A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Karen and Toby.

The day started with some unplanned bridal prep at the couples home in Knaresborough before heading off to Bilton House Register Office in Harrogate.
After the vows it was back to Knaresborough where we stopped off at a little spot overlooking the River Nidd for a few shots, before moving on to the Dower House Hotel - complete with grumpy guard cat at the doorway!
It was a beautiful summer day, with only a few little showers thrown in just to let us know that we were still in England! 
Bridal prep was a complete laugh and the ceremony was pure emotion.
Our little stop off overlooking the Nidd was made perfect when Toby gave his best catalogue posing complete with a pink heart umbrella.
The reception started with the boys cracking the hip flasks out followed by an awesome Best Man's speech with a few visual aids of what can only be described as perfect blackmail photos!

People danced, people laughed and people loved.  That's what a wedding is all about.

Thanks for having me guys - it was awesome!

Here's a few pics from their day.

I had a wedding venue in Chesterfield to visit yesterday and, seeing as it was the first day of the school holidays, I dragged everyone along with me.  On our way back we had a little stop off in the Peak District.
It was a red hot day, so we decided against anything exerting and settled on a leisurely walk round Ladybower Dam.
I decided to go simple on this little trip and just took my old rangefinder style Fuji Xpro1 with a single fixed 18mm prime lens.  It meant I had a single focal length for everything, but it's nice to mix things up once in a while.  It was nice not to have to carry a bag full of lenses with me as I usually do!
We had a lovely little stroll, basked in the sun and skimmed some stones.  Freddie once again threw most of the shoreline back into the res.  And had a complete toddler meltdown when we pulled him away from the water!
Alfie had a little 'paddle' and ended up soaked from top to toe.
Joshua did the usual teen strop thing.

Anyway, as usual I took too many photos.  Here's some snaps. 

My littlest boy turned 2 last weekend, so we've been looking through some of his early photos.  I came across this set that I did, and decided that I'd blog it.

After an on / off labour for 3 weeks, the day came when we were due to be induced.  We grabbed our birthing bags and all the necessary bits and bobs.

And because I'm a kind, thoughtful guy, I grabbed my little Fuji x100 and decided to photo the lot!  (She puts up with some stuff, my missus...)

We arrived to be induced, but this awkward little trouble monkey of ours had already decided that he'd come when he was good and ready. 
And that was now.
After almost 12 hours of nurses, midwives, monitoring machines and gas and air giggles, little Master Freddie Jay Thompson arrived in the world at 8.50PM.
After a very calm labour (Catherine was silent for the entire birth - she probably spoke 10 words in the last couple of birthing hours) he arrived very quietly - never uttering a cry (he saved lots for later though).  He arrived 10 days late, so like anyone that's stayed in the bath too long, he had some proper crinkly fingers going on!  I called him kebab hands, but that didn't go down too well!

We got him home just after midnight the same day.  The staff at Barnsley General were awesome and did everything exactly as we'd wanted.  We got to use the new labour suites too, which was pretty cool. 

Anyway, here he is the next day, having a bit of a clean up. 

And now, two years on, he's a complete little monster. 

He's awesome though.

My boys decided to bake some buns this afternoon, with a little help from mummy.
I needed to test a new lens, so I took photos.  Far too many photos.
Alfie did everything himself, with the exception of weighing out his stuff and cracking eggs.  His buns turned out better than mums did!
Freddie just wanted to eat the chocolate!  He did enjoy a bit of mixing too.

We had a proper lovely, chilled out family afternoon.

Some snaps.