That picture is one of a small handful of photos from my wedding day that I actually like- and sadly it doesn't even feature my husband or me. Planning a wedding can be hard, and sticking to the budget even harder, but one of the most important lessons I learnt was: the cheap option isn't always the best option. My husband and I got married when we were very young and were given a budget from our parents that we had to work within. Sadly we made the decision to let the photography be one of the areas we skimped on and the results were devastating. All in all our photographer was a nice guy and To View More >>

Magnolia Rouge Ruffled The Pretty Blog Wedding Chicks 100 Layer Cake There are so many wedding blogs on the internet but these five are my pick of the bunch. If you're looking for a good dose of inspiration these blogs are full of real-wedding features, design and decor ideas, vendor information and talented photography. We've also been pinning up a storm over on our Queensberry pinterest page with ideas for your dress, the groom, venues, flowers, cakes and more. I also can't escape the opportunity to share this fun little fact: My husband and I were actually featured on The Pretty Blog just a To View More >>

The average wedding photographer works a lot harder today than they did ten to thirty years ago. The promise that digital photography would make life easier and cheaper just hasn’t eventuated. We've been keeping statistics about our albums for thirty years, and I thought sharing a few numbers might reinforce that cliche, “We’re our own worst enemies”. We’re talking averages here, and everybody's different, but this is how it looks to us. Old World Wedding Photography • Medium format camera, 120 roll film, 10 rolls x 12 exp. = 120 shots. • Typical album: To View More >>

Late last year Ian and I caught up with award winning photographer Bruce Gabites at his new Auckland studio. He'd just won his eighth straight Kodak Gold award  in the Wedding Album category, and we wanted to find out his secret... We spent a morning talking with him about why he enters photography competitions and what makes him so successful, the affect winning awards has on his business, and albums – the part they  play in his packages, and how he goes about selling them. To listen to our interview with Bruce Gabites click here (22 mins). Cheers, Nigel PS Bruce recently shared some To View More >>

For Jo and Simon of Shoot Lifestyle Photography, several Annabel Williams' photographic training books provided the eye opener they needed to see the wedding industry wasn't quite as 'naff' as they thought... Seven years on, they've just been awarded the Annabel Williams CPT Award, for the Queensberry sponsored Wedding Album Category. Jo says, "This was a real life wedding album we'd designed for clients Andy and Lisa." Their wedding took place in a quirky little tavern which Jo says exposed some beautiful natural light. The light doesn't last long on a UK winters day though, so they had to To View More >>