Crathorne Hall Wedding Fayre with Qwest (Quality Wedding Establishment)

Yesterday I travelled down to Crathorne Hall Hotel near Yarm, North  Yorkshire for the Qwest (Quality Wedding Establishment) relaxed wedding fayre.

It was set up quite differently to other wedding fayres i've participated in, and only Qwest accredited members could exhibit their work there which meant myself and all the suppliers had gone through a business assessment and provided work and service of high standard. 

There were two rooms, one set up for a wedding breakfast by The Countryside Florist, Inviting Concepts and The First Class Wedding Company. 

The other had some coffee tables laid out with exhibitors work and we each had a comfortable seating area to encourage brides to sit down for a chat. I really liked this idea as it meant we could really hear brides & grooms ideas about their weddings and have a proper chat. I also met Becci from Hair By Becci  who is a very enthusiastic and lovely hairdresser (Check her out!) and caught up with By Gina who sells a gorgeous range of handmade wedding jewellery and also some amazing shoes (See more of her work through her website or on display at Just Perfect UK. 

Cupcakes were provided by the fabulous Celebration Cakes Peterlee. Unfortunately they were snapped up before I had a chance to try one, but I hear they were very yummy!

Here are some photographs that I took on the day before everyone came in. 

The above is part of my stand! 

Venue: Crathorne Hall, North Yorkshire

Wedding fayre organised by: Qwest (Quality Wedding Establishment)

Room dressing by: The First Class Wedding Company, Inviting Concepts and The Countryside Florist  

All photographs (C) Katie Byram Photography 2013 and must not be used without written permission. 

Lucy & Mark (Whitley Bay & Tynemouth Pre-wedding shoot)

 Lucy & Mark are getting married later this year at High House Farm Brewery near Matfen.

They both love the coast and wanted to have their pre-wedding shoot at Whitley Bay including St. Mary's Lighthouse and Tynemouth.

It was a cold & breezy day but a blanket and coffee break kept us going!

Here are just a few previews with more coming soon :-) 

All photographs & content (C) Katie Byram Photography 2013. 

Please visit my website for more details about fun & relaxed wedding and civil partnership photography, in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland and surrounding areas. 

Blackfriars Restaurant Newcastle Wedding - Chris & Susan (Previews)

Chris & Susan tied the knot in a small ceremony in front of close family and friends, on their 17 year anniversary of being a couple, last weekend. 

They chose the lovely Blackfriars restaurant for their Newcastle wedding, which is a restaurant originally built in 1239 (!) as a monastery. They provide amazing food and as well as hosting weddings, host medieval banquets in their amazing banquet hall.

As the couple live in Nottingham, and their wedding was planned in around six months, we didn't get to meet until a couple of days before their big day, where we enjoyed a coffee and a good chat - was lovely to find out more about them including their love of scuba diving (wait until you see the cake!!)

Here are some previews of their wedding day....which believe it or not was threatening to be snowed on ALL day! It was very bitterly cold and lots of flakes of snow around, but the cosy atmosphere of Blackfriars means you can hardly tell!

After the ceremony and a few group photographs, we had just enough time to grab some frames outside before they sat down to have their wedding breakfast. There's lots of nice stone & brickwork around the venue that we were all keen to have in the photographs! 

Congratulations to Chris & Susan for tying the knot, wishing you a fantastic future together!

If you are looking for fun and relaxed photography for your Newcastle or Northumberland wedding or civil partnership (or infact anywhere in the UK)... please feel free to get in touch via my website for a chat and to see if your wedding date is available. 

All photographs and content (C) Katie Byram Photography 2013. 

Please do not copy or use without permission. 

High House Farm Brewery Matfen Northumberland Wedding - Simon & Lisa

Simon & Lisa got married last March at High House Farm Brewery, near Matfen, Northumberland.

I've decided to have a blog of these lovely spring wedding images as I can't believe this was almost a year ago, 27 degrees that day (My birthday too!) and at the wedding I photographed at the weekend, there was snow! 

You may notice a new format to my blog posts, and that's because I've invested in an app that allows me to make lovely collages of images easily, that means more pretty blog posts and helping me stick to my new years resolution of blogging at least twice a week! 

 Simon & Lisa are both into the outdoors, with a mutual love of VW campervans and their two dogs, all which accompanied them on their honeymoon around the Lakes the week after their wedding.

They chose a lemon colour scheme with spring flowers, Lisa carried a gorgeous daffodil bouquet.

I was absolutely honoured to be there on their wedding day, which was made even more special by the fact that they were the first ever couple to legally wed outside, in the haybarn, which had received it's licence just 2 days prior to the ceremony, so they jumped at this chance.  

Kerry, the lovely registrar, seen above has become a familar face at many of the weddings I photograph in Northumberland, which is great...she's extremely friendly and accommodating with couples, she has a genuine love for her job and is a pleasure to work alongside. 

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, with a blazing hot sun beating down outside but the barn kept everyone nice and cool! 

After some relaxed group shots in the field, we found Rosie the horse wanted to join in with the romantic couple photographs! 

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Heather from High House Farm managed to persuade the farmer to let us use his tractor for some wedding images, as the couple have a keen interest in all things countryside and outdoors and wanted to bring this into their wedding images. 

The couple had an intimate, relaxed lunch with their family and friends, and had the table in a horseshoe format so that everybody could be together. They made some short speeches and then completely shocked me after their cake cutting with the lovely gesture of surprising me with a birthday cake and getting their guests to sing happy birthday to me...something I will never forget and I think I could have also fried an egg on my face !! 

Simon and Lisa danced the night away to their evening entertainment and had the whole family up dancing in the brewery. 

As it began to get dark I went to take some low light photographs once the candles were lit... love the glow!

I absolutely loved this very memorable day, and am delighted that we all share in a special date, it was one of my favourite birthdays ever getting to spend it with this lovely couple and their family, happy smiley faces and just an amazing day.

(C) Katie Byram Photography  Please do not copy images or content. 

If you are looking for fun, relaxed and quirky photography for your wedding or civil partnership, please see my website for more information. I cover the whole of the UK and have photographed in many wedding venues in Northumberland, Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Darlington, Gateshead. 

Focus On Imaging 2013 at the NEC, Birmingham

So last Sunday, Debbie of Debbie Stogden Photography and myself took a road trip down to Focus on Imaging 2013, which is held once a year over several days at the NEC, Birmingham. We arrived in the afternoon, and decided to check out the last couple of hours of the exhibition. 

It was great to have a look around at a quieter time to prepare for the big day of the exhibition on Monday... The following are just snapshots from my compact camera and iPhone (& Instagram... new love of mine) ... it was so busy with lots to see and I didn't want to be weighed down with my camera! 

I loved these pink pom poms on display at the Artsy Couture stand.. 

I loved the Canon stand, they had a tree and lots of "wildlife" (seagulls, owls) and some clouds... and some lenses and cameras of course! 

Light Blue is a great software that's available for photographers to help run their businesses and the admin side of things.. I'm definitely thinking of investing in this soon..! 

Left: The Nikon stand... all those little black things are actual DSLR cameras!! Seriously.... Anyone want to count them? Right: Debbie found a new friend but she was a bit miserable to be honest and not much of a talker so we left her to it! Debbie checked out the Nikon speedlite demo and was very impressed and inspired. 

I was thrilled to find my new album range at Focus on Imaging, and am very pleased to be working with such an amazing company for my new albums. Sample albums are being made as we speak, and I cannot wait to get my hands on them .... 

The day went past really fast, and after making big decisions on the albums to order,  having some lunch, watching a couple of demos, catching up with a couple of other photographers and buying a couple of small gadgets towards my lighting kit, it was time to go home!

I spotted this lovely clock on my way home at Darlington train station, I love it! 

Find our more about Focus on Imaging here

All photographs and content (C) Katie Byram Photography 2013. 

Helen & Chris (As You Like It Jesmond Wedding - Newcastle Wedding Photography)

Helen & Chris got married last July at As You Like It in Jesmond, Newcastle. They were after some relaxed and quirky wedding photography, and were keen also to get some lovely family photographs with their two children.

Helen got ready at her home, and it was a lovely calm atmosphere when I arrived, and lasted throughout (not the usual on hectic wedding mornings!) 

Her bouquet arrived, a beautiful fragrant bouquet which just smelled amazing!! It was from the wonderful Foxtail Lily Flowers  as were the button holes.

After getting into her fabulous one-shoulder dress, Helen and her Dad headed off to As You Like It in a fabulous 1960's VW Beetle car they'd hired.

Everyone was gathering in the Frangapani Room downstairs excitedly awaiting the bride. There are various room set ups at As You Like It for weddings, and they were married facing the window, which lets in a nice amount of natural light for the fairylit/spotlight lit ceremony, which was perfect!
I just love the look between Chris & Helen's Dad as he brought her down the aisle.

As you can see from the above, As You Like It is one of those places that lets guests thrown confetti actually INSIDE the venue, which really captures the fun, excitement (& great photos) of the bride and groom walking back down the aisle once married!

We then went onto the rooftop terrace to capture some relaxed group photographs of the couples' lovely friends and family...

Hows that for a family photograph?!

We then went to do some bride & groom photographs around the building and outside. Chris & Helen were worried at first about where to have their photographs taken, at their pre-wedding meeting a few weeks before we had a good look around together to scout out some locations for quirky urban shots, which is what they were after.... and on the day this was the result:

Roads and a 1960's grey office block? No problem! 

I just love a bit of Britishness in wedding photographs, hence the lovely iconic red post box!

Believe it or not, the two above photographs were taken in a car park, I just found a lovely stone wall to make a great textured background. 

 

The couple had a relaxed small dinner for close family and friends, with lots of DIY touches, including the table plan and cute gift bags. 

 How fab are the personalised Love Heart sweets please!? They were very popular with guests!

I had an amazing day with Helen & Chris and their families, just looking through the photographs here brings back a lot of happy memories of the day!

Wishing them all the best for a long and happy life together :-)

If you're planning a quirky, relaxed wedding and are looking for a wedding photographer  to match, please get in touch via my website Katie Byram Photography. I am based in Newcastle upon Tyne and cover weddings all over the UK. 

I have limited availability left for 2013 and taking bookings for 2014 too! 

All photographs and text (C) Katie Byram Photography. Please do not use images without permission.