

SELECT SUPPLIERS WELL

One of the reasons I enjoyed planning so much, and why the day went so perfectly, was the quality suppliers I found. Simple as that. Yes I had a budget to stick to, and yes we went slightly over, but at the end of the day you do get what you pay for, but you also get a feel for true professionals and truly wonderful people. Dasha was a brilliant photographer who we knew would take photos to last us a lifetime. The lighting company was run by a brilliant lady who offered us a great deal as they put the lights up with a ladder rather than scaffolding. And my caterer – it was like hiring a master of ceremonies and wedding planner at the same time. She was just brilliant.

IDEAS TO MAKE YOUR HEAD EXPLODE!

Even before getting engaged, I began looking around for ideas. I knew I wanted something different to the usual weddings, one of the main things being afternoon tea instead of the breakfast (Alan and I are tea-maniacs!). So I started buying magazines. And bought more. And more. I have a huge bag of them now. Small tip – limit yourself on how many you buy, and buy ones around the time of year you are getting married. Christmas ones were a great read, but useless to a spring wedding.

Then I discovered the blogs. They were so beautiful and interesting, I found myself keeping up with 5 different ones on a daily basis. I always criticized my husband for following football blogs, but he had nothing on me. After a while, it became too confusing. If I hadn’t slowed down with it all, the wedding would have been an aladdin’s cave of DIY wedding ideas. I doubt there would have been room for the guests! So do your research, but try not to let it take over.

KEEP MANY SCHEDULES

And pass the schedule on! I had made a running order of the day, and had given it to my caterers and photographer, but completely forgot to share it with, well, everyone basically on it! I feel sorry for Alan’s best men, who had to desperately study it on the morning to see what they needed to do and when. A schedule of the day is key, but so too is one for all the things you need to do the few days before. DIY weddings are beautiful, but tough. I became a taxi driver in the three days before the wedding, I was in the car more than not. Keeping on top of where you need to be and when before the wedding will keep you calm in the days leading up to it.

AAAAAANDDD…..DELEGATE!

Every bride will tell you, delegation is the key (as is choosing the right bridal party -girls you rocked!). I am very ashamed to say I should have followed that advice more. I am such a control freak, I found it tough giving others responsibilities, as they just didn’t seem to completely picture what I was getting at. The fact is, on the day, some things weren’t exactly as I pictured. Some things I ran out of time before I got to do. And although I laughed at other brides who said it didn’t matter, the fact is it really didn’t. And not just because on the day, getting married is the most beautiful thing. When you see all your efforts begin to come together, it is a beautiful thing, even if the seating plan is a last minute job, and you didn’t get to make that burlap runner for the top table. It’s still all gorgeous! And you did it!

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

A lot of times during planning, we’d ask people what they thought of certain ideas (one of the key ones was take away pizza for the evening, which never failed to return a great response). As we were doing it our way, there were times when we were really concerned whether people would enjoy it or ‘get it’ as we did. But that is what invitations are for. At the end of the day, they are people you love and that love you. They have come to celebrate the biggest day of your life so far. They will always have fun. I think the thing that was the biggest surprise was Dasha’s style of photography. We know couples who had the traditional ‘line up every different group
one by one’ and while yes these photos are incredibly important, and if that’s what you want, that is brilliant; it’s not what we wanted. As a guest I have found it necessary but slightly dull waiting for that part of the day to be done; I wanted to celebrate with the couple! As a bride, I wanted to get everyone to the party as soon as possible, so we didn’t have many of those photos. For certain older more traditional family members, this seemed strange to them. We even got one or two comments afterwards about how it was a shame we didn’t have more of them. But we stick to our decision, and always will. The photos record our wedding, and we couldn’t be more in love with them. It is the photos showing every real moment, every touching memory, that take us back there.

FLASH….AHHHHH!

My husband isn’t exactly extroverted. We have never shown many public displays of affection. And one of the most daunting things for him when we first got engaged, was his speech…and being photographed. I never expected having a pre-wedding shoot, so when Dasha said it was something she did with all her couples, I didn’t really know how Alan would take it. We are both so glad we did though. Alan was nervous at first, but he really relaxed (completely due to Dasha’s relaxed style) and we have some pictures before the wedding that we absolutely love. It also meant that on the day, it was one less thing to be nervous about. We knew her style, we got great photos because of it. Always have a pre-wedding shoot if you can.

IF I COUD DO IT ALL AGAIN…

I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, nothing in my control anyway. I stressed so much on the day, wondering what would go wrong, would people remember to turn up, would it rain. The fact is, everything works out; nothing can ever be perfect, but it feels perfect. The one piece of advice I will say, is try to circulate at some point during the meal, and again at some point in the evening. For yourselves more than anything. In the day, we were able to talk with most of our guests, and circulating the tables during the tea really helped this, but by the evening we were so in the groove with celebrating, that we barely got to talk to those that had turned up after the tea. In similar situations, I haven’t minded when brides and grooms haven’t been able to talk to me as much, but as a bride it would have been nice if we had managed. Oh, and a small tip to the guests…get on the dance floor! That’s where you’ll find us!

When I was at uni, I had a pleasure of meeting and working briefly with a British artist Louise Clark. She was being interviewed after her exhibition, and I was just listening, but I remember the journalist asked her “Where does your inspiration come from”, to which she replied “Everywhere. I always carry a little notebook with me and scribble down ideas whenever they come”. At the time I wasn’t a photographer or in the creative industry at all, but for some reason her answer stuck with me, and I think now it plays a big part in my life. I’m not looking for ‘inspiration’ in some particular spots or places. I try and always keep my mind opened to anything I see, hear and experience. And I also scribble down things as they come to my mind (Notes on Iphone play the role of a little notebook Gotta go with the times!)). Sometimes they are silly, or I type them down too fast, and they don’t even make sense if let’s say a stranger reads them, but I think with time these ideas somehow come together in our mind and become something more than just a scribble. Sometimes I have too many of those and it makes me so impatient to implement them all at once! Having to wait and take it slow is annoying, but necessary. I’ve been inspired by nature, its power, its pureness and beauty. I’ve been inspired by people I’ve met. I’ve been inspired by random things I’ve seen on a street. It doesn’t always relate to photography or business, sometimes just to becoming a better person, or dreams for the future.

Keep your mind opened and dream big))

Cilla got ready in the morning with her mum and bridesmaids. She looked stunning in her dress by Shanna Melville. I loved how relaxed and calm the morning was))

The vintage routmaster bus took the guests to the Henley-on-Themes Town Hall for the ceremony, which was very sweet.

A few pretty reception details:

I love photographing the first dance and then guests joining the dance floor! DJ or a band always play the kind of music at the beginning which gets everyone dancing! Always makes me want to put the camera down, hehe)) Cilla and Alan’s first dance song was Let It Be Me by The Everly Brothers. So beautiful!

Thank you, guys so much for having as part of your day! It was a pleasure to document it for you and I loved every minute of it)) Wishing you all the happiness in the world!