Hayley Denston Photography Website revamped and relaunched!

We've been on our hols and are now back refreshed, recharged and ready to go! Looking forward to the next wedding already. Obviously, we have returned to loads of work, enquiries etc - we will get back to everyone as soon as we can.

Some good news on our return is that our New Website is now up and running. There are a few tweaks that need to be made but in general it is a big step up from the old site. We now have a slideshow which runs continuously on the Home Page - it was really hard to choose photos for the website as we have so many that we love. We therefore made the decision to choose our images from last year and this year (apart from the odd couple of
images) as this best reflects our current work and where we are at.

We now have an up-to-date About Us section which tells you a little more about us (and a photo as someone pointed out to me that we weren't on the old site!). We have a Wedding and a Portrait section to tell you a little more about what we do whilst the Galleries section shows you a small selection of our work. We've broken the galleries down into some pretty general catergories. Some of the photos therefore didn't fit into the section descriptions perfectly (we worked out we'd have needed over 20 galleries to accommodate all the different headings we
thought of) but we've included them anyway!

The Proofs section replaces the old 'your album' section but still goes through to all your albums that have been uploaded recently. This section is currently being redesigned to fit in with the new site - please be patient if it doesn't look perfect at the moment!

We have a completely new section called Reviews where we have just a small selection of the testimonials we received last year. We will still write up new testimonials on here and will add to this section on the site periodically. We get so many lovely e-mails and cards and we are grateful for all of them so if yours hasn't made it to this section this time round it may just appear in the future and has certainly been kept.

Other than that we still have a Links section which gives a list of other suppliers such as venues we've worked at and we've kept our Contact section so you can get in touch.

We hope that you all get the chance to look at the revamped site - as it is still in the early stages any comments you wish to make would be greatly appreciated so that we can update and tweak it to make it as perfect as possible. If you do want to comment please either add a comment on the blog here or e-mail me.

I could talk about the new site for pages but must get on with catching up on work. I'll write again very soon as I have several outstanding weddings to write up on here and a whole load of testimonials to add that we received whilst we were away. Hope you all manage to get out and enjoy some of this glorious sunshine this weekend :)

Rob and Lisa's Wedding - Springfield Marquee, Thorpe-Le-Soken

The next wedding we photographed was Rob and Lisa's Wedding. The ceremony took place at Wivenhoe Church and their reception was at Springfield Marquee.

We got to spend the entire day with the couple and their friends and family and had a wonderful time. We were blessed with great weather again which is always good when you have a marquee reception.

Here's a range of photos taken from their day:

I started with Lisa getting ready whilst David photographed Rob and the boys

As the weather was good, Lisa and her dad could arrive in the car with the roof down

Here's a few at the church and then the confetti afterwards

Here are a few of them taken at Springfield Marquee during the day

And a few taken during the speeches

Then on to the evening and the dancing .....

As it was a great sunset and warm we took a few photos in the evening of just the two of them ... I love these ones

Instead of favours, Rob and Lisa organised a chocolate table where guests could help themselves to a bag of sweets and take them home which was a fab idea

This could quite possibly be the biggest wedding cake I have ever seen!

I really like this one taken during the dancing

If you attended Rob and Lisa's Wedding and would like to view their photos they are online now. They have the password which I'm sure they'll give to you.

This afternoon I received the following e-mail from Rob and Lisa which read as follows:

'Hi Hayley!

We are back from the Maldives now and already missing the place. I cant believe it is all over now.

We had a look through the photos (which took about 3 hours as we admired each and every one) and all I can say is.... WOW! How on earth are we going to pick the photos for the album as we love every single one?! You were both fantastic on the day and we could not have hoped for anymore. Everyone has said how great you were and shocked that photographers do exist who aren't intrusive and pushy!

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Berryman
(Rob and Lisa!)'

We really appreciate you taking the time out to write to us - we love your photos and can't wait to get together with you when your proof book is back to design your albums. Rob and Lisa are a gorgeous couple who we hope will have a long and happy marriage. See you soon :)

The Wedding of Tessa & Orlando @ Spains Hall, Finchingfield

The following week we were back at our one of our favourite venues (Spains Hall) to photograph Tessa and Orlando's Wedding. We had glorious weather which was great for guests being able to play the garden games and stay outside. As always, the staff were brilliant and it was great to see you all again. Tessa and Orlando had chosen a colour scheme of lilac which fitted in perfectly with the Wisteria that was in full bloom and looks just amazing in their images.

Here's a range of photos taken from their day:

This one is of Tessa and her dad just before they came into the ceremony

These were taken during the service and again we were lucky the registrars let us shoot (without flash) at both the front and back of the room

After the ceremony they were showered by confetti as they led their guests through to the gardens

Here's some of those garden games being played

and a shot of the beautiful Wisteria that I mentioned earlier which frames them well ......

....... even the Irises matched in with the purpley theme

Spains Hall have let the grass grown really nicely in the area surrounding the gardens and it was great to get to do some photos here

Here's just a couple of photos from the speeches

They had a lovely cake but I couldn't get over how wonderful the little bride and groom toppers were which were modelled on the bride and groom!


If you attended Tessa and Orlando's Wedding and would like to view their photos they are online now. They have the password which I'm sure they'll give to you.

A couple of days ago I received a beautiful thank you card from them which read as follows:

'Dear Hayley,

We wanted to say a big thank you to you and David for the amazing job that you did photographing our wedding. You were so wonderful to work with on the day - a very calming and cheerful presence and you managed to take so many photos without us even noticing. Now that we've seen the photos we're even more delighted - you've taken so many lovely shots and have really captured people's personalities as well.

The photos are a fabulous reminder of a wonderful day for us and now we're looking forward to designing the album with you.

Thank you once again for everything

Very best wishes

Tessa and Orlando'

Thanks so much for letting us know what you thought of the images. We really appreciate you taking the time out to write to us and are looking forward to your album design meeting soon. We had a fantastic time with the two of you and your families and wish you a lifetime of happiness together.

The Wedding of Juliette & Laurence @ The Tickell Arms, Whittlesford

In May we photographed a wide range of Weddings from the traditional to the unusual. We have had some great fun, enjoyed ourselves and captured some gorgeous images so all in all, a very good month for us.

The first Wedding we photographed in May was Juliette and Laurence who had their entire day at The Tickell Arms, Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire. This is a unique and interested venue which was made all the more special by the Indian Marquee that Juliette and Laurence had arranged in the gardens.

They had their ceremony in the conservatory and followed a lot of old marriage traditions throughout the day including the binding of hands and jumping over a broom. At the reception they had a wonderful buffet feast, a dove release, a maypole and Morris dancing! All of this looks fab in their photos (a selection of which are below).

The weather again was glorious and allowed them to thoroughly enjoy their day as most of it revolved around being outside.

Here's a range of photos taken from their day:

These were taken during the ceremony

We then went out into the sunshine - I love this one of the two of them laughing together

Juliette wore a beautiful dress that looked stunning and I adore her cottage garden flowers in the bouquet

Her dad had organised a dove release as a surprise for them - sadly the birds didn't fly out at the same time (you'll see the other one still in the cage) but here's the first one in flight

During the Morris dancing both Juliette and Laurence got to join in

Then many of the guests joined in for the Maypole

David and I both photographed them jumping over the broom (I believe they said that in old traditions this meant that you were married - please someone let me know if this isn't true) at almost exactly the same time - here's both of the photos of this

I love this vintage one of Juliette in the marquee just before we left

Juliette had bought a very pretty umbrella in case it rained so we could still go out and take photos - it didn't rain as you can see but we thought it would be fun to use it in a few of the photos anyway and here's just one of them

This is the inside of the Indian Marquee

Here's the gorgeous buffet they had

They also had some great puddings ......

..... and the cake looked fabulous

If you attended Juliette and Laurence's Wedding and would like to view their photos they are online now. They have the password which I'm sure they'll be sharing with you all.

This wedding was completely different to the traditions we usually see - we had the most enjoyable time photographing their day and wish them all the best for a long and happy marriage. We look forward to hearing from you regarding how you want your final images presented.

Kiri & Steve's Wedding @ The Royal Cambridge Hotel, Cambridge

The final Wedding we photographed in April was Kiri and Steve's. Their wedding all took place at The Royal Cambridge Hotel in Cambridge and again we had some stonking weather. Blue skies and sunshine lasted as Kiri arrived by horse and carriage and stayed with us through to the afternoon when we went down to the river to take some photographs.

Here's a range of photos taken from their day:

The boys before the ceremony looking rather relaxed and chilled out

They had two little bridesmaids and page boys - here's one of them waiting for Kiri to arrive, they were all very well behaved and excited

Here's Kiri arriving in the horse and carriage looking beautiful

Her brother-in-law took on the role of Father of the bride and I love these couple of the two of them on their way in to the ceremony

These taken during the ceremony I think sum up the emotion of the vows really well

Afterwards, the two of them went for a ride around Cambridge in the horse and carriage so that Steve could travel in their surprise transport. I took this one of them just outside before they left

Later, we went for a short walk down to the river to take some photos of the three of them (them and their son Jack who had his first birthday on their wedding day!)

I also took some of just the two of them here and absolutely adore this one

Back at the Royal Cambridge they have a fab staircase which I thought we'd use in the photos. With a vintage effect I love the way this starts to take on the feel of a renaissance painting

Lastly, here's one of the top table watching the bestman during his speech

If you attended Kiri and Steve's Wedding and would like to view their photos they are online now. They have the password which I'm sure they'll give to you if you ask.

We really enjoyed sharing in your day and working with the three of you and your families. We are glad that the rest of your day also went well after we left. We look forward to hearing from you soon regarding your selection and wish you all the happiness in the world for your future.