LJ Photographics Blog

Yesterday we photographed Phil and Liz’s wedding day.

The weather all week had been unpredictable so we were expecting another showery day!

We arrived at the Cottage Inn to capture Liz and her girls getting ready for the day ahead.

We then headed onto the church in Littlewick Green, Maidenhead where Phil was eagerly waiting for his bride to arrive.

Liz arrived in style in a vintage Rover, one of a number of vintage cars they own themselves! She was escorted into the church & given away by her brother Chris.

After the beautiful ceremony we headed onto The Englemere for the drinks reception. The rain continued to drizzle but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit and we throughouly enjoyed the drinks reception entertainment from JuliaK who serenaded the guests.

We still managed to grab a few shots of Phil and Liz outside which was lovely and well worth it, given such a beautiful wedding venue!

We left Phil and Liz to enjoy their evening celebrations and wish them all the best in their future together!

Here’s a sneaky peek at a few of their images from their special day!

Newbury Manor Hotel might just be one of the area’s best kept secrets!
We visited this amazing venue today to take some photos for their Wedding Operations Manager, Katie.

Following a recent refurbishment, Newbury Manor Hotel are looking to re-establish themselves as a leading wedding venue in the area. Based on what we’ve seen today and from our conversations with Katie, we’ve no doubts that this wedding venue is going to prove even more popular!

Closer to the centre of Newbury than you might expect, this wedding venue is an absolute gem!
You’re greeted with a number of lovely surprises as soon as you arrive, the area ahead just opens right up and you’re treated to an amazing view across Newbury Manor Hotel’s 9 acres of parkland and water meadows.

Many of the wedding venues 34 bedrooms feature balconies that allow the lucky guests to enjoy that incredible view!
All of these rooms have been refurbished to very high standards and feel really warm and welcoming! The bridal suite is particularly special, with its beautiful four poster bed and chandelier!

Newbury Manor Hotel is a Grade II listed Georgian Manor House and the decorative style strikes a near perfect balance between the character of buildings from that era and contemporary style.

The venue offers many different sized rooms, allowing them to cater to weddings of many different sizes, from the very intimate to the very grand with a seated capacity of 200 in the Ballroom.

It is also possible to have a marquee wedding within the Hotel grounds, there is a dedicated area for this with power, water and (most importantly?) a BBQ in addition to those stunning views!

Within the grounds, to the front of the hotel is the very highly regarded, 2 Rosette rated, Riverbar Restaurant. As a converted Grade II watermill, this restaurant provides incredible views down river and across the Newbury Manor House grounds. It is possible to secure the restaurant as part of your wedding booking and it’s not hard to see why you’d want to!

If you are planning a Hotel or marquee wedding in the Newbury, Basingstoke or Reading areas, then we’d definitely recommend a visit to Newbury Manor Hotel. You’ll find an excellent and experienced wedding team there who would be very happy to help!
For more details contact Katie Marie, Wedding Operations Manager on either 01635 528 838 or katiemarie@newbury-manor-hotel.co.uk

Here are a few photos from our visit today:

We were very happy to be asked back to photograph De Vere Venues Annual Charity Burns Night at Wokefield Park for the third consecutive year.
This fantastic evening raises money for the Variety Club Children’s Charity and has raised over £200k during the past 3 years.

The complete gallery is now viewable online HERE: (http://bit.ly/wW4OP6)

Wokefield Park’s Mansion House was again treated to incredible projection effects courtesy of SFL Group. This year this included active flames, stunning tartan and GB flag for the launch of De Vere’s Great British Hospitality initiative (if only someone had remembered to turn their bathroom light off!)

The interior was treated to a total transformation again this year courtesy of the ever impressive Cherubs and Bluehat UK.
Bluehat UK designed, built & installed all the dressing in the Mortimer, Old Lounge and Palmer rooms, the 10m horses painting in the bar and the bar lounge pseudo panelling as well as all of the wall decorations, tapestries, paintings, drapes, flicker flames, mirror decorations and screens behind the mini. You get the picture… the scale of the undertaking and quality of execution, never fails to impress!

Guests were escorted to the venue in a fleet of fantastic BMW cars and were greeted by a team of bagpipers & drummers along with a glass of champagne! Definitely a great way to start the evening!

As you might expect, the gourmet food, entertainment, haggis, games and all round atmosphere was excellent!
In a bid to help raise money, some fantastic prizes were auctioned off and one lucky chap won a brand new mini @ midnight!

All in all the night was another amazing success, this year the target of £75k was smashed and over £82k was raised for the Variety Club Children’s Charity.

Everybody appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves and with such successful night’s fundraising!
We hope to see you all again next year!

On Friday we photographed Oliver and Hayley’s wedding day.

We started the morning preparations at Wokefield Park where Hayley was busy with her girls getting ready. Hayley’s dress was beautiful with stunning details – a lot of hours had clearly gone into designing the dress!

We then headed onto Ufton Court where Oliver was nervously awaiting his beautiful bride. Oliver had his best friend fly over from America to support him as best woman, we’re sure that with such a lovely wedding, she would have really enjoyed her first trip outside of the US!

The Barn looked beautiful with all the Christmas decorations, Ufton Court’s Christmas tree is always extremely impressive at 25ft tall!

Following the wedding ceremony, the guests headed over to Ufton Court house for their drinks reception. Beautiful fireplaces and beautifully paneled walls ensure that, even on the wettest winters day, the main house at Ufton Court is very warm and inviting. We were happy to make use of many of the all the indoor photographic opportunities this lovely venue has to offer.

Oliver & Hayley also had a videographer – The Camera Chap who we have worked with previously and it was great to work together again!

One surprise for the wedding guests was Hayley who treated the wedding guests by singing a beautiful song just before the speeches. She was assisted by an extremely good pianist who played throughout the wedding breakfast, filling Ufton Court Barn with musical atmosphere.

Oliver & Hayley had a musical theme to their wedding, which was visible on everything from table names, fantastic mini-piano name tag holders, and even wedding cake!

True to form, the evening celebrations were started with an amazing Jazz band who played for the first dance and for Hayley and her father which was lovely to see before the rest of the guests joined them on the floor!

We left Oliver and Hayley to enjoy the rest of their evening with friends and family.

They are off to Finland for their honeymoon, we hope they have a lovely time and wish them and their family a very Happy New Year!

Recently we visited an up and coming wedding venue who will be opening their doors next year to a whole host of excited bride and grooms to be!

Shinfield Grange is licensed for civil ceremonies with the opportunity to host a marquee reception in their stunning grounds.

Shinfield Grange was built in 1655 where a small, redbrick farm house was built as a tenant farm of the Manor of Shinfield. In 1857, it became the private property of the Cobham family who extended the property considerably and it was then that it became known as Shinfield Grange.

Further extensions to the property were made in the early 1930’s.

The late Sir Eric Palmer (family member of the Huntley and Palmer Biscuit Company) was its last private owner.

During 1949 the estate was passed onto the University of Reading who absorbed its farms into the Department of Agriculture and Shinfield Grange became the centre of the Department of Horticulture. Most of the 14.5 acres immediately surrounding it were then simply used as a teaching garden… we didn’t have anything quite so amazing where I went to school!

The College of Estate Management now owns and runs Shinfield Grange and has further modernised the building and continued the up keep of the fabulous grounds.

The small mellow bricks of part of the outer walls and the low ceiling and wide chimney are now the main entrance hall and still testify to its humble farm house origins which continue to portray the cultural history of the building.

The grounds at Shinfield Grange are truly stunning. With over 14 acres of beautiful Berkshire landscape, it is perfect for those looking for an English countryside wedding!

There are around 98 species of different tree in the grounds and we were truly stunned at how colourful the trees were when we took some photos for the venue in November. Anyone wanting a late Autumn wedding would be well advised to consider this venue, as the colours were still strong in mid-late November!

With the grounds being so extensive there is plenty of opportunity for group shots, and a chance for your guests to explore the natural beauty of Shinfield Grange. There is a pond and bridge, perfect for those photographic opportunities and private and more secluded areas for your couple shots – a chance to have some time alone on your wedding day.

The advantage of this venue is having such extensive grounds allows for any size marquee you require – a great choice if you have a large guest list and need the space!

We can’t wait to shoot our first wedding at this fabulous local venue!

For more information please contact Jeanette on 0118 921 4685.