On the 25th June I photographed the beautiful wedding of Sarah and Richard at St Mary’s Church in Reigate. Sarah looked gorgeous in her wedding dress and her blue colour theme was interspersed well thoughout the day.

The reception was at Norwood Hill Farm Surrey in the refurbished barn. The bunting was specially made by Sarah’s mother using memorable cloth from both Sarah and Richard and the cornflower pulled the details together perfectly.

I wish Sarah and Richard a wonderful life togeher and I hope you enjoy looking through their photos.

Michelle and Gareth were fortunate enough to get a reserve photographer for their wedding day as their chosen photographer had been involved in an accident. Luckily they knew Sarah, who’s wedding I will be photographing in June, and she pointed Michelle and Gareth to me. Thanks Sarah!

Michelle and Gareth have been together as a couple for a number of years and they decided to make the ultimate commitment to each other and get married. It was a beautiful sunny day and the Anchor Inn is a really nice personable location next to a flowing stream. Perfect for boating

The wedding was personal and intimate and had a special feel. I enjoyed spending the day with Michelle, Gareth and their family and guests.

I wish them a long and happy life together.

I hope you enjoy browsing through the photos.

Lizzie and David live in Switzerland and had their wedding in a lovely Surrey church called St Michael’s in Mickleham. The weather was warm and sunny, the guests were friendly and the wedding was beautiful. What more could you ask for.

The reception was in the Cedar Room at the Royal Automobile Club in Woodcote Park. The golf course at the front of the large main building had a long winding pathway which was perfect to buggy down and get some photos looking back.

It was a lovely day to spend with a wonderful couple and I wish them both a happy and fruitful live together. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Located on Chart Lane, to the East of Reigate town centre, St Mary’s is the Parish Church of Reigate and includes the town centre within its Parish. Part of the Church of England (the Anglican Church in England) welcoming people from a variety of backgrounds.

It is beleived that there has been a church on the site at Reigate since the Norman conquests, and maybe earlier. Not knowing a clear date when St Mary’s was founded, the first written record is around 1160. The church has gone through a number of additions and restorations in the 19th century to bring it to its present state.

As a wedding venue, St Mary’s has a classical look with the Lychgate leading to the double doors at the entrance.

The tower at the front can be easily seen across Reigate and leads you in to the large expansive interior.

As a photographer, the lighting is the same as most classical churches, quite dim and needs high ISO to get the right exposure. Virtually all churches ban flash photography and so the restrictions have to be respected. As these photos show, it looks good at this size.

Sarah and Richard will be getting married at St Mary’s in June.

For further details on St Mary’s Church, you can visit their website at St Mary’s Reigate.org

Founded in 1897 with the aim of encouraging the development of motoring in Britain, today the Royal Automobile Club is one of London’s finest private members’ clubs, combining over 100 years of luxury and tradition with exceptional facilities and outstanding service.

The Royal Automobile Club at Woodcote Park is a very classy venue for your wedding or celebrations. Being a Royal private members club you can see and feel the elegance and prestige and as a photographer, it is a wonderful location to photograph a wedding.

The Cedar Room, which is where my couple will be having their reception, is located on the side of the main building and offers great lighting from the large windowed sides. The antiquated feel is helped by the furniture, fixture and fittings, never looking outdated.

I’ll post a wedding reception from this venue shortly.

Further details of the club are available at the following link: Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Park

St Michael’s is a Church of England parish in the Diocese of Guildford, serving Mickleham and Westhumble in the county of Surrey. It is in the United Benefice of Leatherhead and Mickleham, part of the Christian ministry in the area, working together with other churches.

There has been a church on this site for over a thousand years, and is mentioned in the doomsday book. Being originally of Saxon build, since the Norman invasions, you can see evidence of the two different styles. Now being primarily a Norman style, the interior of the church is slightly askew due to the rebuilds. The expectation of the interior size is misleading from the outside, you don’t expect it to be as large as it is.

As a wedding venue it has a classic church feel with a large Lychgate and footpath leading up to the main door. Perfect for the entrance of the bride and her wedding party as you follow her up the footpath.

The interior has large arched columns and a beamed ceiling that has some modern light fittings to brighten up the room and the altar area. The Vicar, David Ireland, can be heard across the room by the use of a PA system.

Due to the no flash restriction at St Michael’s, which is usual at church weddings, high ISO settings would be needed on the camera but as these images can atest, the photos at this size look great.

Here are a few more details of the church and I will post up a wedding done at this church in a few posts.

For further details of the church, you can visit the website for the Parish of Mickleham.

Over the past few months I have been working on a Welcome Pack for my clients who book an extensive Wedding Package. I am pleased to say that I have now completed the 30 sided pack and would like to share some of the details that I will be providing to prospective brides.

My Welcome Pack is sent out to brides who book a 7 hour plus wedding package, whether that be for a Wedding Album or Digital Media package. The pack is a folder which contains two pouches. The pouch on the left contains a wealth of information to help leading up to your wedding day. It includes photography and non-photography related information as well as a comprehensive checklist. The pack on the right includes all the information that would be needed after the wedding day.

I would like to detail all the information I include in the pack but then I would be giving away all my hard work to competitors so here is a breakdown of the key items and I will leave out the cool surprises for my brides

• Welcome Letter
• Pricing Guide
• Details about your gallery
• Wedding Contracts
• How to look good in your photos
• What to expect on your wedding day
• Wedding Checklist
• Useful Websites for Brides
• Care guide for prints and DVD
• … and many other creative ideas for your wedding

Here are some photos of the welcome pack and its contents. The folder, welcome letter, referral programme details and card with key information:

The pack has two pouches so I can put together “before wedding” and “after wedding” information packs.

Included in the pack are ideas to choosing a Colour Theme for your wedding.

I will be sending out this pack in the next few days and I look forward to producing more and keep it up to date with the latest information.

Happy New Year,
Ram.

Back in the film days we would send off our prints in anticipation of prospective success. And when they arrived, we accepted the outcome, contemplative of what could have been.

Fast forward to the new millennium and the age of the “here and now” is well, here. No longer do we need to wait in hope, what we want, or even think we don’t want are “on demand”, online and a mouse click away. The age of the modern computer and the reduction in size of micro chip has brought us a new world of communicating; with sound and pictures.

We don’t need to wait to see the results of our creative endeavours, they are there for you and all to see, on the back of your media maker of choice. But why settle for that.

More time is now spent on processing photos than is on setting up and taking the photo, something that I enjoy just as much as spending a day with a couple, so in love that they get married.

My typical workflow includes contrast enhancement, colour correction and enhancement. I do this on every image because I have my camera set so that there is no in-camera processing. I would prefer to decide on how a photo should look than let my unimaginative digital friend apply a default recipe.

I then leave it up to my clients to decide if they would like me to spend a little more time and produce something unique to match their style and requirements. Whether it be a classic look, edgy and modern or actual manipulation of the pixels such as skin smoothing or adding a soft glow.

You can try out quick and easy processing edits on your favourite pictures by grabbing some free Photoshop actions from atncentral.com or browsing the net for free Lightroom Presets. Go and have fun!

The leafy suburbs of Sutton with its bubbling brook running through the town centre was the location for Lisa and Lex’s wedding. Lisa had a budget she needed to work to and you wouldn’t guess it with the effort that was put into making the wedding as personal as possible.

Sutton Register Office was the location for the wedding venue, and it is a quaint building with a great garden to take the group photos. The registrar and assistant were great organising the order and it wasn’t long before the wedding ceremony started. Lex was standing with his best man Al and usher Chris waiting for Lisa to arrive. As Julie, Lisa’s bridesmaid, entered the room, Lisa followed with a smile full of emotion.

I really enjoyed photographing their wedding and it wasn’t long before we took the group photos, the bride and groom portraits and packed up to head over to Merton Hall for the wedding breakfast.

I hope you enjoy the selection of photographs

Lisa and Julie looked great together, beautiful bridal party.

Congratulations Lisa and Lex

Lisa wore a beautiful wedding gown with great details

Keep your wedding album safe at home and pull out your stylish and modern Apple device instead.

It’s a Sunday afternoon and you’re relaxing after your yummy roast dinner with your Apple device in hand. Browsing through your wedding photos you find a cool photo that you would like to add to your Facebook page so you use the Facebook app to load it on to your Facebook page. Later, you receive a post on your wall, your friends are impressed by the photo and want to see more. So you arrange a dinner and let them know you will bring all the cool photos. They are probably expecting prints or the wedding album, as you don’t tell them about your Apple device.

Over a few wines whilst you wait for your meal to arrive you pull out your Apple iPad. A quiet hum of Ooo’s come from your friends. As soon as your photos appear, everybody wants to get all tactile and start flicking and flipping through your photos. You use the cool finger movements to zoom in, flip and rotate. One of your friends posts a photo of them onto their Facebook page, directly from your Apple device. They add a witty caption and link back to your wedding album.

Using the Mover app, you start sharing photos of them onto their Apple devices.

Your wedding photos have now become a social media event. Don’t forget to put it away and enjoy your meal

The Apple iPod Touch from RAMYAD Photography will include all your photos that are delivered on your DVD as well as a cool slideshow, if you have ordered one, and you can put your wedding videos on it. With built in WiFi and the new iOS, you can share as well as create your own personal slideshow. Why not create a slideshow gift for a close friend and share your special day with them.

Want a bigger screen? Why not. Take a look at the Apple iPad. Everyone can gather round and share the experience.

Already own one of these devices, or an Apple iPhone? Cool! Your Digital Media Package from RAMYAD Photography will already include web sized images AND an Apple Quicktime compatible MOV file which you can load onto your Apple device.

Further details are available on my Wedding Products and Pricing page.