Since Celynnen Photography won “Best Wedding Photographer – North Wales” at the Welsh National Wedding Awards, I’ve had a few people ask me to describe our style. Are we contemporary wedding photographers? Traditional wedding photographers perhaps? Instead of going on about style and jargon, I decided to put up some of our favorite images of the year and tell you why we like them so much. Hopefully, it will give you an idea of what we do and why we do it. This is not a “Best of Celynnen Photography”, but more images to which we have nice memories attached.

Let’s start with this one. This picture was taken during a pre-wedding portrait session in Anglesey. The flare and tone in colour was inspired to me by an ad campaign for Boodles which I absolutely loved. I wanted to give a bit of a carefree, happy look to the image and I think it worked fairly well.

This picture from a wedding at Seiont Manor is a very traditional one and is one I do often, simply because it works. Wedding photography is not and shouldn’t always be about flashy setups and dramatic poses and purple skies and vintage photoshop effects. It’s about capturing happy people. And I’m sure you’ll agree that these two look rather happy indeed.

Here’s another pre-wedding portrait I did in Bala. The thing again, nothing complicated here. This groom is having a particularly good year as not only did he get married to a lovely bride, but his beloved Wrexham FC are doing pretty good too!

Talking about happiness, Tom was probably the most exhuberantly happy groom we’ve ever had! EVERYTHING was perfect on his day as far as he was concerned! He just loved being surrounded by his friends and family, the sun was shining and he was marrying the woman he loves. To me this pretty much summarises what weddings should be about. Being happy in the moment. Some people work themselves up so much on the day, it’s a wonder if they even actually have a good time. But one thing is for sure, Tom and Lydia had an amazing time! Have a look at their summery wedding in an Event in a Tent tipi here

Here’s a picture from a wedding at the Grosvenor Pulford. These two I really liked and again when you look at the picture what do you see? Happiness. Plain and simple. No magazine poses, no photoshop effects. I believe that couples generally want to be reminded about how much of a great time they had, more than anything else. More on their wedding here.

Another really happy shot, the reason why I have such a lovely souvenir of this wedding at the Chester Grosvenor is because they have been together for over 20 years but still decided to get married! It was just them two, no guests to impress but still they got really emotional when saying their vows. To me it just reiterated how special and magical weddings are.

The groom actually rebuilt this car which makes him super cool in my head to start with and then proceeded to drive his bride from the church to the venue in it! There were so many little personal touches to their wedding it gave it a really lovely feel! You don’t need to spend lots of money (or be super talented like our groom here..) to make your special day special. But remember to try and make it as personal as you can. PS: Their best man probably had one of the most memorable wedding speeches ever!

This had to be the most nervous bride we’ve ever had for a pre-wedding shoot. Which is why our pre-wedding shoots are so important. It helps us all feel more confident and comfortable on the wedding day and I think you can tell by the result that our bride was not only relaxed, but very happy on her wedding day.:)

It’s always an honour to be invited at a wedding. People allow you to share some really personal moments with them. One of the reasons why I like this picture is because you can almost hear her excitement. That’s it! We made it! We’re married!
The groom’s and the best man speeches were also memorable on that day. They were personal and had no internet jokes. If suddenly all the best man speech wedding jokes on the internet disappeared, I’d cheer. Be simple. Be yourself. It’ll work. Click here for more of Emma and Tim’s wedding at the St-Georges here.

This picture, taken at the Bulkeley in Beaumaris was another memorable wedding and they passed through a range of emotions and gave us the most “insightful” wedding speeches ever! I like this picture simply because it reminds me of the day generally. a mix of elegance with a bit of nerves.
Sometimes we pose the getting ready shots, but sometimes, I don’t mind losing out on technical perfection if you see true emotion.

This is a wedding I will never forget simply because of how welcome the wedding party made me feel. It sounds obvious, but you’re more likely to perform if you’re happy and well. But from the moment I walked in, the reception I got just blew me away! I photographed Stephanie’s sister’s wedding a couple of years ago and we’re still friends, but I didn’t expect so many people to remember my name. Simple thing, but it touched me. Click here to see more of Stephanie and Adam’s  wedding at the Racquet Club in Liverpool here!

Does this groom look happy or what? Nigel and Kate always look rather contented but their wedding was one of our favourites at the Chester Grosvenor. There are times in all weddings when there’s a bit of a “dip”, usually before the meal or before dancing. Nigel and Kate sorted that out by sending their guest on one of Chester’s Famous Heritage Bus Tours in the day and having a casino at night which really helped make the day as full of fun as possible!

For this shot, I was just “warming up”. It was an amazing venue, gorgeous people and I knew there was potential for more fashion oriented images. Because with Celynnen Photography, you don’t get a cookie cutter approach to wedding photography, we prepare for your wedding to really make your images unique and representative of your day.

We like to play around with groups. Some formals, some less formal. Here it’s all about the groom’s smile. Probably laughing because he thought I looked like Omid Djalili.

I just like it. Don’t always need to say why.

We obviously do boudoir photography and pre-wedding portrait photography but we also do what we call “Bride’s day out” photography. Effectively, a “Trash the Dress” shoot…without the misguiding and agressive name. Here we have Penny and Adrian with their horses as they met playing polocrosse. We’ve also done shoots in the sea, caves…if you can imagine it, we’ll do it! You can see Penny an Adrian’s wedding in Perth Western Australia here! Yes, Celynnen Photography are also Destination Wedding Photographers with experience in Quebec, Canada, France and Portugal too!

These two were 2 of the smiliest people I’ve ever met but the lovely thing about this picture is the interaction between them. This type of image can only really be achieved with discretion from the part of the photographer. I’ve heard of some standing on pews, going over the celebrant’s shoulder…mad and madding stuff for all. We like to stand back from the action and zoom in. More about Nicola and Martin’s wedding (and fantastic smile) here!

Grooms are important too! A lot of photographers, naturally, capture lot of the bride but sometimes forget that it’s the grooms day too!

This was a lovely wedding for so many reasons. 1st, because we’ve made wonderful friends, but also: The shoes. How cool are those shoes?! This was another wedding where there were many little personal touches. More of Theresa and Robert’s special day here! By the way, if you’re still reading this, you’ll be glad to know that we will be raffling five £150 vouchers! For a chance to win, post a comment!

Another thing which is important is giving the couple space.

The previous 2 set of images are also some of my favorites moments captured because they are about the relationship between people.

Celynnen Photography are proud to support gay and lesbian couples on their civil partnership and gay weddings. So many friends and family from both sides of the ocean and a very touching ceremony. Weddings, gay or straight are always about two people truly loving each other and wanting to spend the rest of their life together. And there is no way anyone can fault that. One of the most touching moments was the speech of the father of one of the brides. More on Sandra and Amanda here.

Finally, 2 pictures from Suzanne and Gareth’s wedding, our second wedding featured this year in the North Wales wedding guide. We’ve only put 2 images, including one of my favorite first dance pictures of the year because of the emotion in it. It was also our 4th military wedding of the year as Gareth is part of the RAF Regiment. Celynnen Photography are proud to support the armed forces by offering our MOD discount. On another note, it’s after Suzanne and Gareth’s wedding at nant gwrtheyrn that we came out with our new “tagline”. It might be obvious now when you look at all the pictures we chose for this special post but when it comes to your wedding, don’t worry too much. Keep it simple, keep it personal and remember:

“Happiness is the secret to all beauty”
-Christian Dior