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Last month I headed up to Williamson Park in Lancaster to capture a pre-wedding shoot for Rachel and James.

Rachel and James first met while studying at the University of Lancaster and so wanted to have their pre-wedding shoot close to where it all began! Williamson Park is an absolutely gorgeous park with amazing views over Lancashire and the Lake District. There were so many lovely spots for pictures, I could see why they chose this spot for the shoot!

Rachel and James did a great job of not looking too cold and cuddling for warmth as we shot in the snow. I cant wait to shoot their wedding next month at Askham Hall when hopefully it will be abit warmer!

If you are thinking of having a pre wedding photoshoot but are feeling unsure check out 5 Great Reasons to Have a Pre-Wedding Shoot!

If you would like to book a fun and laid-back couple shoot or would like to add a pre-wedding shoot to your existing wedding package please get in touch here!

Why it has taken me so long to blog this wedding I do not know because everything about it is awesome! Tea- dresses, tweed suits, wild flowers, afternoon tea, succulents, sunshine and an oh-so-subtle Lord of the Rings theme…er, yes!!!

It was last Spring that I had the honour of capturing Charlotte and Paul’s wedding day at Heskin Hall in Wigan. I had met Charlotte and Paul a few months earlier for their engagement shoot and knew their day was going to be a fun one. I was not wrong!

Charlotte and Paul married in the beautiful Tudor manor house that is Heskin Hall surrounded by their friends and family and adorned in sunshine and smiles. The day could not have been more perfect.

This weekend myself and some of my favourite female family members headed to the Lake District for a weekend of maxing and relaxing. We stayed at the lovely Rowan Cottage in Backbarrow near Newby Bridge, a gorgeous converted mill overlooking the Leven estuary, and it was perfect!

The snow we’ve had in recent weeks seemed like a distant memory as we sipped gin cocktails and prosecco in our private hot tub. Between splashing about in the “hot tub of truth” and lounging around in our pajamas we also managed to explore the local countryside, debate what seemed like every topic in the world and eat our body weight in chocolate and snacks (mainly popcorn, so…much…popcorn).

I had a blast. And if you’re ever looking for a nice place to stay in Cumbria I would highly recommend this little spot.

Let’s  just pretend Robyn is also in this photo…

Love you ladies x

I really enjoyed reviewing by best 9 Instagram photos of 2015, I almost forgot to do it again this time round! I don’t think I posted to Instagram as much in 2016 as I have in previous years (I was going for quality over quantity 😉 ) but there is a good selection of some of my favourite memories of the year. You can view my 9 most ‘liked’ below…

1. Bathtimes became much more luxurious in 2016 with the help of my new bathplank (a lovely Christmas gift from my little sis). I now have a designated holders for my candles, wine and Ipad which enables me to watch copious episodes of Gilmore Girls from the comfort of my bath, bliss.

2. I got a new tattoo at the start of October, my sixth tattoo and possibly my favourite so far. It’s a sprig of heather plant like my sisters name. I know, cute 🙂 Tattoo by Lydia Hazelton (@lydiatattoos on Instagram)

3. The third image are Rachel’s wedding converse. A great choice of wedding shoe if you ask me! Especially as Rachel and Jake had a November wedding… a very frosty, slippery, November wedding.

4. The sun setting in Blackpool. I had just finished shooting a wedding at Pavillion on the Prom and snapped this quick landscape before the drive home.

5. A lovely shot of Gemma and Kris from the above wedding. Such a lovely, kind couple.

6. A shot of Charlotte and Paul from their engagement shoot at Haigh Hall Woodland Park. Wigan Council actually also posted this photo on their Instagram which was quite cool. I can’t wait to shoot their wedding at Heskin Hall this year!

7. My final wedding of 2016 was Anna and Rachael’s and this was a shot of them in-front of their fabulous illuminated ‘Mrs & Mrs’ sign.

8. I spent my 27th birthday weekend on a camping trip in Wales. On my actual birthday I woke up in a hostel because our tents had been damaged the night before. It was all quite disastrous really and the weather was horrendous but that’s what made me love it. We stopped at Bodelwydden Castle (pictured) for afternoon tea. The scones had literally just come out of the oven, they must have known it was my birthday!

9. The view from the top of the St Pauls Church in Munich, the oldest parish church in the city. Graeme and I were only in Munich for one day before we flew to Croatia for his 30th birthday but we did manage to cram a good amount of touristy activities in while we were there, including climbing the 299 steps of the church tower for this lovely view.

Find more on my Instagram @emmanelsonphotography

Life has got slightly in the way of blogging over the past few months (although my new years resolution is to rectify this!) but I could not end 2016 without a little roundup post of some of the lovely weddings from throughout the year. And what a year it has been! With so many wonderful couples inviting me to share one of the biggest day of their lives and capture all the beautiful moments that go with it.

Thank you to all my lovely clients, family and friends for your support and for making this year such a good one. Here’s to an equally awesome 2017! xx

Special mention to some of the great venues I have worked with this year :

Manchester Golf Club

Dakota Hotel, Nottingham

Charnock Farm, Leyland

Brookfield Hall, Westhaughton

Park Hall Hotel, Chorley

Watermillock, Bolton

Pavillion on Ther Prom, Blackpool

Last weekend Graeme and I had a little weekend away in Brighton. A camping trip! and it was lovely. We actually camped in Lewes at Housedean Farm Campsite, a nice little spot directly on the South Downs Way. Usually after we’ve been away I like to write a little blog post and upload a few photos of what we got up to, but this time I’ve done things a bit differently! I recently purchased an action camera (the SJCAM SJ4000 ). I bought it for our looming trip to Croatia in July where I anticipate on spending lots of time in and around the Adriatic Sea, walking, meandering through waterfalls and such like. I’m planning to film our 10 day trip but thought I’d better get some practice in first! So this weekend away was a prefect chance to test my new camera 😀

I must say the SJCAM will be perfect for travelling…I just  popped it in my jacket pocket most of the time. I’m used to lugging my huge SLR around with me so I felt very light and free! The video, as you will see is not the greatest but it allowed me to test all the accessories and bits and bobs the camera came with and work out what I can improve on for Croatia (stabilization for sure!).

So have a peek of us battling against the wind to get our tent up, exploring the vintage shops on North Laine and enjoying fish and chips on the beach. We had a lovely little sightseeing coach tour and a delicious brunch at Bills, all of which I would do again. It’s definitely too much to see in one weekend. Brighton, we will be back!

I meant to write this post on Valentines Day, the week after Graeme and I got back from our romantic weekend in Shrewsbury for our two year anniversary. I was going to include a soppy paragraph about what a wonderful two years it has been and how lucky I feel to be able to share such adventures with such a special person ect…ect. But it’s nearing the end of February now and we’ve all had enough of that!

Why we picked Shrewsbury as our destination of choice neither of us can remember. We had ever been before and all I’d heard was that it had some nice buildings! However I am glad we chose there. We stayed at Porterhouse SY1 on St. Mary’s Street, a bed and breakfast/restaurant right in the town centre. We had lunch in the conservatory before being shown up to our room and I decided I liked the place straight away.

I hate to use the word ‘vibe’ but it had a very nice vibe. I loved the exposed brick walls and the mismatch of metal chairs at the tables. I’d read a review on Trip Advisor that said “nothing in the place is straight” but I liked that about it. We stayed in a standard room which was lovely too with a slightly more traditional decor than the restaurant downstairs. I particularly liked the oak beams and the rooms low ceiling which just instantly made it feel cosy. We were excited to get the weekend started!

That first day we had a wonder around Shrewsbury’s main shopping areas and picked up a few bits. Off the main high street on Butcher Row and Wyle Cop were lots of lovely independent and boutique shops perfect for one-off buys and unique gifts. I could have spent all weekend just there!  One of our main goals while we were out was to scout out somewhere we could go for dinner in the evening. There were plenty of old pubs and restaurants along the towns medieval streets but in the end we chose to eat at the popular Indian restaurant, Shalimar near the English Bridge. After dinner we enjoyed some live music and a few drinks at a nice little Cuban bar nearby before calling it a night.

On the Saturday, our second day, we visited Ironbridge, a small village on the River Severn and about 30 minutes drive from Shrewsbury. On a nice day it would have been a lovely place for a wander. We had a walk over the bridge but it was too cold and rainy to venture much further. Instead we took refuge in a nice little tea room to warm up and enjoyed a cream tea. From Ironbridge we drove to Telford, a relatively new town and quite modern in contrast to everywhere else we’d visited. After a bit more shopping we headed back to our room for a rest.

On Saturday evening we didn’t venture very far. We’d booked a table for dinner at Porterhouse so all we had to do was toddle downstairs. We came down early in time for happy hour at the bar and indulged in a few cocktails before our meal. I had a blogger fail moment and forgot to take a photo of our food before we demolished it but let me tell you, it was delicous!

Of course the day we were leaving to go home the weather was glorious. As we were bundling our bags into the boot of the Mercedes hire car Graeme had organised for the weekend we remembered we hadn’t visited Shrewsbury Castle! I do love a good castle. We were able to park alongside the castle as we were heading out of the town to catch a quick glimpse. And by glimpse I mean peering through the large wooden gates in-front of the castle as it turned out it was closed for Winter. Ah well, another time maybe…

My birthday weekend was just the best. Graeme booked us a little town house in Kendal in the Lake District to celebrate the occasion. I say little, the house he booked through Airbnb was actually quite big with three floors, 4 bedrooms, a wood fire, a  lovely kitchen diner leading to a private yard where we sat in the mornings and drank coffee. The location was really good too… 15 minute walk from Kendal town centre and a 10 minute walk from the castle.

We spent our first day exploring Kendal, mostly shopping and making some ‘interesting purchases’. We stopped for some afternoon tea at a tiny little tea room on the main highstreet before heading back to the house for a nap (yes this is how we roll and I love it!). After recharging at the house in the afternoon we wandered up to Kendal castle to catch the sunset in the evening. It was lovely, although the walk back in the dark was a bit scary! We spent the rest of our evening on the sofa with takeaway and a movie after many painstaking attempts to get the wood fire started.

The next day we drove to Ambleside for breakfast at The Apple Pie Cafe & Bakery (highly recommend).  After my American pancakes,  Heather and Laura came to meet us for the day. We had a nosey in National Trust’s Bridge House and then walked up to the waterfalls before driving to Wateredge and hopping on a boat to Bowness. The weather was so nice but it was absolutely freezing on the lake. We enjoyed fish and chips in Bowness (I forgot to take a photo before I wolfed them down but they were epic) and did a bit of Christmas shopping!

After lunch we got the boat back to Waterhead to jump back in the car. We had a nice scenic drive to Keswick where we made it just in time to visit Puzzling Place, an optical illusion and puzzles museum. It quite a small ‘out of the way’ place but I’d highly recommend going if you’re in the area, especially if you’re into puzzles or rolling around the floor and and that type of thing.

From Keswick we drove back to Wateredge for another Lake District sunset and for dinner at the Wateredge Inn. Heather and Laura left us after dinner to head back to Bolton while Graeme and I made our way back to the Kendal town house. We decided to stay in the attic room that night with its big bay window to watch the Supermoon! The lunar eclipse definitely ended the weekend on the best note. Here’s to happy birthdays!