I met the lovely Chris Hanley, his beautiful wife Claire and his hee-yuge camera on Friday morning. Chris has taken my picture for the blog and — while I’m scurrying around trying to find sensible words to write “About Me” — I wanted to share some of his photos with you.

Best think of these as a sneak peek!

We met in my local park on a gorgeous sunny morning. After coffee and a lovely chat over a wonky table (where Chris was scouring the park for locations as we talked), we headed off to take some pictures.

Claire Hanley described Chris as a “creative force” and I soon saw how apt that was: Chris set to thinking about the brand English Wedding, and we landed on the bowling green to start the shoot. How quintessentially English can ‘one’ get!

I had a little game of bowls to start the photoshoot… (photo credit: Chris Hanley)

We borrowed the red bowling balls from the grounds keepers at the park. They even gave them a bit of a wash when they saw Chris with his camera!

It was fascinating to see how Chris could compose a shot and I loved those bowling balls.

I had my fingers crossed — as I would if I was at an important bowls match, or photoshoot! (but you don’t need luck when Chris Hanley’s taking your picture, trust me.

We were just in time for the last of the buttercups. I love this picture!

When we started, Chris was asking if his buttercups were still out. I assume by that he planted them last year — and yay! we found some at the edge of the bowling green where a crowd gathers on wooden benches every afternoon to watch the game.

I had half-jokingly suggested we take some photos of my feet, as I’ve seen on lots of wedding photo shoots. There were two reasons: I had lovely sparkly shoes on, and I generally like my feet better than my face. I’m so glad I said it, this picture is lovely!!!

Having said that, there were a couple of times Chris assured me and Claire that he was still on my feet… and yet the finished pictures had my face on! I knew it… but I was having such a lovely time and enjoying every minute. I’ll finish typing up the About Me page later so you can see what English Wedding is all about. My face will make an appearance shortly.

Claire x

Heartfelt thanks to the lovely Chris Hanley and Claire Hanley for a fantastic morning and for the pictures which have made me so happy. And for the coffee! xxx