Started designing Donna and Alex’s album. Meanwhile Tara and Jon’s draft for their 8″x12″ magazine-style album is out for approval. Tara emailed me some Illustrator files that she used for her wedding invitations and seating plan, and I incorporated some elements in her album layouts.

Here are some pages from this album:

If you seriously interested in photography you can’t miss a Vanity Fair Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. It opened on 14 February and will stay in London until 26 May 2008, and then will tour to Edinburgh in June.

150 photographs of celebrities by Edward Steichen and Cecil Beaton, Annie Leibovitz and Mario Testino and many others from the Vanity Fair earlier period (1913-1936) and its modern re-incarnation since 1983 are on display.
I am going to visit the show on 7 March after my photoshoot with Sharon and KIm.

The link for the exhibition webpage is here: http://www.npg.org.uk/vanityfair/index.htm

Designing Tara and Jon’s album now. Meanwhile Michelle and Doug’s album draft is out for approval.

Here are some layouts from this album - the backgrounds are kept white with pale grey accent bars, and a clear modular grid base:

I bought a Living North 2008 wedding supplement last week which listed lots of wedding venues in the North East, mostly Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham County.

As one does, I kept pestering John by showing him various pictures - “Can we go there on Sunday? Can we have a look? Please, please, please…” Finally, after three days of strategic seige, he agreed.

Most castles are closed until spring but the ad for the Alnwick Garden caught our eye. We googled it - unlike the Alnwick Castle the garden is open all year around. Apparently you can have your wedding ceremony in the Pavillion and a drink reception overlooking the Grande Cascade on the Pavillion terrace. You can dance under the stars and have your photos taken in the gardens. We decided to check it out and set out at 2pm so that we can catch a bit of the golden hour on arrival.

A view as we entered the walled garden through the Pavillion:

The Grand Cascade:

Detail:

One of the water features symmentrically framing the cascade:

If you are a lover of roses don’t visit this place when it’s cold - you’ll only see the labelled stalks. But we were told that in the winter you would have a better chance to appreciate the exposed structures of the Garden and we were not disappointed:

Entrance to the Ornamental Garden:

The Venetian gates above are 500 yers old and were bought as antiques by the 4th duke of Northumberland.

Although most of the plants were still asleep we were greeted by a wonderful aroma of herbs from the miniature hedges:

Some plants were already in bloom:

The most spectacular features of this garden in winter are the crabtree branches intricately trained around wooden structures. Little apples looked like cherries:

The Garden was closing at 4pm so we had to make our way out and went to see the famous Treehouse bathing in the low winter sun. It’s one of the largest treehouses in the world and you can hire it for your wedding reception/breakfast. I think it can fit in up to 90 people.

A view up from the walkway:

Walking on a rocking rope bridge was fun:

Here’s John balancing on the rope bridge:

On the way back we stopped at one of the viewing platforms overlooking the grounds of the adjacent Alnwick Castle (it will re-open on 20 March):

It was a really-really lovely Sunday afternoon! I’d better start working on John for our next mystery North East trip…

John and I are sending our condolences to Carly, our former bride, whose uncle died last week.

Charlotte and Oliver booked their pre-wedding shoot In Newcastle upon Tyne for mid-January. John and I were keeping our fingers crossed to have good weather and temperatures preferably above zero. Actually it was quite a mild day in the end!

A couple of days before the shoot I saw this neon-lit entrance of the Gentleman’s Club (you know the kind) and loved hot pink colours, so we started our pre-wedding session there:

Outside a little underground passage with yellow walls next to 55 Degrees North building:

When John and I first moved to Newcastle his friend Fion guided us on a cocktail bar crawl past this modern structure of grey concrete and pink coloured accent walls. You probably heard of the name from the BBC series about Newcastle a few years ago.

Outside 55 Degrees North:

I’ve been reading my local interest books about this location - the Holy Jesus Hospital and the Soup Kitchen. The hospital was founded in 1681. It’s one of only two complete seventeenth century buildings still surviving in Newcastle upon Tyne. It’s got 30 brick arches set on square pillars which we put to a good use:

I loved geometric lines of this Newcastle car park staircase - it looked almost like those New York staircases you see in American films:

We finished the session at dusk at the quayside:

Thank you for this chance to work together, guys!