"The engagement shoot really helped put us at ease about our wedding photos! We thought we would be quite nervous in front of the camera, but now that we've had a practice run and know how relaxed you keep things, we're not worried at all. On top of that, it was a really fun afternoon and we now have some really great photos as a couple to show for it!" John & Jas, May 2015

Earlier this week I met up with Lai-Chen and her family to take some relaxed portraits of her, John and the girls. We picked an early-ish morning in the week and had the Dingle in Quarry Park all to ourselves! The garden was in full bloom and was such a beautiful location for a shoot in Shrewsbury. The girls were full of giggles and we made friends with some ducks who followed us around, hoping for some food I suspect! If you're looking for some informal, relaxed and natural family photography in Shrewsbury please get in touch!

So, welcome to Blog 8 in my wedding planning and advice series! So far I've covered as much as I can think of leading up to a wedding - choosing suppliers & venues, timings, picking a wedding photographer, to name a few. 

Now I am covering something more practical, everyone knows weddings can be mighty stressful so I'm talking today about how to minimise that stress, prepare for all possibilities and generally help chill you out before the big day. 

On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the annual wedding fair at one of Shropshire's finest venues - Walcot Hall. The wedding coordinators Caitlin & Lucieanne always organise a great day, with live music fabulous food and drink and a range of local Shropshire wedding suppliers. As I was packing up the car in the morning I could hear the birds tweeting, the lambs bleating in the field and the warm sun - all true signs that Spring is definitely coming! The sun graced us with it's presence all day and it was lovely seeing brides and grooms mill around the courtyard to the band playing in the sunshine.