Toni & Matthew got married at the beautiful St John The Evangelist church in Heywood near Manchester before moving on to the Bellavista for their wedding reception.

Although it did rain briefly after the wedding ceremony (which as a Manchester wedding photographer I have become slightly accustomed to! ) it didn’t stop Toni & Matthew from having some wedding photographs taken outside of the church, which was great for me as one of the photographs we took at this point (the black and white photograph of Toni & Matthew under the umbrella) is one of my favourite wedding photographs from this year

Toni and Matthew – thank you again for asking me to photograph your wedding for you, I really enjoyed working with you both and I am very pleased you are both so happy with your photographs.  I wish you both a very long and happy marriage together

Shortly after I posted those photographs I was contacted by Nikki, the owner of the fantastic Yorkshire based wedding planning company, I Do Designer Weddings, who really liked Michelle’s Love the Dress wedding photographs and was interested in having some similar photographs done herself!  I was of course more than happy to oblige so last week I met Nikki at the beautiful Bretton Country Park in Yorkshire where we spent an hour taking photographs whilst the sun was setting.

As a Manchester wedding photographer I do not often take photographs in Yorkshire, so it was really nice to go to a location which I hadn’t been to before and really get creative!

Nikki was fantastic to work with and looked stunning in her wedding dress

If you are interested in having a similar Love the Dress photography shoot done yourself then please do not hesitate to contact me!  Obviously this type of shoot isn’t just for brides who got married recently, a post wedding photography shoot like this can be a great excuse to put your wedding dress back on relive your memories regardless of when you got married – Nikki herself got married 10 years ago and I think she really enjoyed wearing her wedding dress again

Nikki – thank you again for asking me to take your photographs, it was really great to meet you and I am really pleased you like your photographs and enjoyed the shoot!  Thanks also for suggesting Bretton Country Park, it’s definitely a location I will look to use again when I am next in Yorkshire.  Looking forward to seeing you again next month in Manchester!

Here are a selection of my favourite photographs from our shoot:

Lynne & James got married at the beautiful Brook Street Chapel, before having their wedding reception at the Belle Epoque itself.  The chapel is perfectly located for couples wishing to use the Belle Epoque as it is only a 5 minute walk away.

This was a fasntastic wedding to photograph, full of smiles and laughter.  One of my favourite memories of the day was watching one of Lynne & James’ friends help people cross the road outside the chapel by donning a lollipop man’s uniform and stick!

We did have a bit of rain (we were just outside Manchester afterall….) but it soon went away and the blue skies came out.  Not that the rain is always a bad thing though, in fact one of my favourite wedding photographs is a shot of Lynne stood on some steps near the Belle Epoque and you can see the rain drops in the photograph – so every cloud…

Lynne & James, thank you very much again for asking me to cover your day.  I really enjoyed working with you both and I am really pleased you like your photographs so much I wish you both a very long and happy life together.  Thank you again, Neil.

Here is a selection of my favourite wedding photographs from your day:

Christine and Dave got married at the magnificent All Saints Church just outside of Chester, before traveling to Inglewood Manor for their wedding reception.  This was the first time I had covered a wedding at Inglewood Manor but I certainly hope it won’t be the last! It is a truly fantastic wedding venue. From a wedding photographer’s point of view it is perfect, as the interior is beautifully decorated whilst the main Edwardian house itself is set in huge photogenic lawns and gardens – what more could a Manchester wedding photographer ask for?!

Christine and Dave were brilliant to work with, they already knew a bit about my style of photography as we had done a pre-wedding shoot in Dunham Massey in Cheshire only a few weeks earlier and I think having that shoot made them both feel more relaxed on the wedding day. The weather was a little changeable for us but we managed to get all the photographs we had planned, including a few lovely sunset photographs which we did just before the first dance.

Christine & Dave – thank you once again for asking me to cover your wedding day, I really enjoyed working with you both. I hope you both have a fantastic honeymoon (which I know you will!) and I look forward to seeing you both again when you get back

Here are a selection of my favourite wedding photographs from your day…

The idea of the shoot is that, after her wedding day, a bride has an on-location photoshoot wearing her wedding dress again, but whereas on her actual wedding day she would have been very protective about the dress (understandably!), on the Love the Dress shoot, she would not be as worried about the dress (that’s the theory anyway!). As a result the locations and shots can be a little more daring – what’s a bit of mud on a dress that you’re never going to wear again…?! The other advantage, especially for the wedding photographer, is that there isn’t the same time constraints as a wedding day so a little more time can be spent on the shoot.

Well, last night I did my first Love the Dress shoot …with my own wife, Michelle!

I have seen some Trash the Dress shoots where the bride has walked in to the sea or even had her dress on fire… now amazing as it can look, I don’t think the fire thing is really for me(!) so we did the shoot at sunset on Saddleworth Moor, just outside Manchester. It was a bit chilly (and muddy!) up on the hills but Michelle braved the elements and I am really pleased with the shots we got

As a Manchester wedding photographer, I am keen to start doing more Love the Dress shoots, so if you are interested, please do contact me! Once I have done some more of these shoots I will add a Love the Dress shoot as an additional extra in my wedding photography packages.

Here are a few of my favourite photographs from the shoot:

The BIPP are the official qualifying body for professional photographers in the UK and their qualifications are seen as a benchmark for excellence, so I am extremely proud to have been successful.

The Licentiateship qualification is the first of three levels of qualification. The next level is Associateship with the top level being Fellowship. So, although I am delighted to have been successful with my Licentiateship, the work towards my Associateship in wedding photography starts now…!

The qualification process involved me submitting 20 images for assessment, consisting of 10 photographs from one wedding and 10 from ten other separate weddings. I submitted my photographs to the BIPP‘s Head Office in May and then had them each professionally printed on as panels ahead of the formal assessment day in York earlier this month. I would like to point out that Colorworld Imaging, who printed my panels for me, were extremely helpful and the quality of the panels was excellent, so a big thank you from me to Colorworld Imaging!

Deciding on which images to choose for my panel was very difficult, as was deciding which single wedding to choose for 10 of the images! In the end I chose wedding photographs which I thought were the safest bets on being successful, not necessarily my favourites or what I consider to be my best wedding photographs, but those which I thought were strong and would favour well in the eyes of the assessors. Some I knew were strong as they had already won awards but others were from recent weddings that I had only shot a few weeks earlier.

From the feedback I received I can now see that I didn’t always make the right choices in terms of image selection, but that is all part of the learning process and it illustrated to me the importance of taking part in a mentoring programme and/or gaining feedback from other qualified wedding photographers before submitting for assessment.

I am delighted to now be a fully qualified Manchester wedding photographer with with one of the UK’s leading photographic organisations. To quote the BIPP’s website “World recognised, BIPP qualifications are a benchmark of excellence” so I am very proud to now be able to put the letters LBIPP after my name

Here are the wedding photographs which made up my panel of 20 images, the first 10 are from ten separate weddings and the second 10 are from one single wedding:

Before going full time as a Manchester wedding photographer I used to work with Matt so was really pleased to photograph his wedding. This was such a fun wedding and I could feel the excitement as soon as I started taking photographs at Laura’s parents house in the morning and it continued throughout the whole day.

After Laura & Matt returned from honeymoon they sent me a lovely email to thank me for their photographs. It’s comments like these that make all the hard work so worthwhile

We are just going through the photos now and we think they are amazing. We are both so, so pleased with the quality of your work as are the people we have shown them to. Also, your commitment on the day was just astounding. It was such a long day but all the hard work you put in is clearly visible in the pictures.

Laura & Matt – thank you again for asking me to photograph your wedding, it was a pleasure capturing your wedding day for you. I am so pleased that you are both so happy with your photographs. I wish you both a very long and happy marriage

Here are a selection of my favourite photographs from your wedding day:

Vicky and Jeremy are one of the nicest couples you could ever come across and it was an absolute pleasure to capture their wedding day for them.  The day was filled with smiles and laughter and also a big surprise as Vicky’s sister Emma surprised Vicky by hiring her a super cool camper van to take her to the ceremony!

Earlier this week, after they had viewed all their wedding photographs, Vicky and Jeremy sent me a really nice email to thank me.  As a Manchester wedding photographer, receiving feedback like this makes all the hard work so worthwhile and shows why wedding photography is the best job in the world!

“Thank you so so so so so so so so so much for the photographs – they are absolutely amazing and we are over the moon with them. We knew that you would be brilliant but you have absolutely blown us away!”

Vicky & Jeremy – I wish you both a very long and happy marriage together.  I have really enjoyed working with you both and I am so pleased you are both so happy with your photographs.  Thank you again for asking me to cover your wedding!

Vicky arrived in a camper van – how cool?!

After the wedding ceremony, Vicky & Jeremy went for a short drive around Knutsford..

I am particularly proud of the four photographs below, certainly amongst my favourites from this year

I have been lucky enough to take photographs in some amazing places all around the world including Africa, the USA, Europe and of course, sunny Manchester!  During this time I have taken many photographs which I am very proud of.

I have always enjoyed sharing my favourite shots with others and  I am now pleased to announce that many of my favourite personal collection photographs are now available to purchase in a new online gallery.  I have tried to be quite selective in choosing which photographs I make available to buy and have only included what I consider to be my very best work to date.

To view the online gallery (currently split in to two galleries, ‘Wildlife‘ and ‘Landscape‘) and purchase prints, please click on the link below:

http://neilredfern.zenfolio.com/personal

I hope you enjoy looking at the photographs as much as I have enjoyed taking them Photographs can be purchased as prints and canvases as well as many other items such as keyrings and t-shirts.

Here are a selection of shots which I have now made available to purchase:

My favourite photographs from our shoot in Manchester can be seen by clicking here.

As well as myself taking photographs, the amazingly talented Tom Harrington of Silk Wedding Videos filmed the photoshoot for us and has just finished editing the video.  Tom’s video is fantastic and illustrates the fun personalities of the quartet perfectly!

For more information regarding The Leos Quartet or Silk Wedding Videos, please take a look at their websites:

The Leos Quartet – www.theleosquartet.co.uk

Silk Wedding Videos – Silk Wedding Videos