Newcastle "Breathless" marathon sneeky peeks!

It's been a busy week of editing and all bar one lass from the Newcastle Marathon has allowed to show you these sneeky peeks! (the other one is waiting till after her wedding!)

Thanks girls it was fun, look out for the postie in the next week or two!

KJ and Dave's wedding

The gorgeous wedding of Kirsty-Jane and Dave took place at a new venue for me, Kirkley Hall near Newcastle. My first military wedding, and very smart the boys looked too, though that sword looked dangerous!A lovely 11am ceremony, with tears aflowing all around, especially when the registrar mentioned about Dave getting posted to Iraq when the couple got engaged.

This couple were daft about each other; from serious smooches one second.....
to hamming it up for the camera the next!!
And the bride certainly hammed it up on cue when requested!
And my love for brides with long veils continued!

And for those that know KJ well, this shot of her shoes will give you a laugh! For comfy footwear for the reception at the Britannia Hotel, KJ had specially commissioned Crocs with "Just Wed" on them!

Comments from the first ever "Breathless" marathon

From Wedding Ideas Magazine forum;

"Went up to Newcastle for my 'Breathless' shoot with Nikki McLeod yeasterday. It was amazing. Something I've always wanted to do, and so glad that I've done it. Definitely one of those things to say before you die 'I did that'. She made me feel completely at home, I got to dress up in my sexiest underwear, and she made me feel like a top model. Anyone thinking about it - DO IT!! You won't regret it. Now can't wait for my pics to be ready."

"I thoroughly enjoyed my sessions too - thanks Nikki. Never thought i'd dare do anything like that but you made it very relaxed. i hope the photos come out as good as i felt! Bet you were shattered Nikki! To anyone considering it I agree with Sue, just bite the bullet and do it - it is no where near as scary as you think and Nikki makes you feel fab!! can't wait to get my photos!"

"i had mine done yesterday nikki is great and i can't wait to see the pics."

and another comment regarding previous "Breathless" sessions;

" you would have the courage with Nikki. She really put me at ease despite me not being a natural model."

Bleurgh......................

I have just dissolved into a little sweaty blob in the corner, I am so exhausted!

A grand total of 330 miles on the clock, over 12 gb used, with over 1000 images, a gorgeous wedding, and some cracking "Breathless" sessions............... what an amazing last couple of days!!

Congrats to KJ and Dave, who as we speak will be celebrating at their evening reception of their wedding. I was SO glad the rain held off today to allow us outside. Once my brain is a bit more awake tomorrow, I shall download the images and give you a sneak preview here, right on this blog!

And as for you "Breathless" marathon girls in the Newcastle area, you gals ROCK!!! Every single one of you brought something different, in props and personality to your own sessions, as well as girlfriends and husbands; and again I can't wait to download the images and see full screen, the work that was being produced!! I will asking each girl if they will let me put some images on here, that are "safe" for the world to view!! Well done, all of you (and PS i enjoyed my bath at 11pm last night!!)

"Breathless" Newcastle, here I come!

Well, time to depart for Newcastle for a round of "Breathless" sessions, as well as Kirsty and Dave's wedding. Can't wait to meet all the girls, and have a great time at the wedding too!

Here's some previous "Breathless" shots to get us in the mood (all with the permission of the girls in photo!)

Julie and Paul's wedding

Well the good weather continues, and so does the stunning weddings I have been lucky enough to be PAID to photograph!! I truely love this job; I get more excited than the bride sometimes!!

Yesterday's wedding was no exception; Scotland and Northern Ireland joined forces at Balbirnie House for the wedding of Julie and Paul. What a lovely couple, and what a stunner Julie was!
It's always special for me shooting a wedding at Balbirnie, as I got married there myself nearly 8 years ago and going up the drive towards the beautiful Georgian house still gives me goosebumps! So does turning out work like this (easy when you have such an amzing couple!)
I'm really into arty angles at the moment; I don't mind lying flat on my back in order to get the shot!

As well as shooting till after 9pm at night, in the car park in order to get shots like this!

Enjoy the Maldives guys; can't wait to show you the rest of the images when you return!

Lesley and Chris' wedding

Easter weekend; usually unpredictable weather and lots of chocolate.

For me this year, it is BEAUTIFUL sunny weather, a gorgeous wedding and lots of chocolate!!

Lesley and Chris made sure everyone remembered it was Easter weekend, with lots of personal touches at their Garvock House wedding. The daffodils were in full bloom, the bride looked gorgeous and there was tons of chocolate for everyone!!

And the winner is....................

JESSICA AND NEIL!!!

Congrats guys, I will be over to shoot your wedding in Belfast in September!

Many thanks for everyone for entering!

Competition finalists!!

Oh boy did I have a difficult decision in trying to find a winner, and as yet I still haven't decided?!


There were so many fabulous entries, so many great reasons why YOU should win a wedding photography package for FREE from me.



But I have narrowed it down to the following three finalists;



Patra and David
Patra and David are getting married in the Oldham area this year and this is Patra's story;





"Myself and Dave have been together nearly 12 years and due to redundancies for both of us, we have just really struggled to get the money together to pay for a wedding, although it is something we have always wanted, I know we could do it on the very cheap, registry office local pub ect ect, but we wanted something a little special and that meant if we had to wait and save then so be it.
We are not after any limelight or masses of presants from everyone, to us the wedding signifies us being commited to each other for ever and not just about a big party and getting dressed up for the day.
So we have no photographers planned it is just the people attending taking the photos and hopefully we will get some great shots, but a proffesional photographer would be the icing on the cake."

Next is

ROSS & "H"

This couple are getting married in Cyprus this year but coming home for a wedding reception in North Wales.

Their story;

"We have been trying desparately to get a photographer to come to the function to get photos of family members that will be missing as they cannot make it over to Cyprus with us i.e. my fiancees nan who is too poorly to travel etc.

Further details removed now on request of the couple but the rest of the story was regarding a death in the family.

And finally

JESSICA AND NEIL

This is Jessica's story; her and Neil are getting married in Belfast this year

"i would like to win the free wedding photographybecause ive had a crap year literally ...heres mystory..excuse the pun..

went to work in spain to open new store for primarktook really ill in spain thought i had food poisoning..unfortunately not..turns out i had ulcerative colitis which is an inflammatory bowel disease i have never been sick in my life and ivenever heard of this ..to cut a long story short docs tried everything colon swoll up and nearly died and they had to remove it i now have an ileostomy whichmeans i have a colostomy bag and a lovely 7 inch scar on my stomach..

the wedding was nearly cancelled as ivebeen out of work for months however ive just returnedto work and im slowly but surely trying to get my lifeback...as you can imagine my confidence has beenshattered im only 25 and im very self concious so really want wedding pics to be good.

im sure im no more deserving than anyone else but hey its worth a shot!! and im sure my boyfriend would appreciate it as god love him hes had to fork out for everything!"

Can you see my predicament?!

I've got a portrait session this afternoon, so I will be making the decision between the above three at some point today.