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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)

Nicola & Aaron’s Wonderful White Wedding | December 2010

The snow arrived with a vengeance the week of Nicola and Aaron’s wedding.  Fortunately the lovely couple wanted a white wedding, and the weather certainly delivered (but with the tiniest of thaws the previous day, meaning that the vast majority of guests were able to make the journey.)  It’s very special for us to spend time with a couple like Nicola and Aaron – they’re fun, friendly and above all, clearly head over heels in love.  We hope you had a wonderful time in Egypt Nicola and Aaron and we look forward to sharing your photos with you soon.  For now, here’s a sneak preview of all the snowy, Christmassy loveliness at Ringwood Hall.

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December 19, 2010 - 6:57 pm

Nicola - These look great! we can’t wait to see the rest,We love the one of Ellie. Have a wonderful Christmas x

December 21, 2010 - 1:52 am

Alex - Oh my gosh, amazingly beautiful images!! My favorites are the last two. Wow.

January 8, 2011 - 10:39 pm

Erica - Thanks so much Alex, and Nicola we’re really pleased you’re happy with your wedding photos!

Lucy & Chris | Kensington Roof Gardens Wedding Wonderland

Are you sitting comfortably? I would recommend a cup of tea and perhaps a biscuit or three…this is a long post! It’s been some time since we’ve posted something as extensive as this, not because of lack of desire to do so, but because we’ve been shooting weddings and designing album after album for all our clients wanting them in time for Christmas! The album design process is almost done for 2010 and we’re now excitedly awaiting for the extremely large delivery from our album manufacturer! But on to the post:

Erica and I were very excited this year to be shooting weddings at Kensington Roof Gardens. In fact, we were there shooting weddings two weekends in a row! Kensington Roof Gardens is one and a half acres of themed roof gardens situated on the 6th floor of a building in Kensington, some 100 feet above the high street. And they have full grown oak trees. I know- it sounds crazy. But funnily enough, after not too long up there, you totally forget that you’re actually on a roof, especially when you see the resident flamingoes, Splosh and Pecks…

Anyway, we’re delighted to be sharing a full post of all the highlights from Lucy and Chris’s beautiful wedding, which starts off with Lucy getting ready at the beautiful Kensington Gore Hotel…Erica starts to tell the story first:

It has to be said- I love a good shoe shot!

The first time I saw this shot of Erica’s I was quite taken by it. I still am.

Lucy looked beautiful in her Jenny Packham dress, and the vintage style looked totally at home in the Gore Hotel room.

And now on to the Roof Gardens where I met Chris while he was getting ready. We start off with a few details to set the scene.

It would seem that love was in the air not just for Lucy and Chris. Splosh and Pecks were incredibly obliging and held this mirroring pose for quite some time while I changed lenses and I understand that this picture now has pride of place in their home. Not really, but I’m sure it would go down well in flamingo world!

Another one, just for good measure.

Lucy’s flowers were truly beautiful:

…and I couldn’t resist getting a shot of them against these bright red autumnal leaves.

The man himself, applying the final touches in front of a mirror in the Roof Gardens Moo Room.

I am definitely in favour of brown shoes with a blue suit- these look very smart yet modern.

The best man, Neil , and final touches to the button hole.

I love the backlighting in this shot…it really suits the black and white conversion, with a bit of antique tone thrown in.

Chris and his lovely sister Natasha- she looks so proud!

Lucy’s arrival at the Roof Gardens!

Lucy’s dad spots me but there’s no difficulty guessing where Lucy’s looking- straight at Chris!

The first look.

The brand new, Mr and Mrs Walton.

I love this shot for a number of reasons. Firstly the look of sheer happiness of Chris and Lucy’s face as they take their first few steps as husband and wife, but also because of the congratulatory pat on the back being given to Chris…

On to some relaxed portraits of the happy couple. This first one is one of my favourites.

Lovely expressions…

On to the Spanish garden…

A few shots of family and friends. We try to keep these relatively informal and quick so that everybody can continue with the party, but I think everybody recognises that these type of shots play an important part in recording family history.

The guests mingle in the Spanish gardens.

Chris and Lucy had arranged for a steel band to entertain their guests after the ceremony. It made for a really fun and relaxed atmosphere which perfectly suited the mood of the day.

A few details of the table settings for dinner, in the Tudor gardens.

On to the speeches.

I’m quite proud of this shot. I was reasonably far away (using the 70-200mm 2.8L) and so couldn’t hear the conversation between these three. I would loved to have heard what was going on. It looks to me like there’s some teasing going on!

After dinner, everybody moved indoors to mingle. The interior of the Kensington Roof Gardens is very cool and everybody was having a great time!

These cupcakes were amazing!

Lucy’s mum Susan made these brilliant cake toppers of Lucy and Chris!

Cocktails anybody?

I love this shot of Erica’s.

A little later, a jazz band entertained the guests. It was one of those many moments where being a wedding photographer is a true joy- getting to work while being accompanied by fantastic musicians. I can still remember how they sounded, and their cover of Madeleine Peyroux’s ‘Don’t Wait Too Long’ was absolutely brilliant.

If I was to own a double bass, I would want it to be like this:

Chris and Lucy’s first dance, to Frankie Valli’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You.’ I love to see a couple having fun on their first dance!

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December 14, 2010 - 11:36 am

Roger Ford - Hey guys! Absolutely amazing wedding photos!! So many lovely ones, but I think the 3 that stood out for me were: the B&W one of the 2 of them holding each other, the overhead one of Lucy going down the stairs, and the piano hands in blue light… Among many others! Looks like a great venue and beautifully captured – well done….

December 15, 2010 - 8:56 pm

Christian - Thanks for your comments Roger! 🙂

December 20, 2010 - 9:34 am

Emma - Stunning wedding- the bride’s dress and flowers are gorgeous, and how good do those cupcakes look?!

February 20, 2011 - 7:24 pm

Robert Cox - Brilliant photography as always. I love all the shots taken during the speeches- great light and great moments that you’ve caught.

March 11, 2011 - 9:04 pm

Jane - Wow- what a beautiful wedding! Love the way you’ve captured it- the couple look so in love and everybody looks so happy. Love those flamingoes too!

Nicola & Aaron | An Autumnal Pre-wedding Shoot

Nicola and Aaron booked us a LONG time ago for their wedding that’s coming up at Ringwood Hall in a few weeks, so it was nice to finally meet up again now that their wedding is excitingly close! The days preceding Nicola and Aaron’s pre-wedding shoot were mostly rainy. Rainy and cold. But when the day for their shoot arrived the weather couldn’t have been better, and we had the perfect autumnal afternoon chatting as we walked and taking a few relaxed photos along the way. It’s always a joy taking photos in this kind of light, and although Nicola and Aaron were quite nervous to begin with it, it was fun capturing their shy affection for each other. As usual, here are a few of our favourite moments from their shoot. In photographic terms, I am defining it with just 4 words: lens-flare-a-licious.

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Come and see us this Sunday!

This Sunday, 21st November, Christian and I will be exhibiting at the Sheffield Park Hotel wedding fayre.  We don’t do many wedding fayres so we’re really looking forward to it.  If you know anyone who is getting married and looking for a photographer, this is an ideal way for them to meet us, see a selection of our work and chat informally about their wedding plans.  And if you’re an existing client with a few other things still to book for your wedding, why not come along and meet some other suppliers?  And now, because we can’t really do a Blog post without a photo, here’s another beautiful moment from Polly & Ralph’s gorgeous Suffolk wedding…

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