Sarah and Matt - The Video

I finally worked out how to put short videos on, still can't use Pro-show gold but in small shoot cases windows movie maker works just fine!! Don't forget if you love this video, tell your friends and family and get over to Mandy Charlton Designs and book yourself a photoshoot, I loved going around all the cool places in Newcastle upon Tyne with my camera!!

Sarah and Matts Engagement Shoot

Today I met up with my lovely Friend Sarah and her fiance Matt, Sarah had given me carte blanche creatively when I said that I would give them an engagement session instead of a household appliance (well which gift would you rather have??) so we met up in central Newcastle upon Tyne and what followed was a brilliant urban shoot which gave fantastic results!

Now then, I would love to share them all, yes every single one because I mostly loved all of them but it being my little blog I'm just teasing you with these, if you want to see more you'll have to ask Sarah for her password or of course you could book your very own Engagement shoot or regular photoshoot, just be sure to click on the contact us page of Mandy Charlton Designs.

Just So Thrilled...

At the way Elizabeth and Davids wedding has turned out, I was creating the DVD slideshow of around 79 Photographers favourite Photographs from their wedding and set to the licensed music I have it's quite special. I tested it out of course and all the family watched including Abigail, for Abigail to sit a whole 10 minutes in one place is quite an event!! I have got a copy of it which I'm supposed to be able to share online but I haven't a clue how to do it so if anyone has instructions on how you get a Pro-Show Gold Slideshow on to your blog I would be eternally grateful!!

I thought since I couldn't share the slideshow I would share a few more photos instead so here they are, I hope you like them!

Lurking Brides (:D) if you're looking and liking don't forget to book your free consultation by clicking on Mandy Charlton Designs and clicking on the contact us page.


This last photo is of David and all the rest of the guys due to leave for a tour of Iraq soon with the army, I'm pretty sure this photo is going to prove very special to all of them, guys if you're reading I'm sure I can speak for all my blog readers when I say we'll count the days down till your all home safe and sound again.

David and Elizabeth 27/10/07 - Newcastle Civic Centre

I had the absolute pleasure of being present at David and Elizabeths wedding today at Newcastle Civic Centre.

It was a small and intimate wedding and one of the most romantic weddings of the year. David and Elizabeth are a gorgeous couple, David a tank driver in the army is due to go to Iraq in only a couple of weeks so friends and family gathered to wish them luck and love on their very special day. Special not only for them of course but for gorgeous little Finlay their edible little boy!

No apologies for the amount of photos today and I could share them all week (fasten your seatbelts, because I probably will!!) so enjoy these snapshots from today and may I wish Elizabeth and David a long and happy marraige and to David I wish you God Speed for your assignment in Iraq.

Family and Friends wishing to access Elizabeth and Davids wedding gallery will be delighted to know that it should be live from the end of the week on my website Mandy Charlton Designs, if you don't know the password email me or ask Elizabeth!

A very Newcastle upon Tyne Wedding

I was looking at this photo the other day when I was creating Ian and Tracys wedding dvd of Photographers favourites and there's just something about this photo which I love, something so very Newcastle about it, here we have our wonderful happy couple coming over the Millenium Bridge and the big building in the background is the Baltic centre for contemporary art, it was a converted flour mill and is one of the most recognisable buildings on our amazing Quayside. I really truly love the place where I get to work, live and sometimes when I'm really good, Play!

Incidentally I hope that Tracy and Ian are having a fantastic honeymoon and I can't wait to see them both afterwards :)

I'm A Wedding Photographer Get Me Out of Here....

Not really but don't you think it's a great title for a programme!!

We've been out with the children today, yes we managed to take loads of photos but I've not had time to upload them all yet!!

A day full of meetings tommorrow and a lovely manicure with my wonderful Beauty Therapist and Owner of Minx-T on Heaton Road in Newcastle, Brides after 1 consultation with Jules you'll never want to go anywhere else.

Saturday I have David and Elizabeths wedding at Newcastle Civic Centre, very very excited about that and then Monday I have an Urban Engagement shoot on Location in Newcastle City Centre with the very gorgeous Sarah and Matt.

Good things :D

Blogged with Flock

It's the Mid-Week Round Up

Yes it's Wednesday and time for my mid-week round up, bullet-points of all that is going on in the Charlton household this week.

• Made Sushi again last night - really loving that all the family enjoy our sushi evenings.
• Took the children to a chinese supermarket yesterday, blimey we came back with some weird stuff!!
• Abigail has the class bear home with her for half term, Barnaby also came along to the Chinese Supermarket.
• Nearly wrapped up last weekends wedding, Just the slide-show to go
• Elizabeth and Davids wedding on Saturday, very excited as ever, spoke to Elizabeth yesterday and she's still chilled out (funny thing, all my brides tend to be fun, laid back and chilled out) although getting a little nervous and excited.
• The Middle point of Half Term, the cleaner only came yesterday and the house is a tip again!
• A difficult decision was taken this morning after the dog bit Iain yesterday evening, nuff said, don't want to talk about it too much as it's hurting right now.
• My awesome 120x80cm canvas of Looby is due to arrive any day soon and I can't wait to see how it's turned out.
• Loving my job and all the family autumnal photoshoots at the moment, to book yours see Mandy Charlton Designs.
• My Laptop with Windows Vista finally ground to a halt last night, have now turned off all the flashy settings and although it's like having windows 98 back it's a whole lot faster, I wouldn't mind but I have a 500gb external hardrive for the photos.
• Decorating Halloween cookies this afternoon and bought a couple of Halloween candles yesterday, looking forward to this holiday.
• Bought the children most of their autumn winter clothes today, the girls now both look splendid in Orange, red and browns, photos later if I can persuade them!!
• Someone please tell me why my hair is always so unmanagable no matter what I do to it at the moment!
  

Why Autumnal Family Photoshoots are best

You remember yesterday when I was sharing the autumnal family photoshoot from Saturday, well I did promise to show the leaf fight photo and here it is.


One more reason why you should book yourself a portrait sitting with Mandy Charlton Designs

Ashley and his sisters

Yesterday I had a fabulous Autumn Family Photoshoot with the cutest family you ever did see, along came Ashley with his gorgeous sisters and his little poppet of a niece who is 14 weeks old and quite the most scrumptious baby I have seen in ages!!

It was one of the most fun sessions due to the great fun I had with all the family and also the fact that this wonderful autumn weather has left a bounty of newly fallen leaves. As you can probably guess a leaf fight ensued at the end and if I remember I'll share a classic leaf fight photo with you all tommorrow.

It really has been a busy week on the photographic front and I'm suffering for the 20 hour days I've worked, I have a huge head-cold and thats my bodys way of telling me I might just need to take a breath. I have another wedding on Saturday so I'm in recovery mode till then.

I actually spent a pleasant afternoon up at Waitrose in Hexham this afternoon, thats my nearest branch would you beleive and so not getting there very often we bought everything in site, gorgeous deli salads, tapas, 2 different types of olives, a wonderous foody bounty to keep us going in the half term week we have ahead.

Tonight I'm chilling out with a hot bath, a magazine and an early night (adding some benilyn sinus releif, paracetamol and Ibuprofen) I want to say a big thanks to those gorgeous people I have had the pleasure of photographing over the last week, you all really give me the best job in the world!

As you can see from all the gorgeous photos there's never been a better time to grab yourself a fabulous family photoshoot so why not head on over to Mandy Charlton Designs and book yours now!

19/10/07 - Tracy and Ian are married

I was lucky enough to be the wedding photographer for Tracy and Ians wedding at St Josephs RC church in Newcastle upon Tyne, it was a dry autumnal day and friends and family gathered from around the country to celebrate with the happy couple. Tracy and Ian decided that they would like their special photos of the day to be taken on the Quayside just next to the Millenium Bridge, these folk are enormous fans of Newcastle United and are completely passionate about all things Geordie so it's only fitting that we have the greatest landmarks of our region in as many photos as possible.

I would like to wish Tracy and Ian a long and happy marraige together and a wonderful honeymoon.

Brides, are you getting married in central Newcastle upon Tyne, would you too like your photos to be taken on the Quayside? Well why not check out the wedding packages at Mandy Charlton Designs.

Is bigger always better?

Well in the case of photographs I beleive that answer is almost definetly yes!! You should see how a photo looks on a canvas for instance, I guarantee once you've gone to canvas you'll never go back to prints! I think this is the next one to go on canvas, what do you think?

Very Very Special offer from Mandy Charlton Designs

yes folks it's true, I have a very very special offer, for the rest of October you can bag yourself a photoshoot and 7x5 print in a metallic Silver frame for only £35, yes you heard right, a mini-photoshoot (30 mins) and then your favourite print framed!

Now thats what I call a bargain, hurry though because this offer is only available until 31st of October and with Christmas coming wouldn't this make a fantastic present?

If you want to book call me on 07918 121838 and quote Scrapping Through Life or alternatively click on the contact us page of Mandy Charlton Designs

Proud Mummy

I've been at an Ede Party today photographing 30 adorable children but my news and photo of the day comes from when I got home and found out that Abigail is riding her bike without stabelizers (sp?) I'm so proud of my big girl and her grown up bike riding, all her friends gave her a big cheer when they saw her, needless to say she's had a very self satisfied grin on her face this evening!!

Stuart and Kate's Pre-Shoot at Matfen Hall

What can I tell you about Stuart and Kate?

Well they're an utterly gorgeous couple who are lots of fun to be around and I can't wait to shoot their Christmas wedding! We met up at the reception venue this afternoon, Matfen Hall is one of the most gorgeous locations with Cathedral like ceilings and stained glass windows, not to mention the Stately staircase which is straight out of a Romance novel. Sadly we couldn't shoot inside today because there was a wedding on but we had lots of fun shooting in the grounds as you can see from their shots.

As you can see from the photos there are loads of places to stop for great shots and I really enjoyed our relaxed session, I'm certainly looking forward to being their wedding photographer in December.

If you would like an Engagement session you can book a portrait sitting through my website Mandy Charlton Designs

If you want to see more of Kate and Stuarts engagement shoot you'll have to speak to Kate and ask her for the Cryptic Password ;)

Portraits of Paul

I had a little downtime today so what better way to spend it than capturing a couple of candids of hubby, no he didn't pose them at all, he just happened to look at the right time and for once actually didn't have time to pull funny faces, Thank You 20D ;)

This week has been a mad busy one but I did squeeze in time to make Sushi for the very first time and my normally picky children all thought it was fab, Looby even remarked that I was the best cooker in the world!

If you're looking for an eye into my world of work then you'll see that over the next week or so, I have an E-session on Saturday up at Matfen Hall with the gorgeous Stuart and Kate whos wedding I'm shooting in December (Christmas themed), then on Sunday I'm off to take 30 childrens portraits at a party to celebrate Ramadan, I also have another couple of family portraits scheduled and then next Friday I have a wedding where the theme is black and white, Love all the great themed weddings, it makes it such fun, then again being a wedding photographer in Newcastle is I find the most fun you can have without being naughty!!!

5 Great Things I've done this past week

Ages since I've done a list and I have so many little random things to blog about this seemed to be a great way of doing it!

1. Went for Sushi at St Sushi in Newcastle on Saturday night, for the first time I tried Octopus and Clams and Oh my I loved the Octopus especially, I'm definetly going back there again!!

2. Went to the Journal/Tyne Theatre to see One Night Of Queen, the theatre was just opposite the sushi restaurant and we were seeing everyone go in, then I spotted it was a queen tribute band and so we managed to get a couple of tickets just as the show was starting and had the best night ever!!

3. Ordered a Huge Canvas, yes I know I sell them but I've never actually had one for myself, well thats all just changed and I've ordered a 16x24 canvas of Abigail, I have a 3ftx4ft one to order before the end of the month too but I'm still searching for that perfect photo!!

4. I bought another Camera, yep this one is lovely and great to add to my existing kit, as a wedding photographer back up kit is an absolute essential, prospective brides, make sure your wedding photographer carries back up!!

5. Hired a new assistant, please welcome Nigel to the MCD team! He'll be assisting on my October 19th wedding and I'm really looking forward to working with him!

No photo today, I was in bed all ill yesterday so my plans of taking all the family out for another autumnal session didn't occur, thankfully I'm feeling lots better today, can't quite beleive I slept for nearly 20 hours!!

Hexham Abbey

Paul took a well deserved break from work today and off we went to Hexham, I was scouting good locations for Lisa and Glenns wedding in November, it's always worth making sure that your wedding photographer is doing his or her homework on locations as you never know what the weather may decide to do on your wedding day!


So back to Hexham, it's years since I went inside Hexham Abbey and as luck would have it the organist was also practicing whilst I was inside so I felt completely inspired, I took several shots of the magnificent surroundings and soaked it all in. These are a couple of the shots I got today and don't forget if you want to see their full magnificence you can click on them and make them nice and big!

It's the weekend and Me, Abigail and Looby are all off to the local salon for manicures, it's the girls first time having a mini-manicure and they are so excited, I know they'll have a brilliant time, Jules the owner of MinxT on Heaton Road and also near Four Lane Ends in the east end of Newcastle is simply the loveliest lady and a wonderful beautician, Brides if you want make-up on your wedding morning then I can't recommend her highly enough, quite simply my nails have never looked better!

L is for.... Oh and Win a Canvas

Lovely Looby with the famous silly expressions!! I particularly love this one. It's rare I get those wonderful candid pics of Looby anymore, she's become far too camera aware in the last year or so and so everytime she senses a lens in her face I get the standard cheesy grin or the silly face has also become quite popular of late, maybe she's been taking tips from her daddy!!

Yes I forgot to mention, last months winners of my Win your wedding album competition were Louise and Craig who are marrying next year at Ramside Hall, can't wait for that wedding, I hear the groom is very fond of his golf!!

So Octobers competition is to win a 16x12 Canvas worth over£120, any wedding photography bookings during October will be entered into my special draw and 1 lucky couple will get their favourite wedding photo enlarged and immortalised in canvas forever!! Details are of course on my website Mandy Charlton Designs.

Don't forget as Christmas approaches and you're stuck for gifts that photographs of a loved one always go down a treat so check out my specials, oh and did you know that Mandy Charlton Designs does gift vouchers, why not buy someone a photoshoot of their very own for Christmas, it's the present bound to impress and whats more I'll even gift wrap it for you in a tasteful box guaranteed to make the recipient smile on Christmas day.

Kate Bush

Helen on my forum was asking how our kitten was, if you haven't heard the story, a couple of months ago my husband (whilst he still worked for Royal Mail) was on his postal round and heard mewing from a nearby bush, anyway it was a teeny kitten who must have only been a couple of months old, well we nurtured her and loved her and gave her home (well as we have 2 other cats another didn't make too much difference) and this was her last week caught midway up the fence-post off on one of her adventures!! She really is the cutest kitty on the block!!