I can't think of a more perfect day than this (yes, tiny little white snow flakes have finally started falling outside our Whitby home, and I'm loving it!).
Now, those of you who missed this utterly glorious wedding - the last wedding in fact that I featured in 2012, absolutely must see it. The venue, the Victoria Baths in Manchester, also played backdrop to Rhianne and Cameron's engagement shoot featured below. Photographer Hannah Millard sent these photographs in and I think they perfectly capture the love this couple share, and are an excellent example of how a couple can learn to relax together in front of the camera in advance of their wedding day. After all, who wants an album full of stuffy, posed looking shots?
Photographer Hannah told me...
"Rhianne and Cameron are my ideal kind of couple! They are creative and lovely and excited about my work so I was thrilled when they suggested doing something a bit different for their engagement shoot.
Big shout of to The Victoria Baths in Manchester, who I phoned at late notice when it got too wet to shoot and who allowed us to use the baths in return for a donation. Also big love to this couple for totally trusting me when we came across the foam "snow" and when I bundled us into a taxi to the baths. It makes such a difference when having that trust there!"
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Hannah Millard
And as for the loved up couple themselves? Rhianne told me...
"Cameron and I are getting married in April next year, and as we both absolutely love watching old movies we couldn’t resist the temptation to have a classic Hollywood theme to the wedding. We are getting wed at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, and had just sent out our Hitchcock-inspired movie invitations when we met up with Hannah for our engagement shoot."
Like, seriously Rhianne - I am totally featuring your wedding! I've just moved from Newcastle to Whitby and the Tyneside Cinema is one of my favourite places in the Toon!
"We told Hannah about our love of films and sent her this montage of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift* on the set of A Place in the Sun as our inspiration. She suggested Victoria Baths at Manchester as the ideal venue, and it didn’t disappoint. Cameron found his hat and coat from our local market in Durham, and I am very grateful that my friend has just started a personal stylist company, so she helped me find the perfect timeless dress with a vintage twist!"
"I love photography and was introduced to Hannah's work two years ago by a friend, falling in love with her style immediately. I’ve followed her progress ever since and when we got engaged I just knew she would be perfect for us. We didn’t want to look anywhere else, even though she lives miles away! In fact we booked Hannah before even our venues were sorted!
We were hoping for a crisp cold winter’s day and were absolutely gutted when it was pouring with rain on the day of the shoot, not to mention the wasted effort on hair and make-up as soon as we stepped outside. I was so worried for Hannah’s camera, but we snatched every dry moment we could, and amazingly stumbled across some ‘snow’ being sprayed from a building - it was perfect! Hannah was great at making us feel relaxed, and made standing in the rain much more enjoyable than it should have been!"
"We are so so happy with the shots! Hannah just understood what we wanted completely - everything just looks so classic and beautiful - like an old film in fact!"
"The weather forced us inside to the Victoria Baths, but that decision by Hannah was absolutely inspired. She used the lighting and ambience to create the film noir look we love so much. Neither of us like having our photo taken or feel particularly photogenic, and were a little bit worried about the wedding pictures. But now we have had this shoot we feel utterly confident that whatever Hannah does will be fab, and are even more excited about the day!
Thanks also to Love My Dress for all of the Old Hollywood wedding inspiration - we’ve been reading the blog for months and have got so many ideas from it. It’s made our day that you want to feature the shoot :D x"
Awww, how sweet is that!? Rhianne, lots of love and luck planning the rest of your wedding, I can't wait to see the photographs!
Now, if you have a moment, you really must go and look at this fabulous red and white polka dot wedding on Love My Dress, also photographed by Hannah Millard.
Pop back again later this afternoon for a little more Monday inspiration.
Big love,
Annabel
* Liz Taylor shot taken from this website
