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  • Hello there!

    Welcome to Christian Ward Photography. We are Christian and Erica - a husband and wife photographic team based in Chesterfield near Sheffield but delivering high quality wedding photography throughout the UK and for destination weddings. Information and a price guide are available through the Info link at the top left of this page. Contact us now to enquire about our availability.

    We specialise in delivering seamless cover of your entire day, capturing relaxed, natural, and beautiful photographs. We're passionate about photographing your wedding and would love to hear from you. Please do leave your comments on our photos and tell us what you think!
    (Our bio photo by Swedish photographer Isabelle Hesselberg)

Getting Married in 2010?

Then you should contact us soon to check our availability!  We’re regretfully already having to turn away bookings for next year because we’re already booked on the date in question.  We only book one wedding per day so that every couple has our complete dedication, but this does mean that we are getting booked up fast, particularly over the summer months.  If you don’t have a fixed date at this stage please feel free to get in touch and we will check availability on a range of dates for you, so you can be sure we’re free.  Please use the contact form above to get in touch, and hopefully we’ll be meeting with you soon!

Francesca & David’s Country Wedding | September 2009

Following on from our recent sneak preview, I am very pleased to be posting a larger selection of images from Fran and David’s wedding, which took place on a glorious Indian summer day in September.

It’s always nice to find a pretty window in which to hang the dress for its own special photo.  Fran’s dress was particularly beautiful, with simple, sleek lines set off by delicate lace.  We loved the simplicity and colour of the bouquets, and it was a real treat to go and photograph them in their little corner of the garden at Fran’s parents’ house – the morning dew on the roses was so pretty.

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Fran got ready at her parents’ beautiful home Mere Farmhouse, which actually overlooked the church, with her bridesmaids, flowergirls and family members. Here are a few details from the morning’s preparations including a close-up of Fran’s hair, styled beautifully by Maggie Clinton of Holcot.

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Over the road at Hannington Church, Chris took some great informal portraits of David and his groomsmen.

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Some relaxed images from before and after the ceremony:

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After the ceremony there was a champagne reception back at Fran’s family home, which was a lovely informal catch-up for the family and friends that had come from far and wide to celebrate with the newly married couple.  For the journey to the reception, Fran and David had arranged a surprise for the guests – a shiny red double-decker bus was waiting round the corner to whisk them away in style!

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The reception took place at Cranford Hall, which as you can see was an absolutely beautiful venue.  We started off with some group photographs, and then the bride and groom received their guests.  The wedding breakfast was set out in a beautifully decorated marquee, with themed tables (Flower Fairies and Football Legends, an intriguing combination!)

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Moving on to our favourite part of the day.  The wedding breakfast has been served, the guests are relaxed, and if we’re lucky (as we were here) we get some perfect evening light to take some relaxed portraits, like these of the gorgeous bridesmaids.  And no, one of them isn’t Fran disguised as a bridesmaid, it’s her identical twin sister Camilla.  At least we think it is…!

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Isn’t Fran such a beautiful bride…

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I just love these couple shots – how cool do these newlyweds look?!

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This one is my favourite of Fran and David – I just love the colour and mood…

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Another of our favourites…

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The band at this wedding was amazing!  Their appearance was heralded by a rather cool ‘reveal’ as a fake back wall to the marquee rolled up to show the multi-piece soul band hidden behind.

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Thank you Fran and David for choosing us to take your wedding photographs – we had a great time taking them and hope you love them as much as we do!

November 10, 2009 - 3:58 am

s h e r r y - Lovely images, I am diggin’ the desaturated look.

November 20, 2009 - 10:14 pm

Tonikka - OMG your pictures are so beautiful… I dont specialize in wedding photography but looking thru your pictures sure makes me want to do more than 2 a year!!

November 23, 2009 - 6:05 pm

Erica - Thanks Sherry & Tonikka for your kind comments – glad you like them!

November 26, 2009 - 9:57 pm

David and Fran - What amazing photos! They capture our day perfectly. Thank you so much – we are so pleased that we chose you as our photographers. Now we can’t wait for the album!

December 2, 2009 - 1:46 am

Featured! | Rock My Wedding » Sheffield Wedding Photographer - […] when we were asked if Rock My Wedding could feature one of the weddings we’ve photographed- Fran & David’s country wedding in Northamptonshire! Here are some screenshots of the feature, but for those of you who have yet to […]

December 6, 2009 - 10:55 am

Francesca & David | …& Counting | Belated full post! » Sheffield Wedding Photographer - […] this isn’t too confusing, since you will have already seen Fran and David’s beautiful wedding images, and now here I am posting photographs from their pre-wedding shoot!  But since we never got past […]

June 7, 2010 - 10:26 pm

Brides Magazine’s Exclusive Photographer for Derbyshire! » Sheffield Wedding Photographer - […] 1. Brides Magazine is the UK’s no.1 bridal magazine. 2. Whilst the vast majority of wedding directories feature long lists of suppliers in each category, Brides Magazine this year have chosen to pick exclusively just one supplier per category, per county. 3. This wedding directory has been put together based on quality. The magazine employed a team of researchers who trawled websites across the UK looking for the best. 4. It’s only been a few months since You & Your Wedding magazine asked us if they could feature our photographs of Fran & David’s Northamptonshire wedding. […]

June 22, 2010 - 9:14 pm

Christian Ward Photography | BIG News! » Sheffield Wedding Photographer - […] Bride and You & Your Wedding magazine contacted us to ask if they could use our photographs of Fran & David’s country garden wedding for one of their ‘real wedding’ features.  Then we had a call from Brides Magazine […]

Nice to Meet You.

Let us introduce you to the latest member of our family- the beautiful, the exquisite, the simply inspirational…Platinum range of wedding photograph albums. We’ve had these fine books in our range for just over a month or so and we’ve finally managed to find the time to take their photos for you all to see. What’s different about them? Well actually, let’s start with what’s not different.

As with all of the albums we offer, they all have a number of things in common:

  • They all contain custom layouts designed by us to display your beautiful photographs in a way you’re unlikely to have seen before.
  • The print quality is first class- without fail, each and every couple who sees our albums comments on the vibrance of the colours. Yes, we do black and white sometimes when it suits an image, but when you see how good our colours are, you’ll want them too. We’d like to say it’s easy, but the truth is that we have worked very, very hard to ensure that your photographs look as good as they possibly can in print; not all photographers do the same!
  • The albums are top quality and handmade from start to finish. As you should expect from a professional photographer.
  • We miss them when we have to hand them over to you!

So what really is different? We shoot our weddings using fashion as one of our many inspirations, and the Platinum range complements this style perfectly.

  • These albums are for the fashion forward couple who appreciates natural materials presented in a timeless, contemporary style.
  • You’ll know from the moment you open the custom made brocade slipcover and catch the aroma that you’re dealing with the highest grade Italian leathers. Your albums look good not just now, but the quality of the coverings ensures that your album ages beautifully and truly stands the test of time, looking good for generations. That’s why they also come with a lifetime guarantee against defects.
  • There are a myriad of cover options and customisation is expected. These aren’t off-the-shelf and nor will you find many photographers offering them.
  • An aluminium cameo. I admit I wasn’t convinced about these until I saw one in the flesh, but we’re now true cameo converts. Mounted to fit flush into the front cover, an aluminium cameo is a thin sheet of highly polished aluminium on which a photograph is directly printed. It gives a finish and effect that’s unique and really makes your album stand out.
  • Embossed gold/silver foil lettering on the spine, for extra personalisation.
  • Fashion slipcovers. Your album comes in its own rigid, protective box just like our other album ranges, but these albums also come with a choice of stylish slip-covers, made just for your individual album for a snug fit. See the photos for examples. These are the perfect finishing touch for a world-class album.

We have many couples who say our photographs look even better in print than they do on screen, and the same goes for our albums. So don’t delay- you’ll find all our contact details at the top of this page, so get in touch and we can talk about your big day!

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Charlotte & Kiran’s Autumn Wedding | Sneak Preview | September 2009

You may have noticed that we’ve had a little break in our blogging recently.  That’s because we’ve taken advantage of the end of the frantic summer wedding season to take our holidays – there’ll be some posts on that to follow, but for now, we are back with a sneak preview of the lovely Charlotte and Kiran’s wedding at beautiful St. James Church at Norton in Sheffield and their intimate reception at The Red Lion at Stone Edge.  Charlotte and Kiran were great clients, very laid back yet focused on having the relaxed and warm wedding that they wanted.  We start with some pre-wedding shots and a few pretty details from the day…

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The newly married pair looked so peaceful and happy as we took their couple photographs…despite the slightly chilly late September weather!

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October 27, 2009 - 9:54 am

Alex Davies - Lovely images 🙂

October 28, 2009 - 12:42 am

Christian - Thanks, Alex 🙂

November 3, 2009 - 2:08 pm

Joy Walters - Mike and I just want to say a big big thank you to both of you. Charlotte and Kiran’s wedding day was made even more special by the way you were both so discreet when taking the beautiful photos which we have seen on your Blog. We are really looking foward to seeing the rest of them.
Good luck with your photography business you really deserve the success.
Joy and Mike Walters (Charlotte’s parents)

November 6, 2009 - 6:46 pm

Erica - Thanks Joy, it was a real pleasure spending time with you all on the day – we look forward to showing Charlotte and Kiran’s complete collection of photographs to you soon! Best wishes Chris & Erica

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