Marianne Taylor Photography | Portrait & Family Photographer in Cornwall
On-location portrait and family photography in North Cornwall. Siren of the Sea sessions, couples, families. Soft, romantic, coastal.
Sally & James live right next to Smithfield Market in London, and are getting married in their local church in the spring, so it made sense that we started their engagement session from the area. We then strolled down to the river, nipping in and out of cute alleyways (oh, I do love a good back alley!) on the way. There’s nothing I like better than getting to know my couples, and hanging out with Sally and James was such a joy. Can’t wait for their wedding day!
I bet Californian photographers’ blogs don’t talk about rain quite as much as mine does… It’s just a fact of London life that with every session there’s that element of excitement about whether it will bucket it down on the day or not. When it came to Nirali & Kunal’s engagement session, the pressure was really on, as between the days they were visiting London from New York and my availability, we had such a narrow window of opportunity to do our session. And of course, as if on cue, it started absolutely peeing it down an hour before our session… Luckily the rain shower was hard but short lived, and afterwards we got to have beautifully gleaming wet pavements to add a bit of London flavour into the shots.
I’m so glad the weather worked out, and despite the rain, I do love London in the autumn! It was such a pleasure meeting you Nirali & Kunal, and I hope your wedding back in NY will be absolutely fabulous! x
Sometimes the planets just align perfectly. You know those moments, when everything just clicks and you feel like ‘yes, this is how the world should look like’. Well, Vanessa & James’ engagement session was full of those moments. The time of day was perfect for the light, the colours of the leaves were beautiful, and their laughter was contagious. I loved every minute of spending time with these two traipsing around Putney, and I think I’m in love with every single frame I took.
Oh Vanessa and James, thanks so much for making it so that our paths crossed (it was the right day in the end wasn’t it) I feel so happy to have met you, and I hope you’ll have an absolutely magical wedding day in Singapore!
Remember last year when we went to Paris with Wendy & Martin for ‘part I’ of their engagement session? We always planned to do ‘part II’ in London, but it took nearly a year of arranging and re-arranging dates until we finally got together again. It was so nice to see Wendy & Martin again, and we spent a thoroughly lovely afternoon traipsing around South Bank and catching up on what’s been happening in their lives in the past year. And I just have to say, I love Wendy’s new hairstyle, sooo cute!
There are some funny coincidences in life, some of them so out there that it feels almost impossible to be true – or perhaps meant to be? Just a couple of weeks before Helen & Miles’ engagement session I was doing some wedding portraits for the lovely Kelly and Scott, and as it turns out, the two couples are practically neighbours! In fact, they can very nearly see into each others lounges from their windows, which I think is just hilarious. (It also seems that people living on this street are seriously into big balloons. :D)
I think the term ‘cute as a button’ was actually invented for Helen & Miles. They are just simply adorable, inside and out, and it was so nice to finally spend some time photographing them. Helen & Miles are getting married next year in one of the coolest venues I know, Pale & Interesting, down in Kent. They were originally going to get married somewhere else, but fell so head over heels in love when they came across the amazing New England barn that they decide to change venues. And I couldn’t have been happier when they told me about the change of plans. I can. not. wait. for the wedding day!
Huiting & Victor, who live in Singapore, got in touch with me nearly a year ago about organising their engagement session in London. The plans changed a couple of times along the way, but there was always talk about Borough Market and the Southbank area, which is where we ended up for most of the session. I know I always talk about the weather like I’m obsessed (well, as an on-location photographer it is something to obsess about, really) but I can’t not mention it on this occasion, since the rain was absolutely torrential on both sides of Huiting & Victor’s session, apart for the time that we were together when the rain miraculously stayed away! I hope it doesn’t mean I chipped in all my good weather karma in one go…
It was fun trawling the streets of London with these two (and Kate Hughes who was in charge of hair and make-up). One of the highlights was when Huiting changed into her beautiful wedding gown and people on the streets went literally a bit loopy. It was amusing watching people crane their necks trying to get a glimpse of a beautiful bride in the middle of London rush hour!
There was a very narrow window of opportunity for us to make Sarah & Will’s engagement session happen, since Will was only going to be in London for a few days, and it would be the last time he came over before Sarah moves to the US in the Autumn to live with him. And of course on that one day that we could make work, it rained and rained aaall day long. But it turned out not to be such a bad thing. At one stage, when the rain got torrential, we retreated into Sarah’s flat and had some fun jumping on the bed. I’ve always wanted to shoot inside someone’s home so it was actually a lot of fun!
I think the fact that Sarah, who’s a designer for Cath Kidston, always tends to draw girls with umbrellas was an omen. Or as it turned out, a sign of fun times with umbrellas to come!
P.S. how cute is the picture of Sarah & Will together when they were little and used to be family friends? Just, awww…
Meet Emily & James. They are getting married in a couple of days in Florence. Personally, I’m about to burst with excitement! I absolutely love Italy and used to go there every year, back in the days when the concept of a ‘summer holiday’ was still viable. I got proposed to in Venice and went to Rome for my honeymoon (which is actually the last time I’ve been to Italy). It’s been years since I’ve last been to Florence, and I am over the moon to be travelling there now, especially for such a joyous occasion as Emily & James’ wedding.
We had such a fun engagement session in Southwark, and I cannot wait for Saturday, it will be epic! I hope these two will attract the light in the same magical way over there than they did in London.
It will be a bit quieter here for the next few weeks as I have two weddings to travel to. I will pop back in between and hopefully finish off some weddings that I didn’t quite manage to process yet, so stay tuned. But for now, arrivederci!
Everything’s a bit upside down, as I’m getting ready to travel to two destination weddings and trying to finish off as many sessions as I can before I go away. Hence I’m blogging Rachael & Daniel’s engagement session first, even though technically I’ve shot it last… but yeah, there’s logic in there somewhere I promise!
What made Rachael & Dan’s session especially remarkable, was the fact that while taking pictures up in the gorgeous Kensington Roof Gardens, a plastic flamingo shaped garden ornament suddenly jumped up and ran away! I mean, oh my god, I had no idea there were actual flamingoes living it up on a roof top in London! How crazy is that??
In other news, Rachael & Dan are ridiculously cute, wouldn’t you agree?
Patty & Wallace are just the cutest. Fact. Even the fact that I usually ask my couples to refrain from wearing matching white t-shirts, and they’d gone and done just that, somehow added to the cuteness of these two!
I swear I’m getting a reputation for dragging jumping, rolling and kissing couples around the South Bank, but what can I do, I just love the diversity of backdrops around there. And Patty & Wallace certainly lit up the whole south side of London with their energy.
Oh and the absolute cutest thing of all. Because Wallace originally proposed in a helicopter above Hong Kong (which meant he wasn’t able to go down on one knee) Patty decided he ought to do it again properly during our session. A·dor·a·ble. :D
Been feeling a bit blah today so I thought I’d post Emilie & Guillaume’s engagement session on the South Bank in order to cheer myself up a bit. So much colour and laughter! I loved these two, and feel so honoured that they came all the way from France to have a session with me. Thank you Emilie and Guillaume, I do hope your wedding day will be absolutely fantabulous! x
Oh how I love finally getting together with couples after what seems like forever talking over email. Cathryn & Alex are getting married next year in Cornwall (whoop whoop!), and I have to say that even though I’m normally more interested in slowing time down, when it comes to the prospect of this wedding, I wish it was here already!
For their engagement session, Cathryn & Alex wanted to return to Hyde Park, which is where Alex proposed – we even found the exact bench they were sat on when Cathryn said ‘yes’. I absolutely adore these two, and had so much fun making them roll around all over the park (sorry about all the fluff on your clothes guys! :P). Did I say I can’t wait for the big day??
Rachel & Andy got in touch with me as their wedding photographer (the amazing Nikole Ramsay) relocated to Australia before they had a chance to do an engagement sessions with her. Luckily Nikole is coming back to the UK to cover the wedding, but I had the pleasure of stepping in and doing an engagement session with Rachel and Andy, which was an honour and a pleasure.
We did the session in one of my favourite places, Richmond, diving our time between the area around Richmond green and Richmond Park. By the time we got up to the park the weather suddenly turned super chilly, but luckily that didn’t have any effect on the warmth Rachel & Andy were giving out. It was so lovely getting to know this sweet couple, I really truly treasure all these moments where I get a glimpse into what people are truly about. Thank you Rachel & Andy, I hope your wedding day will be absolutely beautiful! x
I first met Saleema & David what now seems like ages ago, when they booked me for their June 2011 wedding two years in advance. We’ve been meaning to do their engagement session ever since then, with the possible location changing more times than I can count. In the end we settled on doing the session in Vienna, as that’s where Saleema & David currently live. It was a bit of a fly-by visit for me, flying in in the morning and back home in the evening, but well worth it. It was so nice hanging out with these two beautiful people, and I absolutely loved Vienna (the night before I got so excited about the prospect of reliving one of my favourite movies, Before Sunrise, that I hardly got any sleep! :D), I will definitely be returning for a longer visit one day.
I can’t wait for Saleema & David’s London wedding in June, and will definitely be keeping an eye on Saleema’s blog in order to see what kind of things she has planned for the big day.
P.S. I’m so kicking myself right now for not having any of that mouthwatering cake!
Why yes, yes indeed it is another sneak peek. I’m trying desperately to get caught up with everything, but I just had to share this one little glimpse from Rachel & Andy’s engagement session in Richmond last week. I promise (cross my heart) that later this week you will see much more stuff, starting with a beautiful wedding at Union Chapel in London. Stay tuned!
I had an amazing time with Saleema & David at their engagement session in Vienna yesterday. I have a wedding edit to finish before I get properly stuck into the images, but I couldn’t resist showing you one little sneaky snap!
What can I say… I love my job at the best of times, but sometimes I just have to pinch myself. Sometimes I feel knocked sideways by the amazingness of it all. Especially at times when I get to hang out with incredible people such as Alexis and Jack, who are just so completely open, and so full of love for each other that it practically hits you in the face when you catch a glimpse of it. How privileged do I feel to be able to witness and document such a beautiful thing.
Alexis, who is like a little ball of positive energy and good vibes, runs a wedding blog called Omg I’m getting married! (a site every bit as vibrant as her personality) and as a result the wedding she’s planning is going to be, in a word, E-P-I-C. I get all impatient just thinking about it!
For their engagement session Alexis & Jack wanted to head to London’s Chinatown. They met while they were both living in Hong Kong, so this part of town feels very homely to them. It was pretty perfect. The hustle and bustle, the delicious smells all around, the sun (oh, the sun!) – it was aaall good.
Thank you so much Alexis and Jack, for giving so willingly and for trusting the process, even when I told you to sit in the middle of a busy street! Love you guys.
P.S. Last but not least, can you all join together in singing Happy Birthday to Alexis as it is indeed her big day today!
Well, I can’t let Valentine’s Day pass me by without a mention! Whether you feel the whole concept of the day is over-commercialised, over-schmaltzy or overly cruel to the single population, I think it has a valid place in the world. I don’t think it’s such a bad idea that at least once a year we are forced to think about the people who are dearest to us, whether they were our husbands, wives, lovers or best friends. It’s easy to forget to nurture those connections in every day life and start taking what’s most precious to us for granted. If you (even begrudgingly) only do one thing today, let it be being truly present for someone you love. I promise you it’s a win-win situation.
‘The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.’
P.S. More from Alexis & Jack’s amazing engagement session a bit later on.
Jane and Michael are getting married in Surrey next February, and on a surprisingly sunny afternoon in October we met up for their engagement session in the Shad Thames area in London. I really enjoyed hanging out with the couple and getting to know them a bit better. Also, Jane is just absolutely stunning, and has the most gorgeous smile ever – I really cannot wait to see what a beautiful bride she’ll make!
Thank you Jane and Michael for being up for anything I threw at you, I hope you’ll like the results!
You know what, I’ve never really been an autumn person myself, but I have to say that since I started shooting engagement sessions, I’ve really grown to love the season. There’s just something special about the light (although I still detest how early it disappears in the autumn!) that gives a bit of magic to images.
Katie and John live in Calpham in south London and wanted to do their session close to their home and to their usual haunts. I didn’t really know the area at all previously, and it’s always quite exciting exploring new places. I’ve been meaning to do sessions at Clapham Common before, but for some reason that never happened – now I think I was just waiting for the right couple, and the right light!
I really enjoyed my time with Katie and John, and I can’t wait for their wedding next year, as it also means I get to return to the gorgeous Northbrook Park. Yay!
