INTIMATE DUBLIN WEDDING - TRACY AND COLM

You might remember Tracy and Colm from their pre-wedding shoot in Richmond. They are the most wonderful, fun and loving people, who've gone through a lot to be together. They got married in an intimate ceremony in Dublin at the very end of December. It wasn't the brightest of days weather wise, and it was raining a lot, but Tracy and Colm were smiling and looked so happy and in love. Luckily the downpour stopped when we needed to take photos outside, and we enjoyed taking a stroll along Georgian streets of Dublin. We even found a blossoming tree (in the middle of winter!), so we couldn't miss the opportunity to take some portraits next to it. It was very beautiful, and so unusual for this time of the year. 

Tracy got ready in the Schoolhouse Hotel together with her best friend. I liked the calm atmosphere of the morning))

Reception was very relaxed, and guests were mingling and chatting. The feeling of happiness and cosiness was definitely in the air))

Thank you to Tracy and Colm and their families for having me as part of their day! It was a pleasure! Wishing you all the happiness in the world in your new life together. You really deserve it! 

Lots of love,

Dasha

RUMMAGING IN THE ATTIC, AND OLD FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS

As some of you may know, we went to Ireland for Christmas to spend it with hubby's family. His parents literally have hundreds of family photographs from different times. They are all kept in boxes up in the attic, and that's where I keep my 'treasure box' (not a box with treasures, mind, but a box with little things that are extremely important and valuable). So every time we are over for a visit, I like going up to the attic and rummage through boxes of stuff and look through old photographs. I could easily spend hours up there if I wasn't called down for tea)) 

This time was slightly different as I discovered 2 very old photographs. One dating back to approximately 1910, and the other one (seemingly taken on a wedding day) to 1920. As long as I remember myself, I've always been fascinated with old photographs. I always wanted to know who were those people in them and how they lived. I took these photographs and a couple of old albums down with me, and for a couple of evenings the whole family was sitting down and looking through them. Hubby's parents were remembering who was who, what happened when etc. We discovered a photograph of Michael's grandfather from 1950 taken in the UK during his work on the construction of a tube station. The background behind him is plain and there's pretty much nothing there. We were wondering what tube station it was, and how it looks completely different these days. There were wedding photographs of Michael's grandparents from 1960. A photograph of his great-grandparents from approximately 1920. It was taken in America on their wedding day. It's a simple photo, however, I could look at it for ages examining what they were wearing and what they looked like, how they got married. 

We came to the conclusion that the other old photo from 1910 is of hubby's father's great-uncle. Little is known about him, and no one is sure about his name, but they know there were two brothers who served in the British Army and went to India, then on to Australia. Name of the place where the photo was taken is printed on it, so we googled it :-) It is in Pakistan now, and Wikipedia has told us it used to be a base for British legions since 1850. Fascinating! Having a copy of this photograph I will try and go to archives to find out more)) This whole thing made me think a lot about the importance of family photographs. Simple ones, funny ones, historic ones, photographs of people we love and of people we know - they are all very important! 

Some of the photos on that attic are not organised, so I have a project for this year - get family albums, organise the images and write on the back who people in them were, while we still remember...

BORDEAUX WEDDING VIDEO - CLARK AND PALMER FILMS

On this cold winter day I want to share this beautiful wedding video full of sunshine and love on my blog. A video by Clark and Palmer Wedding Films from the wedding of Jasmine&Adrian I photographed in Bordeaux in October last year. It was truly an amazing day, and these guys managed to capture the atmosphere and sense of the stunning location perfectly! Smiles, anticipation, happiness, love, feel of the day and the atmosphere - it's all there. I love their work and style, so if you are looking to have a beautiful film as a memory of your wedding day - do not hesitate to book these guys! They are incredible at what they do, and are a pleasure to work with)) Enjoy the film!

Jasmine&Adrian - Bordeaux Wedding Trailer from Clark and Palmer Wedding Films

To see the images from this beautiful vineyard wedding click HERE)).

AT HOME ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS - STEPHANIE AND GARY

When Stephanie first enquired with me and after a few e-mails back and forth, I knew these two would be a special couple. Stephanie is from Miami and is studying photography in uni here in UK, and Gary is a graphic designer. They are both super fun, bubbly, easy to be around people, and they are so very much in love with one another. Stephanie wrote their story to me after reading a story on my website about how I met my hubby, and I can definitely say they were meant to be together)) 

"We met online when I was 15 and we just really connected. He was actually visiting Orlando with his parents a few months after we had begun to talk, so I decided to take a bus and meet him and his parents for the first time. We always laugh about how crazy that must sound to other people, especially with how young I was! But the risk was definitely worth it! Actually, while I was on the bus (it was about a 4 hour journey - but it felt much longer!!) his parents got Chinese food and he got a fortune cookie that said 'Love is on it's way'. He gave it to me when I arrived and I still have it. I actually had a trip to England booked (this was before I met Gary) to meet a friend but things didn't end up working out. So when Gary and I met for the first time in Orlando (we only were together for 3 days) we knew we wanted to see each other again. Coincidentally, my flight to England was on the same day as his flight back home (different airports)!! We got to England within an hour of each other and everything else you can say is history!"

Scroll down to the end of the post to see Gary's proposal!

We also got to take some photos with Stephanie and Gary's dog Chief. He loved being on the blanket and all the attention he was getting! 

Gary's proposal is very different from anything I've heard before! Being a graphic designer and a gamer, he proposed in style! Here is a bit of a story followed by the video which had over 860000 hits on Youtube!

"Gary proposed to me on August 22nd, the morning of my 21st birthday at home through our favourite game, Portal 2. I had no idea what he was up to, he just told me to start playing. I thought it was just going to say 'Happy Birthday, Stephanie' when I finished playing a level. But instead it was all custom levels he had created with the help of an 18 year old in America and a 23 year old from the Netherlands. He then got the voice actress from the actual game to read out his script that he wrote. He worked on it for 4 months and I had no idea!! I still can't believe it! We were in the Lancashire Evening Post and the Daily Mail, as well as an interview that Gary did for a new American TV show on internet videos and many blog sites have featured the video. He always said he would propose to me in a geeky way and I never wanted anything in public, so it was perfect. If you listen very carefully, throughout the whole video are subtle hints of what is to come, but I was clueless!"

Of course she said yes! Stephanie and Gary are getting married in February and I'm really looking forward to their wedding!