Do You Have a Story to Tell? Competition Entries Invited

At City Girl Makeover Photo Shoots we have a competition running to win a makeover and photo shoot, and all you have to do is tell us your story.  Maybe you have been unwell, maybe you have been working hard, or maybe you know someone who has been through a lot, perhaps they do so much for others they never have time for themselves ... if that's the case then we need to hear from you, either for yourself or for someone you know and love who deserves a treat!

For more information visit our City Girl site here

Closing date 12/11/10

Calling All Liverpool Wedding Suppliers and Wedding Businesses

Are you a wedding supplier in Liverpool?  Do you run a wedding related business in or close to Liverpool?  Then you might be interested in my little opening cum tweetup cum wedding network in November.  It's by invitation only, and we already have a lot of businesses on the list (you may even already be there).  But we want to make sure we don't miss anyone.  So if you are a wedding supplier or wedding related business in or near to Liverpool then get in touch and come along and enjoy the party, network with other wedding businesses and come and have some fun.

Please note, this is not an excuse to get drunk at my expense, so if that's all you're after, sorry, I'm not the right networking event for you as there won't be any alcohol!  This is about networking with fellow wedding suppliers, not a drink-fest!

Please contact Zoe on 07792 650742 or email zoe@zoephotography.co.uk for more information.

Makeover Photography in Liverpool - City Girl

Zoe Photography and Sian Louise Auld Makeup are teaming up to create City Girl Makeover Photo Shoots in Liverpool - and we need testers.  Visit our sister site here for more details.  We guarantee no pushing you into making purchases, but if you want to you can as long as you promise to take us up on our discount as a thank you!

Top 100 Wedding Tweet Suppliers - And Zoe Photography Are On It!

In the Wedding Industry there is something called the Top 100 List which is the Top 100 UK wedding suppliers, professionals and individuals who tweet on Twitter, the social networking site.  And this week Zoe Photography appeared on the list for the first time in position number 93, the week's only new entry!  The list is pulled together by Easy Wedding Search, a UK wedding directory service by website for brides and grooms planning their wedding.

Christian, who puts the list together after considerable research, says that the list is about "wedding suppliers (who) are ranked by influence, not just follower numbers. A whole host of other criteria are used to get an idea of the popularity and 'quality' of these social media super stars."  A big thank you goes out to Christian for all his hard work in putting the list together recognising wedding suppliers.

Here at Zoe Photography we feel very privileged to be part of such an exclusive list.

A Day in The Lakes with Nix and Caz

I rarely take days off - no, don't feel sorry for me, it's my choice!  But today I took a well earned rest and travelled up to Ambleside to meet Nix (NX Photos based near Eastbourne) and Caz (not a photographer so no point mentioning what she does!).  We walked, scrambled and climbed our way up Wansfell, and slipped, slid and scrambled back down again!  It was an amazing day, with the most perfect weather possible and beautiful autumnal colours.  Just a couple of pictures from the iPhone show exactly how beautiful it was.

These photographs were taken on the iPhone using the Hipstamatic App

Gavin and Laura Wedding Celebrations at 60 Hope Street, Liverpool

I wasn't supposed to be photographing a wedding today, but yesterday that all changed.  And Gavin and Laura invited me to photograph their celebrations at 60 Hope Street.  I was only there for about 2 hours, but it was amongst the best fun I've had at a wedding.  All of their family on both sides welcomed me and teased me (ok, ok, I admit, I teased them too!  Now Sheila, you know what I'm going to say!)

We managed to get a few minutes outside 60 Hope Street in Liverpool where the two were celebrating their day, starting outside The Quarter, and then on the steps of 60 Hope Street before capturing some family shots, which were full of laughter.  And never before have I been given a round of applause when it was time for me to leave! (Actually, thinking about it now, maybe the round of applause was because I was going ... hmmmm ;-) )

So here is a little selection of their photographs, a beautiful couple in a fabulous setting on a great day in October in Liverpool!

The Price of Wedding Photography in Liverpool or anywhere in the UK!

I'm so glad to see someone tackle this touchy subject of how much a wedding photographer costs.  It never ceases to amaze me the couples who will hire a chocolate fountain, buy an expensive cake that will be eaten up and gone, spend money on balloons that burst, have more flowers than you'd find in most florist shops and then complain that the photography is way too expensive because it's over £500 for a photographer to stay all day, supply images on disk, and put 100 photographs in a top quality album.  

So coming acorss Rock 'n Roll Bride's blog and the article she commissioned from the fabulous Julia Boggio about the price of wedding photography I thought it was worth sharing with you here

Thanks to Rock 'n Roll Bride for making this happen, and to Julia for writing the piece.

City Girl Makeover Photo Shoots and Model Portfolios in Liverpool

To celebrate moving into our wonderful boutique studio in The Hahnemann in The Georgian Quarter on Hope Street in Liverpool we are going crazy with Makeover Photo Shoots and modeling portfolios.  We are offering our makeovers in clear to understand options, with affordable prices and no hard sell - in fact we can guarantee no hard sell so much that we've made sure there are no options to up-sell on!  What you see is what you get.  Now, if you want to buy more you can, we will work with you, but we are not going to sell it to you, so you're going to need to work hard on us to make us sell it to you!

What have we done!  Well, we've set up City Girl Makeover Photo Shoots in Liverpool - at Zoe Photography we already have extensive experience of test shoots and makeovers working with our fabulous makeup artist, Sian Louise Auld who is going to be sharing our wonderful new boutique studio on Hope Street in Liverpool with us.  With City Girl everything is upfront and affordable - no hard sell, no hidden costs, all-in fees.

Everyone who books in with us before the end of October will get a very special 20% discount (hurry, there's not many days left!) - and the discount will also apply for our City Girl Gift Bag and for purchases made at our City Girls Limited Edition Parties.  We have a very special set of 4 City Girls LE Party up for grabs in November and December which you can combine with a night out or just enjoy as something different from the usual Christmas party with the office.  Enjoy a few nibbles, a makeup lesson with Sian Louise, and a photograph of the City Girl Host, and solve some of your Christmas present buying at the same time.

If you want to know more please visit our new City Girl Makeover Photo Shoot site here.

Fancy being a City Girl?  Want to be part of the City Girl Revolution?  Come and join us as a City Girl VIP, a City Girl Party Girl, or simply enjoy your makeover as a special treat!

Oh, and we're still building the new site, so please be kind to us!  But we're just so excited that we just had to let you know what's going on with City Girl!

Ethical Wedding Supplier Pledge

Zoe Photography is proud to have signed up to the Ethical Wedding Supplier Pledge.  If you are a wedding supplier, you might want to take a look here and sign up yourself if you are happy to be part of a growing trend.

And if you're a bride, here is what the pledge is all about ...

This is taken from the English Wedding site which is worth a look.

It is our aim to work in the way described in the pledge - if you ever have reason to believe we are not sticking to our pledge, please let us know so that we can put things right.

Chester Confetti Wedding Show and Zoe Photography on Wedding Photography

This weekend was the 2010 Chester Confetti Wedding Show, and I gave a presentation about how to look your best in photographs.  I talked about such things as posing, looking gorgeous in your photographs, and trusting your photographer when it comes to your wedding photography.  Dianne caught a quick picture on the iPhone (I know, two photographers and we didn't have a camera amongst us!) when I was in the middle of one of the talks at the Confetti Wedding Show.

A Liverpool Lifestyle Portrait Shoot

Dianne and I had great fun on Saturday with Amanda - she wanted a lifestyle portrait shoot, using Liverpool's iconic backdrop.  We brought Sian-Louise Auld in to do makeup and hair, and off we went around Liverpool, starting at the Metropolitan Cathedral steps, along to Hope Street, then down to St George's Hall and finishing off at one of my favourite locations (you've seen it before in my wedding photographs!), The Liver Building, as you can see in this gorgeous shot.  Amanda, you were a star!  We all had fun working with you and hope you love these photographs!

Our New Home - The Hahnemann, 42 Hope Street, Liverpool

Well, I said watch this space and now we're ready to announce it to the world!  We move into The Hahnemann (opposite Host), 42 Hope Street, Liverpool on 1st November this year.  Next door to us on the 2nd floor of The Hahnemann is the beautiful Belles Bridal Boutique, and in the building next door is the Hope Street Hotel.  Hope Street is such a vibrant area (the grown-up Lark Lane!) in The Georgian Quarter of Liverpool, dangerously close to The Quarter where I think many a coffee will be supped!  Dianne and I can't wait to move in and are really excited to be joined by Sian-Louise Auld who is a fabulous make-up artist that works with us on many shoots, as well as offering wedding make-up in her own right.

Sadly the move isn't permanent as the building has planning permission to be turned into a boutique hotel, but we hope to be there for at least a year if not longer.

So the contact details from 1st November:

The Hahnemann

Suite 21

42 Hope Street

Liverpool

L1 9BZ

07792 650 742

zoe@zoephotography.co.uk

www.zoephotography.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.

Confetti Wedding Show, Chester Racecourse

This weekend is the Confetti Wedding Show at the Chester Racecourse and we are offering an incredible prize as part of the Win Your Wedding Competition - the winner will get their wedding photographed for free, that's right, for free!  Any albums can be purchased after the wedding, but all photographs will be presented on a preview disk and on a disk of hi-resolution images.  This is usually valued at £1,300, but the winner of the competition will get this for free (subject to date availability).

So if you would love to have your wedding photographed by Zoe or Dianne from Zoe Photography then be sure to get yourself along to Confetti on 16th or 17th October at the Chester Racecourse and enter the Win Your Wedding competition!  This is an incredible prize, so make sure you enter.

Moving Out and Moving On

Zoe Photography is moving out of Stanley Grange on Knowsley Hall park - the change is tinged with sadness as we've loved being part of the Knowsley Hall park community, but it's no reflection on the state of the business.  2010 has been a good year in the house of Zoe Photography, and 2011 is promising to be a bumper year with bookings up considerably on all previous years!  But the truth is our unit is just too big for us (gorgeous as it is) and costs too much for this kind of business, and we don't want to have to increase our prices to cover something that isn't a 'must have' for us to operate as a wedding photography business.

We move out on 30th/31st October (anyone want to help who owns a van - we'll pay petrol, provide beer and give you a free photo shoot!)

Watch this space for further announcements of what's going to happen next!

Knowsley Hall Wedding Showcase

Yesterday was the wedding showcase at Knowsley Hall.  There was an amazing range of suppliers for the perfect wedding, from Myriad Travel for the honeymoon, to Chill Out Spa for the best in relaxation and treatments for beautiful skin leading up to the wedding, and Impressions Video of Formby for a video of your wedding day.  More photographs are to be uploaded in the next day, but for now, here are some iPhone pictures from the showcase, with Dragonfly Couture Stationery in the Oak Room, The Bridal Gallery Group in the Walnut Drawing Room and ourselves in the State Dining Room.

Watch out for the catwalk show photographs later.

Wedding Ideas Magazine Real Wedding

We are all very excited in the Zoe Photography house today - the postman has been and he delivered the November issue of Wedding Ideas magazine.  Why is that exciting?  Because Helen and John's wedding is featured, and Zoe, supported by Nikki McLeod from Fife in Scotland, photographed the wedding last year!  But the excitement doesn't stop there because there are quite a few weddings featured in this fabulous magazine - we have 6 pages of coverage!  Zoe Photography has never been in any of the magazines before with a real wedding, so this is a very exciting development.

The magazine hits the shelves on Wednesday 6th October - be sure to get your copy!  It's full of fabulous ideas for your wedding.