Helen and Graeme had the PERFECT winter’s wedding day! Sunny, crisp, cold – spectacular! I started off meeting Helen and her family at her Mum and Dad’s house in the morning…

On to the church…

I love this bit!  This is when the vicar realised that he’d locked the door Helen was supposed to be making her entrance through!  And had to leg it back through another door to let us in – I do love a sprinting vicar!

The Alderley Edge Hotel in Cheshire…

How gorgeous are these two?!?!

Emma from Special Days planning and events did an amazing job dressing the room at The Alderley Edge hotel…

Line up time…

The speeches were ace!

Helen and Graeme really wanted to use this particular area of the bar for a couple of group shots with their friends and bridal party, but knew that it would be impossible during the drinks reception as the bar was going to be completely full of all their guests, so we wouldn’t be able to access it.  So we did these couple of group shots inbetween the starter and main course of the wedding breakfast.  Great idea – all the people involved in the photos knew that they were required at that particular time, I set the area up while they ate their starters and we had them in and out in a few seconds with nobody in the main room even noticing.  Proof that you don’t always have to do things a ‘certain way’ – it’s so important that every bride and groom does what is right for them on their big day.

First dance time – I love this!

Congratulations Helen and Graeme!!!

x

Check The White Closet’s blog out to see the full write up of this gorgeous event, but check these three images we took of Natalie, Egle and Stacey afterwards – just to show off what amazing dresses look like in amazing locations…

xxx

Here it is! My TOP60 of 2011! (I tried to make it TOP40 but I just couldn’t cut it down any further!) Another amazing year at Jonny Draper Photography filled with awesome experience after awesome experience. Another year of meeting some of the loveliest people you could ever possibly wish to meet and another year of working at some of the best venues and with some of the best suppliers in the wedding industry. To all of my brides and grooms and to all of my wonderful wedding friends – thank you for making 2011 an absolute joy. I’m looking forward to more of the same this year!

So without further ado, my favourite images in no particular order. As with my 2010 review, I set myself a couple of simple rules so as to (hopefully!) not bore you to tears reading this blog post and instead let you just look at and enjoy the images. The rules were: Only 60 images (I worked out that I shot over 100,000 images last year so it’s been a bit of a task to cut them down again!) and only a simple line about each one. Here we go…!!!

The gorgeous Poppy at Styal Lodge modelling for our ‘Future of Vintage’ shoot as featured on English Wedding (you can see the whole shoot HERE)  We could have been in Ibiza the weather was that good!  One of my iconic images of 2011 – so much so that it is about to be hung on our lounge wall!

Katie & Colin’s Grange over Sands wedding – I love a happy and full dance floor!

Bev & Phil’s pre-wedding shoot.  Seedy?  Nah….!!!  I love the colours!  (And so did they!)

Bev & Phil’s wedding at The Ashes in Staffordshire.  Taking a few minutes out at their stunning venue…

I’ve heard rumours about photographers not allowing guests to take pictures at weddings they shoot – obviously I don’t roll like that, but even if I did, I’d have struggled to stop Lisa & Eric’s guests at Thornton Manor!!!

Kelly & Mike’s Inn at Whitewell wedding – stunning.  That’s it.

Alexis & Adam’s wedding at Mitton Hall.  Wowsers.  What a gorgeous evening for the the most gorgeous couple.  Ali & Adam REALLY loved everything about their wedding and the photography and were so keen to use their amazing venue to it’s full potential.  As with all the images in this post, I could have used hundreds of images from their wedding, so it was tough cutting it to this one.  But I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a worthy entry!

Another Mitton Hall wedding, this time Jenna & Chris’s big day (that’s not Chris on the left by the way!) – I just loved Jenna & her bridesmaid’s matching Vivienne Westwood shoes!

Ridiculous gin based behaviour at Kate & Ant’s wedding.  Love it!

Chips by the river for Carrie & Rob and their bridal party at their wedding at Oddfellows in Chester – don’t think I need to say anything else!

Chrissie off of Chrissie & Louis at their pre-wedding shoot at Tatton Park – how gorgeous?!?!

My fave shot from Charlotte Balbier’s Candy Kisses launch party at Great John Street Hotel in Manchester – a stunning collection and an honour to be involved.

Catherine from Catherine & Will arriving at church.  Who cares that it’s raining?  This is a gorgeous shot!

Awwww…Jacqui & Will at Styal Lodge – I love them so much!  They are the nicest couple in the world!!!

Vicki off of Vicki & Stuart having a race with her bridesmaids at Browsholme Hall.  As you do!

One of my all time favourite images.  The gorgeous Ruth at The Ashes in Staffordshire.  It’s just so ethereal and beautiful!

Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.  Just because it’s so iconic.

A rather special moment at Louise & Tom’s wedding in Bristol where the ‘do not climb on the cow’ sign was very much ignored…

The first shoot I did for Black White Denim in Wilmslow, Cheshire.  My favourite model who’s not a model, Ella…

Jess & Mike’s Manchester pre-wedding shoot.  Because it doesn’t get cooler than this…

Charlotte & Teddy’s (and Ellie-Belle Balbier!) Tatton Park engagement shoot.  The loveliest couple on a stunningly beautiful and colourful autumn day…

Another of my all time favourite images taken at Hannah & Jason’s Styal Lodge wedding – I LOVE a moody sky!

Big red wedding bus at Steph & Kris’s Manchester Town Hall wedding!  Love it!

I think it’s the colours that do it for me.  And the expressions on Ali & Adam’s faces!  A BRILLIANT pre-wedding shoot at Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury…

Because people only smile like this when it’s the best day ever… Polly and Paul’s Albright Hussey Manor wedding…

Rebecca & Andrew taking 5 minutes out on the beach on their way to Lytham Hall.  Because they could.  I love a bride who loves her dress but doesn’t worry about it!

Mrs Angela Doran.  Because Emma & I love you!

One for the boys AND girls.  A sports car (Lotus Exige for anyone who’s a car geek like me!) AND a man in uniform!  What’s not to like?!  Mike from Jess & Mike outside Styal Lodge…

Lisa & Alex’s ’secret’ West Didsbury wedding!  I love this shot of them enjoying fish and chips in Frankie’s Fish Bar on Burton Road!

Leona.  Beautiful.

Laura & Simon’s Thornton Manor wedding – you can feel the atmosphere in this shot, I just love it…

Louise & Andy’s Mitton Hall wedding – Bags of attitude!

Vicky & Jamie at The Lowry Theatre – how cool is it that we were allowed to shoot in the theatre?!?!

My great friend Howard Wing getting a ‘Love Train’ going at Paula & Andy’s Barton Grange wedding – that was before the speeches had even started!  That’s how good he is!

Little Lola Fox.  Cute as you like!

Hayley & Matthew’s Blackpool pre-wedding shoot.  The wanted the glitter ball to be a feature.  So that’s what we did!  Ace!

Rachael’s portfolio shoot in Manchester.  Because we got her to sit on a wall on the 5th floor of a carpark and she was up for it…

Dawn & Phil’s Sandhole Oak Barn wedding.  We shot some gorgeous images of them after the wedding breakfast and this one of them having a few minutes to themselves is one of my faves.  What a lovely couple they are too…

Catherine & Richard.  It’s all in the look…

Emma & Pete and a couple of their hilarious mates – what’s not to like about this pic?!?!

Jess & Terry’s wedding.  Another wedding where I could have used hundreds of images for this post, but this was my fave (sorry you didn’t feature Tez!  Although you DID like it so you DID go and put a ring on it!!!)

Jordana & Ben at the windmill on the green in Lytham.  Because Jordana still has it as her profile pic on Facebook – I’m glad she loves it as much as I do!

Nicky & Graham at Styal Lodge.  I wanted to give them a different perspective to the now famous ‘platform’ at Styal Lodge – and it worked beautifully!

Louise from Louise & Andy on their pre-wedding shoot at The Inn at Whitewell.  They wanted to do something a bit different.  So they got REALLY dressed up and then we went for a walk in the country!  Cool hey?!

Tiz & Rich – once again, it’s all about the look…

Andrea & Andy’s Inn at Whitewell wedding.  Just to prove that even hotel corridors look awesome in wedding photographs…

Ashley Margolis shoot (Ricky from Hollyoaks)  Ash wanted something a little bit cooler than his usual headshot/agent card images so we spent a morning shooting some properly cool stuff around Castlefield…

Mel & Jivko’s Conwy Castle wedding.  Check that view out!

Katie & Nick’s big finish to their first dance at Albright Hussey Manor!  As choreographed by my good friend Ailsa Baker!

Tanya & Paul’s Bartle Hall wedding – I love them stealing a minute away from it all just before their first dance…

Check out that smile on Nat’s face!  Proof that rain doesn’t dampen spirits on anybody’s wedding day!

Jamie & his groomsmen at Stirk House having a little loosener before the ceremony!

Recently featured on their wedding ’sneak preview’ on my blog – I love this shot of Ali & Adam kissing under the mistletoe at The West Tower…

Another Black White Denim shoot – featuring the very lovely Charlotte.  Simple, elegant and incredibly beautiful…

Weddings are all about interactions and reactions – I love the look on Maria’s face as her and John are applauded into the room at Rookery Hall…

Sophie in a stunning gown from The White Closet at The Styal Lodge Open Evening.  Because it was such a fun evening!

Julie & Jamie’s pre-wedding shoot in Liverpool.  A ‘Friends’ moment…!!!

The gorgeous Stacey on The Vintage Wedding Dress Company shoot for The White Closet at Willow Pool in Lymm.  As featured on Love My Dress HERE!

Carly & Ian’s Manchester pre-wedding shoot.  Because they drink alcohol that is on fire.  And they’re particularly gorgeous and lovely!

This seemed a particularly appropriate image to end on!  Lucy & Ian’s friends at their Lyme Park wedding getting stuck into Jagerbombs!  Cheers!

So there it is. My 60 favourite images. Beautiful brides and grooms, wonderful moments, new friends, I loved every minute.

A huge thank you to the following people for their continued support and for contributing so much to such an incredible year:

Emma Draper

Chris & Pete Draper

Jo, Paul, Megan and ‘Bump’ Pike

Katie & Anthony Roberts

Clare Draper

Keith & Pauline Latham

Jane & Jason Thompson

Olivia Jones

Richard, Sarah, Georgie, Poppy & Franny Higham

Tom Harrington

Nikki, Rich, Jessica & Charlie Graeme

Charlotte Balbier & Ed Bedford

Sheree Reece

Howard Wing

Judith Blacklock

Jo Davies, David Bell, Charlotte, Lucy and all the girls at Black White Denim

Helen Corr & Pete Ruane

The Northwest Photographer ‘drink up’ massive

My lovely mates

And last but my no means least, all of my amazing brides and grooms!

Here’s to 2012!

xxx

Firstly – Happy New Year! There’ll be a follow on post over the next couple of weeks to my ‘Top 20 of 2011 so far…’ post which will round up the highlights of 2011 and look forward to what promises to be an equally awesome 2012!

But first a sneaky peek at Ali & Adam’s gorgeous West Tower wedding from just before Christmas – I was REALLY looking forward to this one as I’d not been up to The West Tower for a while and it’s an amazing place to work! (Big thanks to Lindsay and all her team – especially Lauren for looking after me as always!) And I was getting to work with my great friends at Flower Design as well – perfect!

Here’s a little look at some of my faves from the day…starting at The Swan where I met Adam and his best man Ant…

On to The West Tower…what a beautiful day, hey?

Amazing Flower Design wreath…

How about this for spectacular…?!?!

Jane from Flower Design putting the finishing touches to the lads…

Top bridesmaid Adele keeping Ali relaxed…!!!

Showtime…!!!

Christmas wedding, so naturally we grabbed a shot in the sprout field…!!!

Ali & Adam had created so many amazing details, including these gorgeous place letters.

I actually can’t believe a year has passed since Cat & Pete’s wedding at The Inn at Whitewell! It seems like 5 minutes ago!  I only ever put a few shots on from their wedding as a sneak preview and wanted to save the full post for this year – so here goes…!!!

Sadly, I’m an hour and a half past their anniversary as this post is published (I got back from today’s wedding a little later than I expected!) but I’m hoping they’ll forgive me!

I first ‘met’ Cat & Pete via a phonecall that came from Flower Design’s office when they were meeting Jane to talk about their wedding flowers.  Jane decided that they NEEDED to speak to me there and then about their photography, so I answered my phone as Emma and I were going through security at Manchester Airport on our way to Ireland for a couple of days of guinness and fine food!  To cut a long story short, via a lovely face to face meeting at a pub in the countryside, Cat and Pete booked me to shoot their wedding at my absolute favourite venue in the world, The Inn at Whitewell (that’s where Emma and I got married, just in case I’ve not mentioned it before…!!!) – what’s more it was a Christmas wedding (same as Emma and I!) so it was always going to be a wedding very close to my heart.

I’m sure everyone remembers what kind of weather we were having last December and I was very much excited about finally seeing the landscape up there sprinkled in snow for a December wedding (our day was battered by rain!) – I wasn’t disappointed!  I arrived as Jane from Flower Design was putting the finishing touches to the flowers in St Michael’s next door to the Inn, which is where the story of Cat & Pete’s day begins…

I’m not going to interrupt the images with words, as I think they tell a perfect story of the most perfect day – this is actually the most images I’ve ever put in a blog post.  I just couldn’t narrow them down!  Very briefly – Cat (and Pete!) made all the gorgeous details themselves (table plan, evening buffet, signs, crate stencils, etc.!) Pretty much everything else is by Flower Design!

Enjoy!

So there we have it. 1 year down, many, many more to come! I love meeting brides and grooms like Cat & Pete who go on to become friends – they’re enjoying their first anniversary at The Inn at Whitewell as we speak and by pure chance I’m shooting a wedding there tomorrow so I’m really hoping they’re still around when I get there to say a quick hello to. Congratulations Cat & Pete. Every single part of your wedding was amazing and it was truly wonderful to be involved in such a beautifully emotional and intimate wedding.

All the very best for the future, with love and hugs, Jonny.

xxx

I couldn’t resist showing a few more of these images from my cousin Jeff and his gorgeous new wife, Ange’s, post-wedding shoot. Post wedding shoots are always a lot of fun as you have the freedom to do things that most brides and grooms (quite rightly!) wouldn’t be quite up for on their actual big day – what bride wants to go scrambling over fences and trudging through muddy fields on their big day and risk ruining their dress? (especially when it’s a stunning Charlotte Balbier number!) But the day after, it’s not quite as risky…

So here are a few more of my favourites from Jeff & Ange’s gorgeous post-wedding shoot at Villa Farm near York…

Congratulations one more time you two!!!

xxx

My lovely friends from Didsbury Life asked me to grab a few shots of the big switch on a couple of weeks ago – West Didsbury Olympic hopeful, Andrew Steele was drawing the raffle and Simon Rimmer off of ‘Something for the Weekend‘ and more importantly to us West Didsbury types, owner of top vegetarian restaurant, Greens, was pressing the big red button to light the Christmas tree up! Crowds gathered excitedly as the kids from Cavendish School sang carols to get everyone in the Christmas mood and then the countdown began…

Merry Christmas!

x

I love a wintery wedding!  All that atmosphere, the low light, the nerves about what the weather will do, whether the bride and groom had been a good boy and girl when we go and see Santa… (?!) – we had all that in bucket loads on Saturday for Lynn and Paul’s big day at Quarry Bank Mill!  It was a beautiful, emotional day and we even got a little dusting of snow on the roof of the mill – beautiful!  Lovely to work with my beautiful wife, Emma Draper Make-Up on the morning of the wedding and to work with my lovely friends from Flower Design who designed the most wonderful flowers for the happy couple.  Here’s a little sneak peek just for Lynn and Paul…

The rings were delivered by a very special guest indeed… Angel from ‘Flying The Knot‘!!!

Fortunately Lynn and Paul had been a very good girl and boy this year so they were allowed to go and see Santa!  (How cool is that!!!)

Flower Design never fail to produce something spectacular – gorgeous, hey?

I love this.  Lynn and Paul were waiting for their guests to come up to the room and I caught them sharing a wonderful, intimate moment – beautiful…

Congratulations Lynn & Paul!!!

x

Nice little early Christmas pressie – one of my winter weddings from 2010 has been featured in Pure Weddings Magazine! Lovely stuff! This was the gorgeous New Year’s Eve wedding of Laura & Ewan and was amazing to be a part of it – even more amazing as I got to work with my great friends from Flower Design, Rowley’s Catering and Sonara Parker MUA! Check out the feature below!

x

In the past I’ve banged on about weather, about being lucky, about the boot full of brollies I carry at all times, but yesterday was a kind of weather I’ve never even seen before never mind shot in! Sideways torrential rain.

Put yourself in Helen & Graeme’s heads as they drove into Manchester to meet me yesterday afternoon. I’m pretty sure they were cursing me. I’m also pretty sure that they thought it would be a pointless exercise!

Now I’m not one to use my blog as a preaching platform, for me it’s just a nice way of sharing the images I shoot with my brides and grooms. BUT, what I will say (as briefly as possible!) is that yesterday was a perfect example of the kind of thing I talk about when I meet a couple for the first time, before they actually book me.

The fact that you can’t cancel or postpone your wedding day because of the weather. You just have to go with it (and every time I’ve ever shot a wedding in less than perfect weather conditions, it’s actually added to the day. Friends and family slip into that British ‘Second World War mentality’ and all pull together and actually have great fun dashing from cars to churches, sprinting across carparks to venues – it all adds to the story of the day!

Anyway, with all that in mind I never cancel a pre-wedding shoot. It’s slightly masochistic, but I insist to my clients that it’s the perfect opportunity to prove to them that the weather doesn’t matter, that they will still get stunning images on their day no matter what falls out of the sky!

Thank you Castlefield for having so many awesome bridges and places we could shelter from the wind and rain and thank you to Dukes92 for saying yes when I cheekily asked if we could shoot a couple of images while we had a drink at the end of the shoot! If you don’t ask you don’t get

So with the help of several umbrellas to get us between locations and a bit of funky lighting kit, we managed to beat (’survive’ is probably the best word to use!) the weather and get some awesome images of Helen and Graeme.

Thanks for your hard work guys and thanks for trusting me when I said we’d still get some great shots!

Here’s a few of my faves…

Once again, brilliant work Helen and Graeme!  Can’t wait for your big day at The Alderley Edge Hotel now!

x