Holly and Jamie's York city centre wedding was just wonderful. They said their vows in St Deny's Church before walking up Fossgate to the Merchant Adventurer's Hall for their reception.

The forecast was for solid rain - ALL day.. but when they came out of the church the sun was shining and not a drop of rain fell until it was time for everyone to sit down for the meal - perfect timing and we all couldn't believe their luck!

Better late than never! (Oh god, *how* is it June, already?) This year has started flying by at a crazy speed, January and February shuffled by, and suddenly we're approaching the half way point! Here is what's been going on in March, April and May 'Behind the Curtain'..

Last Thursday was just perfect. Jen and Dan were a fabulous and so-in-love couple, their venue was beautiful and the sun shone all day long. I was so excited to join them for their Sandhole Oak Barn wedding in Cheshire - I love a relaxed barn wedding and they had styled this beautiful venue to perfection - it was personal, elegant, slightly rustic and everything just came together perfectly.

I met up with this wonderful (and very colourful!) family for some relaxed family photographs at Preston Park in Teesside, not far from where I'm based. We wandered around, with Martha showing me good trails to explore and Milo being as cute as a button, and found some spots for some relaxed family photographs along the way. 

I had high hopes and expectations for Budapest and it definitely didn't disappoint.. Budapest was our final destination, and my husband and baby came out to meet us there for the final four days of our trip. We had an amazing and central Air Bnb, and spend the days wandering in Buda and Pest, doing a few touristy things, enjoying the sunshine, eating well and cheaply, taking photos and catching up.

I have the highlights from a perfectly-styled shoot today, for amazing wonder woman/head wear designer Katy from What Katy Did Next. I love her mix of metallics and botanicals, and we were lucky enough to shoot really locally to where I'm based at the beautiful Preston Park Museum and Gardens.

Last time I saw Isabelle she was about a year old for a family shoot with Hayley and Tom at home near Newcastle.. I was*so* excited to be back shooting with this lovely family when they got back in touch and and I found out Leila had since joined the family too!

To be completely honest, it's been a little while since I shot an engagement shoot. I love doing them, but recently I've been much more used to wedding days and family sessions.. so when Phillippa and Toby greeted me with "We're a bit nervous!" I replied with "Me too!"

That face! It was wonderful to spend an hour or so with Ruth, James and their little boy George. He was scrumptious.. loved playing with his toys, hugging his cuddly fox, being thrown in the air, having cuddles with Mum and Dad and eating blueberries.. 

Newton Hall is just wonderful to shoot at.. I've been part of so many gorgeous celebrations there and each of them is so different. For today, I have Sophie and Will's travel and cycling-inspired wedding at this beautiful Northumberland venue.

I'm going to jump in and assume you've heard of GDPR (maybe you've even had one or two "Pleeeease let us carry on spamming you in the future even though you never agreed to it in the first place" emails too). Anyway, here is my take. I doubt you'll read this, or care, but here's me trying my best to explain in longer terms that, basically, I won't be a dick with your data (just like I wasn't before today, either).

A throw back to an amazing Vegas wedding today.. Here are Kerry and Rob!

They flew over to Vegas to be married by Elvis in a chapel in the Old Town, before celebrating on Freemont Street with some close friends and family.. Yes, really. It was the stuff of destination wedding dreams. 

Vienna ended up being one of my favourite places that we visited. I had no real idea of what it would be like.. I imagined the buildings would be ornate and it would be beautiful but that was about it. Vienna is cool, beautiful but gritty. Maybe not quite as cool as Berlin, maybe not as beautiful as Paris, but like their love child, taking a bit from each. And they have a bakery on every corner. What's not to love?

We ended up popping over to Bratislava after getting off the night train in Vienna because I had an extra travel day to use on our pass, I literally looked at a map and thought "Hey! It's an hour away, it's worth a few hours to see somewhere else?"

The latest post for 'The Magic Seven' is the lovely Emma and Ben, who had their wedding at the Star Inn at Harome in North Yorkshire. They had their fabulous daughter Noa there (her reaction to them exchanging their rings obviously made it into this selection!) and she had a fabulous outfit, crafted by Emma herself.

​​​​​​​After Zermatt we travelled up to Zurich, ahead of catching a sleeper train at around 10pm that night. We arrived around lunchtime, left cases in storage in the train station, and went straight out exploring. We found a park on high ground where people were playing boules and chess, which had beautiful views over the entire city. We walked down into the old town, through to the harbour and looked out onto Lake Zurich.

Just *look* at those eyes! I spent a gorgeous hour or so with Violet and her Mum and Dad at their home getting some photos in the gorgeous Spring light. It was a beautiful sunny day, so warm outside, and the light came streaming into their home for this set of relaxed family photos.. I've said so many times, but I love shooting at home with little ones. It feels so calm, so normal but so special. Everything is constantly changing while they grow up but the home is the constant.. 

Zermatt is the perfect little ski town. It's isolated (no cars allowed, there are only electric buggies and horses on the streets), picturesque and small enough that you can wander around the entire place easily on foot. I'm so glad we went for two nights, we had a day skiing and visiting the glacier experience, and we explored and ate galette, raclette and crepes.

It was so good to see Samantha and Wayne again, I shot their wedding a few years ago, did a family shoot when it was just the two of them and Thea, and this time I got to meet Bruce too - a wonderful family. I met them at their home near Saltburn-by-the-Sea in Teesside for a family session, and it was the perfect relaxed setting for some special pictures of them with their little ones at these ages.. Thea was a bundle of fun and Bruce was so chilled out and smiley.. 

Montreux was just heavenly.. Not the most lusted-after tourist spot in Switzerland, but just beautiful. It's a town set at the other end of Lake Geneva to Geneva itself, and our train between the two was just over an hour. The buildings were beautiful - some reminded me so much of The Grand Budapest Hotel - but when we arrived it was early evening, and although we could see lights twinkling in the mist over the lake, there wasn't much else to be seen because of the visibility. The next day it had lifted and it was just beautiful. I think I ran to the lake-side as soon as I saw the mountains that morning..