Ship Wreck at Fleetwood

Recent photograph from Fleetwood...amazing colours

Steph and Andy's Wedding At the Great Hall At Mains

Stephanie and Andrew….The new Mr and Mrs Beresford tied the knot on Easter sunday, 24th April 2011 at The Great Hall at Mains, Lancashire. An exclusively yours wedding venue, nestled away on The Fylde Coast The sun shone and all their wedding plans came together perfectly.

Let me share with you their special day….firstly the theme….."Breakfast at Tiffanys" so straight away we get a feeling of the gorgeous and elegant 1950"s era, with "Moon River" playing in the background! This wedding theme soon became "Breakfast at Stephanie's!"…we just loved it!!





So lets' start with the wedding venue….wow and wow again…The Great Hall is always immaculate and looks beautiful, however at this wedding it looked absolutely gorgeous….the tiffany blue worked so well and the elegant theme was enhanced by the stunning venue decor created by Dawn of Creative Covers and the lush flowers and table decor by Jane and Jason Thompson of Flower Design. This combined team effort resulted in a breath taking wedding venue!



Stephanie and her bridesmaids got ready at The Shard Inn and Steph chose to use Sonara Parker for her makeup and another Stephanie for her hair….three Steph's in one room was confusing!!
You can see the elegant accessories, from dresses and shoes, to gloves, flowers, tiffany sunglasses…every last bridal detail was perfect!









Andy our groom and the guys looked very sophisticated in their DJ's and black tie's…. enhancing the elegant and sophisticated wedding day Steph and Andy both dreamt off!



Following on from their romantic ceremony, Stephanie and Andy danced down the aisle then enjoyed cocktails and canapes on the terrace of The Great Hall with all their family and friends. As the sun shone, Paul Guard entertained the guests with some fabulous songs… all in the right genre of music for this day. Ashton Photography, myself Stephanie and partner Steve Ashton were delighted to be their chosen wedding photographers. We spent the next or hour capturing bride and groom photographs, some fun photographs of the bridal party and lots of candid and reportage wedding photographs…combine this all together with lots of beautiful detail and I cannot wait to design their wedding album!











Everyone enjoyed delicious canapes and the subsequent wedding breakfast from Twelve event management…the menu was divine ( as always) with an Easter theme of wild game terrine, seasonal roast lamb and a lemon desert…yellow for Easter of course. After a feast of gorgeous food, the speeches commenced…I have to say I so enjoyed them…especially The mother of the Bride Speech….still chuckling about it now!! The Great Hall and Twelve Event management team swiftly changed the room round ready for the evening celebrations.







Stephanie had also selected Joe Hargreaves from Specilised Cakes to design and create the most stunning and detailed wedding cake…the perfect Tiffany colour and detailed icing…the cake stood proud later on for the official cake cutting and first dance. Paul Guard entertained guests during the wedding breakfast and ensured the party got off to a great start with him singing their first dance and getting the guys and girls up for Mustang Sally sing off…so funny!!
A short and sweet summary of a fun, happy and all round great wedding…Steve and I would like to wish the new Mr and Beresford every future happiness x






Suppliers details

Venue
The Great Hall At Mains in Poulton Le Fylde

Photography
Ashton Photography

Flowers
Flower Design

Chair Covers
Creative Cover Hire

Catering
Twelve Restaurant

Entertainment
Paul Guard

Wedding Cake
Specialized Cakes

Make up artist
Sonara Parker

Latest Portrait and Pre Wedding Shoots

Just a short blog post to share some of the portrait and pre wedding shoots we have been doing in the last few weeks.

From past bride and grooms with their growing families to our newest clients with weddings coming up soon. Its been a very busy few weeks.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoyed taking them.

Its been a while since I had some time to update the blog and following on from Claire and Andrews Pre Wedding Shoot in March here are some images from their great wedding. The ceremony was held in Blackburn, followed by a superb reception at Stirk House Hotel, in the Ribble Valley. It was a really superb day with some fantastic weather.

Once Claire and Andrew have viewed their wedding images I will post some more shots from the day. Hope you enjoy this sneak peak!!

Claire and Andrews Lancashire Pre Wedding Shoot

We spent some time with a really lovely couple on Monday. Claire and Andrew are getting married at Stirk House very soon and after a detailed chat over their wedding plans we headed of to our local Worden Park for some relaxed pre wedding shoot picture.

Here are a few images from the shoot along with a small slide show of some our my favourite images. Enjoy!!!

Latest news from Ashton Photography

Its all go at the moment here at Ashton Photography. We are pleased to be spending a lot of time working on commercial commissions and this week, which is really interesting for us.

Yesterday we were working with a really great creative team and some fantastic new clients. They have formed a bespoke tailoring company, Charles Campbell Bespoke Tailoring based in the Ribble Valley. These guys are going to be a real name to watch.

Our job was to work alongside the companies designers and graphics team from Teacake Designs to produce all the images for the companies new web site. This will be going live in the next week or so.

I don't normally post commercial work on this blog, but having seen their product range and experienced the fantastic vibe around these guys, it seemed to make sense to let you know about them. They would be the ideal people to speak to, regarding getting your grooms suit made to measure. Just think no worries about badly fitting suits or shirts on your wedding day.

Loads more images and web links to follow so watch this space. As soon as the finished website is on line I will post a link. In the mean time if you are needing a suit making gents give me a call and I will be happy to pass on your details.

For me the varied and diverse commercial work continues. I am in Manchester on an architectural commission today and possibly Friday, and its more architecture this weekend as well, however, this time in Liverpool.

More wedding venue and supplier information is planned for the blog, so keep popping back and don't forget please, say hello and leave us some comments especially on any ideas you would like us to cover in the future.

Coffee Cake and Weddings At Samlesbury Hall

Wanting to take advantage of yesterdays beautiful weather Stephanie and myself decided to pop out for a drive and treat ourselves to a spot of afternoon tea. We found ourselves at Samlesbury Hall on the A59. What a stunning scene of spring flowers, beautiful woodland and a simply amazing and interesting building.



Samlesbury Hall really is a stunning location and whilst we have photographed a number of weddings there over the years this was the first time I have been there in a non work capacity. As many of you know I do a lot of landscape and Architectural photography, this is really what I do when I am not working with Stephanie photographing weddings, so it was really great to have the chance to take a look around in my own time and indulge my interests in Architecture

Whilst having a coffee we decided it would be a great idea to feature some of the most interesting and popular venues we work at and give potential bride and grooms some insight into what we think are the best wedding venues in the area. Wedding photographers spend a lot of time thinking about weddings so it was no surprise that whilst walking around the Hall and its stunning grounds, we were remembering past weddings we had photographed here.



For some time we have been looking for ways to make the Ashton Photography blog a more interesting and informative source of information for couples getting married and our visit to Samlesbury Hall yesterday gave us the inspiration we have been looking for. I hope to be able to take a close look at many more of the superb wedding venues in Lancashire from the perspective of a wedding photographer. We will also try and give our thoughts on other wedding services and suppliers, maybe we can help you find the people and places that can make your wedding that little bit more special and avoid some of the pitfalls on the way.



So lets get back to the point, with a little bit of information about Samlesbury Hall.

Samlesbury Hall really must be one of Lancashire's hidden historical treasures. The Hall was built in 1325 by Gilbert de Southworth and it was the main home of the Southworth family until the early 1600s.





Possibly built to replace an earlier building on this site which was destroyed by the Scotts in a cross border raid in 1322, the hall has served many functions in its long history, including a public house and later a girls boarding school. However since 1925 when it was saved from demolition for its timber, the hall has been administered by a registered charity trust.



Now this Grade 1 listed building attracts many thousands of visitors each year. The hall now has a licence to hold civil wedding ceremonies, and when we have worked at the hall these have been held in the beautiful chapel. This was added to the original house by the southworth family, in order to upgrade the status of the building to that of a Manor House.

Doing some research I found that in order to be regarded as a Manor House certain key features needed to be present, they were

1. A large household,
2. A chapel and priest,
3. A store of fish for Fridays,
4. Usually a pond,
5. A water mill and grain store.

On a different note the Hall is reputed to be one of the most haunted buildings in Lancashire and legend has it the building and its grounds are haunted by the ghost of Lady Dorothy Southworth amongst others. Samlesbury Hall has featured a number of times on the popular paranormal show "Most Haunted"

So thats enough of the history lesson and I do hope I got at least most of the historical information correct. Whats Samlesbury Hall like as a Wedding venue? I can honestly say its one of my personal favourites. As a wedding photographer the location plays a big part in the images you are able to achieve on the day. At Samlesbury Hall photographically speaking you really do have it all. The grounds can only be described as sublime, always stunningly maintained they provide a great background for wedding photographs.

The wedding team at Samlesbury, Angela and Lindsay, are two great and very capable young ladies.Every wedding I have photographed at the Hall has been superbly run and I know only to well how key the venue events team are in a smooth running wedding. They really do seem to put the bride and groom and their guests at the very top of their priorities, and this shows through in the relaxed feel of weddings at Samlesbury Hall. I have come to learn over the years as a wedding photographer that the relaxed, happy weddings come about not through budget or venue, its the people that make weddings a sucsess. Here you have a team that know how to make an event run well.

Many venues try to create an "old" feel some do it well others fail. Samlesbury Hall is an old historic venue and the romantic side of me, would love the idea of my wedding being a small part of the history of such an important building. Many historic venues can be a lacking in intimacy, but here at Samlesbury the compact nature of the building serves to brined a feeling of warmth and intimacy to a wedding, whilst still providing so much for guest to see, explore and become part of.

We have photographed weddings here at all times of the year and it really is a venue that offers a stunning backdrop at any time. From my point of view I think the grounds look their best in Spring and Autumn.



The Hall its self provides a location most photographers dream about. The exterior is stunning and gives you all those interesting little details that make wedding albums more interesting. I love to be able to tell a story at a wedding and this is a place were the venue is a story in its self.



The interior of the Hall is once again superb for photography, the light inside this building is stunning and as we all know light is what makes pictures. There are so many small and interesting features you really can't go wrong and no matter were you go in the Hall you are blessed with this fantastic quality of light.





That Hall as I have mentioned looks fantastic all of the time but for me its in the evening when the beautiful artificial lighting come on, that the real character of the building shows its self. If you get a chance take time out to explore the stunning stained glass windows, they are amazing and simply draw your attention to the fine detailed work which went into their construction.









The image below from one of our weddings at the Hall last years, shows just how stunning the main hall is in the evening.



Here are a few more images from Samlesbury Hall weddings, just to give you a feel for the atmosphere at the venue.

















So what started out as an afternoons drive, a coffee and slice of very nice cream cake, turned into the idea for some new blog content. It seemed to make sense to start the ball rolling with such and interesting venue as Samlesbury Hall and I hope we can cover some other venues and top wedding suppliers in the near future.

Just in case you are not planning a wedding and also for the many keen photographers who I know read this blog. Samlesbury is open to the public on many days of the year it makes a great day out and offers some amazing non wedding photo opportunities. Take it from me the photographic ideas flow much more freely when a nice big slice of freshly made cake is close at hand!!! This time of year is possibly one of the best times to see the Hall so pop along and experience a really great historic location with your camera.

Over the course of this year we have a number of weddings at Samlesbury Hall and there will be many pictures for you to enjoy, in the mean time I hope you have enjoyed my brief insight into this fantastic Lancashire treasure. If you have any ideas for future articles that would be of interest please let Stephanie or myself know.