Family engagement photography

Tom and Laura are very much in love and it shows in their eyes, their faces, the way they stand so close

When I asked about engage­ment pho­tog­ra­phy ses­sions for the blog, Man­ches­ter pho­tog­ra­pher Neil Red­fern promised me a very spe­cial shoot with Tom and Laura — and this cer­tainly has every­thing you could ask for from a pre-wedding photo shoot!

Hugo is the star of this blog fea­ture, but what really makes this col­lec­tion stand out for me is Tom and Laura’s fam­ily. I love the roman­tic pho­tos of Tom’s mum and dad — they look as head over heels in love as any newly engaged cou­ple I’ve seen!

Tom explains how his fam­ily focused engage­ment shoot came about. “I really wanted to have some beau­ti­ful fam­ily pho­tos taken to give as gifts for Christ­mas presents this year. My sis­ter has a young fam­ily and I have just got engaged to the girl I have been with since I was 18, so I thought it was a great time to do it. We are a REALLY close fam­ily so I love the idea of hav­ing all these  amaz­ing pho­tos of us look­ing happy and healthy.”

Wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Neil Red­fern told me, “Ini­tially Tom asked me to take a few pho­tographs of his mum and dad so that he could get one of the pho­tographs printed for a Christ­mas present for them. The idea then expanded and Tom invited his sis­ter and her fam­ily along, as well as his fiancée Laura and his AMAZING dog, Hugo (eas­ily the cutest dog in the world!)”

“Tom pro­posed to Laura (with Hugo’s help…!) a few weeks before the shoot so I also used this time to take pho­tographs of Tom and Laura together.”

The star of the show: hello Hugo!

Tom’s mum and dad were the inspi­ra­tion for the shoot. Tom’s mum’s expres­sion is fantastic!

Tom’s par­ents walk­ing in the snowy coun­try­side — I love the expanse of snowy white­ness punc­tu­ated by trees in sunshine

Tom’s mum and dad — a lov­ing cou­ple to this day

Tom and Laura — and is that Hugo hid­ing in there? I love Laura’s smile, she’s very beautiful

A fab­u­lous series of images of Tom, Laura and Hugo in the snow. These are lovely and playful

Hugo again — I can’t resist him, he’s so cute!

Roman­tic pho­tos: up close and per­sonal, and at a distance

Laura’s smile shines up at Tom while the hazy sun­shine looks down on them both

Walk­ing in the forest

The win­try trees add a sense of “ever­ness” to the pic­ture — how many years have they been there and how many will they remain? It could be for­ever. And for Tom and Laura I think it will.

Tom’s sis­ter and her fam­ily enjoyed the shoot as well!

All the fam­ily — the grand finale!

It’s lovely to see such a close fam­ily, and hav­ing every­one along for your engage­ment shoot is a great idea — just make sure you ask your pho­tog­ra­pher first! Tom and Laura’s pre-wedding pho­to­shoot is a day they’ll remem­ber for many years and I think the pho­tos of the day will be admired for generations.

Lit­tle Hugo was there for the pro­posal, there for the pre-wedding shoot… I’m sure we’ll see him again on the wed­ding day! (Neil — do make sure you share those with us when the day comes around?!)

Tom is the direc­tor at Silk Wed­ding Videos in Cheshire. “Neil Red­fern is a great friend of mine and an excel­lent wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher. He made my fam­ily feel really relaxed on the day. It was also great prac­tice for Laura, My fiancée, as Neil will be shoot­ing our wed­ding next year, and we can’t wait!”

Tom, Laura and every­one: thank you for shar­ing your pho­to­shoot with Eng­lish Wed­ding. I’m sure it will inspire many of our read­ers and I’ve cer­tainly enjoyed the photos.