At last, after a lot of stress at this end, I have my finalists!!
There were lots of lovely emails in my email box over the past month, with many deserving people looking for the big prize. But there could only be 3 finalists.................. So after taking out those that were getting married on dates I was already booked for and those who already had photographers booked, I had to whittle the entrants down to 3.....
And here they are!!
And here they are!!
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Louise & David
Me and my finance, David , got engaged in August, after almost 8 years together! I have almost given up hope however when we were in Rome for my birthday he got down on one knee at the Spanish Steps and popped the question! I said yes straight away (I had thought about keeping him waiting another 8 year's for the answer). We both were very excited to return home to tell our friends and family and most of all our little boy Cameron, who is 10months old.
We plan a small intimate wedding of 30 of our close friends and family in September 2012 at Kinnettles Caste in Fofar. Its an amazing venue but the costs of the castle with the marquee for the evening dance its proving too much that we are worried we can't afford to do every thing.The caste and grounds are amazing, especially for photos!!!! We are both in love with the venue and would love to win this competition.
I have attached a photo of us - its minutes after we got engaged so it really captures our excitement
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Katrina & Cameron
Nominated by a friend who would like to remain anonymous;
I met Katrina only a few months ago, but in the short length of time I have known her she has changed my life forever.
Katrina came into my life at a very dark & difficult time, I had been undergoing fertility treatment for years but earlier this year we were given the devastating news that we would never have our own child, due to be diagnosed with cancer in 2006, I had been left without any egg reserve.
The only chance we had of becoming parents would be to find a person who was willing to donate their own eggs. As the laws have changed and donors are not longer anonymous very few people opt to do this.
I was starting to come to terms with the fact that we would never become parents, when I came across a website discussing fertility issues , after reading several entries I started to feel deflated as many of the woman wanting to donate were looking to cash in on sell their eggs but Katrina's message stood out and seemed very genuine. I decided to take a leap of faith and email her and ask if she would be able to help us fulfil our dreams of becoming a family.
I received and email back from her within 2 hours and she was willing to help us !!! I can't explain how amazing this felt, like we had been handed a life line.
Becoming a donor is a very complicated and long process and involves a lot of tests injections, hormones and emotions, but within days of swapping stories and chatting to Katrina,
she started the journey off becoming our egg donor.
She is the most amazing, selfless, and generous person I have ever had the chance to meet, she herself had a long fertility battle, but after 8 years she managed to conceive Twin girls and had a son 6 years later naturally. She totally understands the journey people have to face and wanted to help another couple have the same happy family life she has blessed with.
Katrina has now found the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with and is due to get married in 2012.
Nikki, you captured my wedding day from start to finish in the most fantastic way. I still look at the pictures and am transported back to the best day of my life so far, I would love to give this experience to Katrina & Cam, allow her to feel like a "princess" for a day and help capture every special moment as she is one very special individual.
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Katelyn & Craig
Craig and I met when we were unemployed. He was watching anime and I was havering about a game (Modern Warfare since you asked! :P). It didnt take long before we realised we had alot in common. So thinking he was cute and fun we decided to have a little fling. But I never got rid of him! We were a "proper" couple pretty quick. Gaming and laughing and other fun things *cough* were how we spent our time together. Anyway we got very serious after we went to Sonisphere, a rock music festival, when we realised I was pregnant. Ok that's a lie - he realised - I denied it for a month. Or two. Now we had talked about these things and how important they were and I had always said I wanted to be married first (a stability thing not a religious thing!) Just before my birthday Craig went and got me an engagement ring. I was very pregnant at this point and he proposed terribly! He tried to hide the ring under my pillow but I woke up and caught him! I just ended up laughing my ass off as he tried to make it romantic afterwards! And the rest, as they say, is history.
Why we should win:
Well, honestly, a real photographer would be great. My brothers girlfriend is going to do some as I think it will help her for getting into college for photography and it gives us a little raw talent on our pics. I wish she could be a proper guest though! Our wedding is a little affair. And we are (read I am!) trying very hard to get it all done. We have a budget of only £500 so with 50 odd guests we aren't exactly getting much. What we do have, I am, for the most part, making it. We would love to have a real album and some gorgeous pictures while everyone's drunkenly playing on space hoppers in their best threads! And I would love to know that my brother's date can actually be a date rather than working properly. We have decided to try and make our wedding about our family and friends. With most of our money going into the food, fun (guitar hero face offs!!) and favours for them all. Its in no way traditional. But my will it be fun!
Three amazing couples with three amazing stories......
So who wins??? In the words of "Big Brother", YOU DECIDE!!
What you need to do now is go to the Nikki McLeod Photography Facebook page, go to Contests and vote for YOUR favourite! The Facebook page is the only place you can vote and you can only vote once so make your vote count. The closing date is Tuesday 18th October midday, and you can place your vote from today (14th October) midday!
So what's stopping you? There is a special couple looking for that amazing prize of a fully qualified Master Photographer on their wedding day. VOTE!
