Written by Nic on February 26th, 2010
It was my pleasure to photograph the wedding of Ben and Helen last Saturday at the popular South Wales wedding venue the Neath Towers Hotel and Spa in Jersey Marine near the Swansea SA1 waterfront area.
My first wedding of 2010 was greeted with fantastic blue skies and sunshine for pretty much the whole day. Lets hope this is a good omen for 2010!
After photographing Helen getting ready at her parents home in Swansea, we made the short trip to the beautiful St. Samlets church in Llansamlet for the wedding ceremony. Afterwards it was another short trip to the Towers Hotel for Ben and Helen’s wedding reception.
After arrival drinks I took a breezy and cold tour of the grounds with Ben and Helen to capture some fantastic bride and groom images. Using the grounds to their full potential Ben and Helen were great to photograph and made my job very easy. The venue, grounds and weather added to their enthusiasm (and bravery in the cold,) to allow us to capture some ’summery’ looking images in the middle of February! Thanks guys. I hope when you see the images you’ll think it was worth the effort.
After a quick warm-up back inside we ventured outside again with their family and friends for some group photos and finished things off with some images of them with their bridal party. Then everyone headed back inside for a warm meal.
If you were at this wedding I hope you enjoy the ’sneaky peak’ images above and would like to invite you to visit Ben and Helen’s own page on our website here, where from March 19th you’ll be able to view all of the stunning images from their special day.
I’d also like to invite friends and family to leave Ben and Helen a personal message below to wish them a safe trip for their honeymoon.
Thank you for inviting me along to your special day. Enjoy your honeymoon and safe travelling.
Nic.
Posted in Weddings | 6 Responses »
Tags: February wedding, Jersey marine, Neath, Neath Towers, Neath Towers Hotel and Spa, Nic Cleave Photography at the Towers Hotel, photos, recent, South Wales, Swansea, The Towers, The Towers Hotel, Towers, venues, wedding, winter wedding photos Wales
Written by Nic on February 15th, 2010
It was my pleasure to photograph Charlotte, Oliver and Josh last weekend at their home in Neath. Unusually for me this session was a ’studio‘ session, so after setting up the lighting and backgrounds etc, we got down to capturing a series of photos for Mum (Debbie’s,) 50th birthday surprise! The images will be combined in one of our very popular ‘combination print frames,’ to hang on the wall as a large format 50th birthday present from Debbie’s 3 children and her partner John.
You can read more about our Location-based family portrait services here, and to see the full range of large format display options, just click here. If you’d like to schedule your own location-based family portrait session with us, please contact us here.
We hope Debbie likes her surprise birthday present and would like to thank Charlotte, Oliver and Josh for a fun session. I hope you guys like the images to?
Nic
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Tags: family, family portrait photographer, location based portrait photographer, Neath, Nic Cleave Photography, photographer?, photography, photos, portrait, session, studio
Written by Nic on February 9th, 2010
We’d like to thank all the couples who came along to meet us on our stand at the wedding fayre last Sunday at the Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel in Coychurch Bridgend. A special thank you to the two couples who booked their 2011 weddings with us at the fayre, and to the other couples who scheduled meetings at our studio over the next few weeks, to discuss their requirements in more detail.
If you were at this fayre, thank you for visiting us. We hope you found the event useful and look forward to hearing from a few more couples who came along and spoke with us, over the next few weeks and months.
In two weeks time we’ll be attending our last fayre of the winter at the New House Hotel near Cardiff on Sunday February 21st. If you’re thinking of coming along to the fayre to see us, please contact us and let us know, so that we can expect you. The few fayres we select to attend each year are usually incredibly busy, so if we know that you are coming we can set asside specific time to speak with you. This will be our last appearance at a wedding fayre until autumn/winter this year, so your last chance to visit us ‘on the road.’
Good luck with your wedding planning, and as we said to many couples at the fayre, if photography is high up on your list of priorities, please don’t delay in booking your photographer (even if it’s not Nic!) Nic can only photograph one wedding per day and once a date is confirmed it’s gone for another year, leaving some couples having to select their second or third choice of photographer. Please don’t let this happen to you.
Nic.
Posted in General info, Weddings | No Responses »
Tags: bridal fayres, Bridgend, Cardiff, Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel Coychurch Bridgend, fairs, Nic Cleave Photography, show, South Wales wedding fayres, Swansea, wedding, wedding fayres south Wales
Written by Nic on January 23rd, 2010
We have today received our new studio sample ‘Intimate’ storybook album set (A4 sized album measuring 12 x 8 inches.) Featuring the fantastic recent wedding of James and Lee from September 2009, this new sample album is now available to view by couples who come along to the studio to meet with us, and of course will be coming with us to the weddings fayres we’ll be attending in February.
If you’d like to see the kinds of images contained in this new storybook album, please click here to read James and Lee’s blog entry from last September. This album of course replaces one of our favourites in recent years, the wedding of Ellie and Jez from Cardiff. (click here to see their album or click here to see their wedding published as a ‘Real Wedding’ feature in a leading wedding magazine.) Thank you to both couples for allowing us to show your personal images to our prospective couples. We are looking forward to sharing this new story of James and Lee’s day with the many couples we’ll be meeting over the next 12 months.
If you’d like to see a gallery full of images of our full range of storybook albums, parent albums and mini albums etc, please click here.
Remember our storybook albums are NOT the same as you’ll find from other photographers. We are very proud of this fact and it’s one of the many reasons our couples choose us. The main ones are as follow:
1) We use probably the finest album producer in the world to print and bind our storybook albums. No paper thin pages like the coffee table books some photographers supply and claim to be ’storybook albums.’ We supply only full-sized albums, so there are no ‘hidden costs’ in supplying cut-down versions of the albums initially with our packages, hoping that you’ll want a bigger and more expensive album later!
2) Each album is designed carefully by Nic using the unique images from your day, from scratch. Nic does not use album design software that relies on templates which make all albums look the same. Each album produced is a unique and highly personal reflection of the story of your day and is designed by him from scratch, every time.
3) Nic does not simply send off a disc of 100 images from your wedding to an album company that employs third-rate graphic designers and illustrators to design his albums for him. Nic was the photographer on the day who witnessed your story unfolding before his camera, so is the best person to re-tell the story of your day through the design of your unique storybook album.
4) Nic does not rely on date sensitive design trends to create a wow factor or high impact for low quality images. Instead he prefers to let the high quality of your wedding photographs do the wowing and impacting themselves. This ensures his albums are as ‘future proof’ as possible.
To read more on why Nic’s range of storybook albums is so popular please click here.
Nic.
Posted in Weddings | No Responses »
Tags: albums, exclusive, hand-designed, luxury, Nic Cleave Photography, South Wales wedding photographer, storyboard albums, storybook wedding albums, storybooks, unique, wedding
Written by Nic on January 13th, 2010
Following on from the popular US concept of ‘Trash the Dress’, photographers in the UK have developed a more refined version of the idea, called ‘Cherish the Dress.’
We are pleased to announce that from 2010 we are now able to offer this service to our wedding couples. If the name isn’t enough to give you an idea of what’s involved, then please click here to read more. Basically it’s an opportunity for you to wear your gorgeous dress a second time for a two-hour location-based portrait session, (with or without your man.) After spending £100’s or in some cases £1,000’s on your dress, most end up in a box in the attic. Why not dust it off and wear it again and create a set of stunning artistic images focusing on you and your dress?
With packages including framed prints starting from just £295, these sessions are likely to be as popular as our Engagement location-based sessions introduced in 2008, and of course are not just limited to our own wedding couples. Perhaps you were not happy with your original wedding photos, venue locations, weather on the day, or time of year etc etc. these sessions are open to any former bride (and her man,) so don’t hesitate to contact us and book your own soon.
We’ll be updating our Cherish the Dress image gallery (here) throughout 2010 as we create more wonderful images with our brides and couples, so don’t forget to check back later in the year for fresh images and different locations.
Nic
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Tags: bridal, cherish, Cherish the dress, dress, location-based, Nic Cleave Photography, photos, portrait session, South Wales cheris the dress photographer, the, Trash the Dress, wedding
Written by Nic on January 6th, 2010
It was my pleasure to photograph the Christmas winter wedding of Natasha and Gethyn at the beautiful Craig-y-nos Castle on the edge of the Brecon Beacons national park, on Wednesday December 30th.
My last wedding of 2009 almost didn’t take place as weather forecasters had predicted up to 8 inches of snow to fall in the area the day and evening before the wedding, but luckily they got it wrong again, leaving us with heavy rain and sleet instead. The first time I have been ‘happy’ to see the rain on a wedding day, as it meant all of Natasha and Gethyn’s guests were able to make it to the castle, nestled on the edge of the Brecon Beacons.
After photographing Natasha getting ready with her bridesmaids and flower girls, I met up with Gethyn the groom, and his best man and ushers for some fun and relaxed ‘boys’ photos in the bar before a civil ceremony held in the main theatre under candle light. This was followed by some home cooked mince-pies and welcome drinks in the bars of the castle with guests making full use of the gorgeous roaring open fires.
Natasha and Gethyn then braved the wet and very cold conditions to venture down to the river footpath and bridges for some ‘bride and groom’ photos, making full use of Natasha’s fantastic bridal wellington boots! After a brief 15 minute walk assisted by two of Gethyn’s ushers keeping the worst of the rain off of us, (thanks guys,) we headed back up to the castle for a few family shots back inside the theatre and the wedding breakfast, followed by the speeches.
To finish off the photos of the day while Natasha and Gethyn and their guests enjoyed the meal, I waited for dusk to slip into night to capture some atmospheric outdoor shots of the castle.
If you were at this wedding, I hope you have enjoyed the ’sneaky peak’ images above and would like to invite you to leave Natasha and Gethyn a personal message below. You will be able to view all of the stunning images from this beautiful day from this page of our website, from January 10th when they return from their honeymoon.
Have a great holiday guys and safe travelling.
Nic
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Tags: boots, Brecon Beacons National Park, Brecon weddings, bride, Christmas wedding photos, Craig-y-nos Castle, Craig-y-nos Castle wedding, Nic Cleave Photography, photos, South Wales wedding venue, specialist winter wedding photographer, wedding, wedding photographer, wellingtons, Welsh Castle wedding, winter, winter wedding photography, Xmas wedding
Written by Nic on January 5th, 2010
Let us be the first to welcome in the new year and new decade with our warmest congratulations to all of those couples who got engaged over the Xmas and New Year period.
A popoular time of the year to ‘pop the question’, we are always delighted to meet the couples in the first few weeks of January who have recently become engaged. If this applies to you, then don’t leave booking your photographer any later. As soon as you have confirmed your wedding date with your venues, the next thing to do is to make the important choice of selecting your preferred photographer.
We have a lot of advice on the ‘Frequently Asked Questions‘ page of our website to cover this important decision making area of planning your big day. You may also find this (and many other questions on photography,) posed by brides in the many ‘Q&A‘ articles that Nic has written for ‘Your South Wales Wedding’ magazine useful. Click here to see previous editions of this magazine where Nic writes as the ‘Photography Expert.’
If you would simply like to know if Nic is still available on your wedding date, then click here to visit the ‘Date Check’ page of our website. If you’d like to see our new range of 2010 packages with pricing details, then please click here. If you have any questions about your wedding photography that are not covered by our comprehensive website, then please call us at the studio, or send us a quick email. Contact details are here.
Finally, we’d like to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2010. We are looking forward to another year meeting and photographing new people, and to working with all of our wedding couples and families to create the perfect emotional record of the important events and mile stones in your lives.
Best wishes,
Diana
Posted in Awards and publications, General info, Location-based Portraits, Weddings | No Responses »
Tags: 2010, 2010 wedding photography packages, 2011, award winning photography, family, location-based, Nic Cleave Photography, photographer?, portrait, South Wales wedding photographer, wedding, wedding photography prices
Written by Nic on December 24th, 2009
Our final post of 2009 is to wish all of our clients, old and new, a merry Xmas and happy New Year. Our best wishes for a healthy, wealthy and happy 2010.
Thank you for your business in 2009 and Nic is looking forward to photographing your wedding or location based portrait sesion in 2010.
Although the studio will be closed from Dec 24th until January 4th, you can still email us with your enquiries.
If you wish to check if Nic is still available for your wedding date, please visit this page and let us know a few simple details about your plans so far, and we’ll respond by email as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
Nic, Diana, Mia and Josh.
Posted in General info, Location-based Portraits, Weddings | No Responses »
Tags: 2010 location-based portrait photography, 2010 wedding photography, happy New Year, Mery Xmas, Nic Cleave Photography
Written by Nic on December 15th, 2009
It was my pleasure to photograph new arrival ‘Baby Heath’ last Friday. Born just three weeks ago to Mum Ellie and Dad Jez, the session took place at home in Cardiff.
Regular visitors to our blog will remember Ellie’s pregnancy session (the second of three location-based portrait sessions in our popular ‘Bump-to-Baby’ package,) from November, and images from this session can still be seen here.
We managed to create a variety of images throughout this 90 minute newborn baby photography session and have included a small selection above. If you are a family member or friend of the family and would like to see all of the images from this newborn session, please click here. We hope you enjoy the images above and would like to invite everyone to leave comments for Heath, Ellie and Jez below.
I enjoyed meeting and photographing the newest addition to the family and I’m looking forward to photographing you all again in the summer next year, when we complete the third location-based portrait session of this Bump to Baby package, with the ‘Family‘ session.
Have a merry Xmas and a happy New Year.
Nic
Posted in Location-based Portraits | 3 Responses »
Tags: baby photographer specialist, bump to baby photography package, newborn baby photography, newborns, Nic Cleave Photography, photos, portrait photography, pregnancy portraits, South Wales location based portrait photographer
Written by Nic on December 9th, 2009
Posted in Weddings | No Responses »
Tags: Caer Beris Builth Wells, Caer Beris Manor Wedding, Mid Wales wedding venues, Nic Cleave Photography, photography at Caer Beris Manor, Powys, recent weddings at Caer Beris Manor, venue, wedding, winter, winter wedding photography
