Well, continuing the French theme … Nick and Maryse were married in Capvern les Bains in the South of France recently. I was most pleased to have been chosen to fly out with a big selection of friends and family to cover the weekend.

Much fun was had all weekend and many new friendships were made. A selection of my favourites from the weekend follow.

We had the most amazing sunny weather all weekend, and apart from me driving the hire car into a random Frenchman’s irrigation ditch, the whole weekend went without a hitch!

This was the view of the church (small spire, smack bang in the middle) on the night I arrived. Just amazing:

The day before the actual wedding saw the official registration, so we took the chance for some shots. Using reflections for effect:


The newly “registered” couple:


On the day itself, the shoes and flowers:


… and of course, the most beautiful bride:

Dad, looking more like a bridesmaid (Sorry Bob!)


In a car park of all places!




And what better place to hang out with some great new friends than on the top of a mountain, the following day!


I’m hoping for some more destination weddings next year so if you know anyone who needs a great wedding photographer with the experience, you know where to send them!

One of the things I was looking forward to when we went to The Datai, was a meeting with the famous monkeys! Unfortunately, we were on the “wrong” side of the hotel and so whilst most of our friends were receiving daily visits, it took until Day 5 for us to see any monkey action.

We had seen them in the trees and on other balconies, but never on our own. However, one lunchtime we spied one close by. He looked rather cute from afar :

and even played a touch of hide and seek:

However, when he got closer we realised that, just our luck, he was scabby and not very cute after all – possibly an outcast who had had a recent fight, which might suggest why he was on his own:
Now, we had heard about them stealing food if you left your doors open, but thought that we would be ok if we were in the room. Probably our fault for walking around eating when he arrived because suddenly he spied the fruit bowl:
and before we knew it, he helped himself:
salivating at the thought of more banana:

When it seemed that he was starting to make plans for another raid, I tried to shoo him away, but I think he took that as a challenge and started to mock charge me with his teeth bared:
Eventually we got rid of him, and he skipped away to find some new friends:
I guess the lesson learned was to hide the food when he appeared – as with all animals in “public places”, once they know food is available they will keep coming back. The situation is only exacerbated by us making it easy for them.

Still, on the whole, they are really cute and this encounter was another tick in the box for me!
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Those who know me well will know that I have a real keen interest in animals and nature . That’s really where my serious photography began. Our trip to Malaysia, therefore, treated us to so much more than just wedding photography.

To set the scene, the entrance to the Datai is rather impressive indeed – it’s hard to get a good understanding from this small image, but to give you a good idea, the horses are pretty much life sized:

Just beyond those three slim pillars at the end of the path is a lily pond, something like 20 foot square. By day, it’s a beautiful green and pink pond, with the occasional dragonfly buzzing by and a few small frogs (see the post for day 1). The beautiful flowers would open and close a various stages of the day:
During the night, however, the place would come alive with frogs! They were everywhere … up the walls, down the stairs … and the noise is amazing! Now, don’t get me wrong – it’s not like they run (hop?) around in packs terrorising the guests – but we were, to all intents and purposes, in a rainforest, and so you have to expect wierd and wonderful things when it comes to the animal life.

Given that I have such a fascination with the wildlife, and many of these amphibians seemed tame enough, and I always had my camera to hand, I figured it would be a great opportunity to get some shots that I would not normally have the chance to shoot.

Strangely enough, many of these little rubbery fellows seemed to have their own characters too …

The “Standing to Attention” Frog:

The “reminds me of Bagpuss” Frog:

The “free ride home” Frog:

The regular “Rebbit” Frog:

The “talk to the hand” Frog:

The “eyeing up your dinner” Frog:

The “thinks he’s Spiderman” Frog:

… and my favourite of all, just because of the gorgeous green-ness:

A truly amazing variety of sizes, colours and characters … to be able to get so close was just marvellous. A bottle of champagne to anyone who can tell me all the latin names for the different species here !

With the registration and ceremony now complete and the party over, there is time for everyone to unwind and relax – including me! After the beach party last night, many of us ended up at the bar for a chilled out drink.

This morning it was late breakfasts all round and then straight down to the beach for a snooze and ice cold drinks.

Now that we have some free time and all the official stuff is over, it’s great to be able to take some time out for a nice chilled shoot. It doesn’t take much to get dressed up again, and the hair and make up are not as important today – with far less to worry about in terms of keeping the dress clean and pristine, we can all relax about location, and get some of the shots that really count.

This afternoon, as the light turned golden, Tijen and Neal brought their wedding attire down to the beach and, with the help of Andrea, Vincent and Regan, donned it all again in the shade of the rainforest canopy. A quick whip-off of the bikini top…

… and we were ready to go.





















Some of our friends were still on the beach and jumped in for a quick shot:

… and back to the pool, for the “finale” …

The question is: did you guess correctly ?



Yes – she jumped!





A quick cuddle to warm back up again:
… followed by a kiss in front of the hotel entrance, just for the record:

… and a thoughtful 5 minutes at the bar before heading up for a shower, in time for dinner.

Another wonderful shoot under our belts.

Ok, ok, I know ! It’s a hard life out here you know! So sorry that i didn’t post again yesterday, but I was exhausted and just couldn’t bring myself to sit at the laptop for long enough to do this.

The wedding was simply AMAZING! Tijen, as you will see, looked absolutely stunning … and Neal was a right old hunk. There was rushing around, there was panic, there were tears and there was laughter .. and that was just the photographers! It was a perfect day in absolutely every way … Even the post-ceremony gusts of wind and torrential rain didn’t ruin the mood – nothing could have spoilt that day …

I would just like to add that all of the photographs you have seen from this week have not been properly processed for print, and are pretty much straight out of camera – so everything may not always be perfect … time considerations this week have meant that I could not do everything I wanted to do.

… and so, to the images …

Tijen was in a wonderfully playful mood, despite the pressure to get ready on time:

Theresa was a superstar and worked to a very tight deadline:

Allison was at hand for the tie-up:



The setting was beautiful:

But the girls were even nicer:

… and still playful:

As the string trio played, the wonderfully beautiful Tijen made her way down the petal-aisle … and at this point there was hardly a dry eye on the beach:












All of a sudden we started to lose the light, and the clouds moved in – we could see the rain coming, so it was a mad rush to get the photos done:


… and, Oh My Gosh, just before the rain hit, we had 3 minutes of pure glory:





… and then, simultaneously, we lost the light, and the rains hit. Gusts of wind blew the petals off the tables and blew the candles out and the rain started pouring in between the three adjoining open-walled marquees – it was like walking through a waterfall every time you went from one to another. Some of the more resourceful were fine:
… but despite the weather, we really didn’t care, and just got on with it:
We ate exceptionally well, the cake was cut and the speeches made:
The rain finally stopped, almost as if on cue, and the bonfire was lit for the first dance:


… and then it was PARTY, PARTY, PARTY round the fire – WOOHOO!


… even the staff joined in, which was wonderful!
Sometimes my job is just TOO GOOD!
Electric kisses all around from Freddy:
… and then you always get that one guest who thinks that they can do a better job than the official photographer )
…and as the night drew to a close, the exhaustion became just too much for the ever-so-proud fathers:
So, there you have it … an amazing day for an amazing couple.