A little over a year ago, we photographed a very memorable wedding! What made it so remarkable was that on the day we had the worst snowfall in 30 years. We battled through the snow to get there, and although it was quite challanging at the time, we are so glad to have been a part of it!

We arrived at Victoria’s house where tensions were running high, the phone hadn’t stopped ringing all morning, and everyone was starting to panic. All the neighbours rallied together, clearing the paths and doing everything they could to help. The bridal car couldn’t quite make it up the hill, and so the bride and her bridemaids stuck on their wellies and went for it! It was a lovely sight to see them all walking down the road arm in arm with their neighbours cheering them on – it was a brilliant atmosphere.

When they finally arrived at the church, Victoria walked down the aisle in tears of joy and relief, to her wonderful husband-to-be, Kevin. Some guests had been unable to get there, and the choir of school children had dwindled to four, but their teachers all pitched in and it was a lovely touch to a very moving ceremony.

The next challenge was was get to Farnham Castle where they were holding their reception, and we knew that there was quite a steep hill to get the car up. We were greeted by a bagpiper outside, and when we went through the doors it was beautifully decorated with festive Christmas trees. Kevin and Victoria were great sports and braved the freezing temperatures for some stunning photos at the top of the castle overlooking Farnham.

It all goes to show that although things don’t always go exactly to plan at weddings, it doesn’t have to take away from being the most amazing day of your life. The day proved very challenging for us as photographers for many reasons, but all the planning and effort on the day made it worth it to have some really one off photos.

Your Surrey Wedding Magazine are currently holding their wedding of the year competition, and Victoria and Kevin have made it to the grand final! We really think they deserve to win and all they need is your votes. Just follow this link http://www.yoursurreywedding.co.uk/woty8_Final.cfm to vote before 24th February. Heres a few photos to remind us all of the day!

For the past few months we have been running a promotion with the Virginia Water Veterinary Clinic to help raise money for The Cinnamon Trust, a national charity for the elderly, the terminally ill and their pets. As well as being for a great cause, we have had so much fun with customers pets in to our studio for a photoshoot, and have met some brilliant characters along the way! We’ve had everyone from dog trainers and groomers, to showdogs and agility dogs, and have embraced the slightly more unusual photoshoots involving guinea pigs and even a chicken!

At the end of the scheme we will compile a lovely photo book of all the animals we’ve met, so each one can have their crowning moment of glory. Here are some of our favourite photos so far:

Berkshire portrait photography, Berkshire pet photographer

If you or someone you know are planning a wedding and looking for a photographer, please come and visit us for a chat and to see some of our work at the wedding fayres we’ll be attending in January and February:

The Oakley Court, Windsor

Wedding Showcase

Sunday 22nd January

11am – 3pm

Free entry with a goodie bag on arrival!

Royal Berkshire Hotel, Ascot

The Winter Wonderland Wedding Fayre

Sunday 22nd January

12 noon – 4pm

Free entry

Macdonald Berystede Hotel & Spa, Ascot

Sunday 19th February

12 noon – 4pm

Wedding photography, Berkshire wedding fayres

Our last wedding of the year happened last Sunday 11th December 2011,  and what a wonderful wedding it was!  Jo and Ben have been customers of ours for well over a year now as we photographed their son in our cherubs scheme.  When they announced they were getting married we were thrilled for them and honoured to be their chosen wedding photographers.

This wedding had a lovely relaxed feel but with the perfect blend of style and sophistication.  The whole day took place in the Tithe Barn at The Olde Bell, Hurley and was the perfect setting for a wintery day.  The winter influences included lots of sparkly fairy lights, mulled wine and warm cider and Jack Frost nipping at your nose…..literally.  As a surprise for the groom Jo hired a stilts walker dressed as Jack Frost to meet and greet the guests.  This thoroughly confused (and we think slightly scared) Ben but made for some great photos for us!

The styling was a classy black and white theme with the grooms wearing funky grey suits and black shirts and Jo looked amazing with a fantastic vintage style dress.  The table decorations kept the black and white theme and looked brilliant in the barn setting. At a special request, we also did the ‘school boy peeing’ shot for the groom and his mates!

We are proud to have our customers keep coming back to us and pleased to share in such a wonderful day.

Berkshire wedding photography, Tithe Barn wedding photographer

It’s here again! The annual Sunninghill Victorian Street Fayre will be held on Sunday 20th November, 12 noon – 4pm, and we have some exciting offers available for one day only.

As always, we will be hosting a stall on the high street, where we will be selling gift vouchers for portrait shoots. For a £25 donation to local charities, Sebastian’s Action Trust and The Ascot Day Centre, we will give you £115 credit to spend on a photoshoot with Artis Studios – perfect to use for yourself or as Christmas gifts.

The fun doesn’t end there! In addition to our stand, you can visit our studio in Chapman’s Courtyard, where you can wear a Santa hat, reindeer antlers (or whatever takes your fancy!) and get a free Christmas themed photo to use on your Facebook profile.

These offers will only be available on the day so don’t miss out! Here are some photos to whet your appetite, with some of those that bought a Victorian Fayre gift voucher last year.

We love it when kids raid the dressing up box before they come in for their portrait shoot and have recently had some brilliant ensembles passing through our doors! It’s a great excuse for parents to buy the outfits, and they can be bought along to add another element to the session. When children are dressed up in their special costume they have an air of confidence that really shines through in the photos.

Not only is it perfectly fitting for the Halloween season, but it’s also a lovely idea to use the photos to make cute Christmas cards. If you would like to have your own cards made, it’s best to allow plenty of time to have your photo shoot, and for the cards to be designed. We could recommend coming for your shoot at least 3 weeks before you need to send your cards out.

Here are some of our favourite costumes to inspire you!

We appreciate how stressful organising a wedding can be; the seating plans, the colour schemes not to mention the family politics.  The most important thing for us as photographers is that once the day arrives, the couple let go of all the organisation and just enjoy their day.  It only happens once.

This was very true for Scott and Sarah who got married at the Church of Saint Lawrence, Alton then on to Highfield Park, Hook.  We absolutely loved how much fun this couple had on the day, even their romantic bride and groom moments had them in stitches as they attempted to keep a straight face.  They were grinning from ear to ear whilst walking down the aisle, I’m sure partly because Sarah’s long veil got caught just before they set off which got them laughing!

Another brilliant moment was the best mans speech, a long awaited part of the day for both the best man and the groom.  The quick one liners had the crowd in stitches and we loved how all the jokes were original, personal and nothing we had heard before.

Overall we had a fantastic time and the day was filled with much fun and laughter.  Congratulations Scott and Sarah!

At Artis Studios, as much as possible we try to let our our work speak for itself.   There are many occasions where we have to describe what it is that makes our style unique (usually in ten words or less).

Although this is already way more than 10 words, we wanted to write a blog about what we think is our ‘style’.

A word that regularly pops up in our literature is ‘Natural’, for us this sums up how we want to reflect your wedding day, and  how we want to show you  and  your guests.

This is usually what draws our clients to us, but many are instantly put off by the word ‘posed’.  For us we try never to pose people but to direct them in to natural poses.  We do this by watching how people interact, watching the little quirks that couples have with each other and then enhancing these moments by positioning couples in great locations, with beautiful lighting and flattering positions.

We wanted to show some examples of natural, un co-ordinated moments in a wedding day and moments that we direct, in a natural way all mixed together. Although you can probably tell which are posed and which are not, we think they compliment each other and sum up our style of wedding photography!

We often get asked to photograph large groups of people, especially when families get together. It’s often quite difficult to get your relatives in one place at the same time, and so a family photoshoot is a really great way to capture these moments.

Whilst we can do large group shots in our studio (typically about 8 adults maximum), it’s also really nice to go on location. The benefits of this are that you can choose to go somewhere really special to you, and kids tend to feel more relaxed in a familiar place. Also we are not limited in terms of space and can really utilise the surroundings to create interesting set ups and poses.

As the holiday season tends to be the one time of year when families visit each other, we always open for one day between Christmas and New Year so that families don’t miss out before their relatives go home. This year we’ll be available for shoots on Friday 30th December.

Something to bear in mind if your shoot involves very young children – don’t have too many different combinations of poses in mind, as whoever is last on the list may get some very grumpy looking kids! It is best not to push them too hard all in one shoot, and instead maybe have an extended family shoot on one day, and then an immediate family shoot on a different day where we can also focus on nice individuals, siblings together etc. Once you are customers of ours, all shoots become 1/2 price so its not going to cost the earth and you will get much stronger photos for both the extended family and yourselves.

Berkshire portrait photographer, family photographer

We had loads of fun at a recent civil partnership at the Stirrups Country House Hotel, Maidens Green.  Our brides sense of humour clearly came through with the grounds covered in garden games including snakes and ladders and giant Jenga.  The highlight of these games, amongst adults and children alike, was the bouncy castle!

When hearing the couple would have a bouncy castle we instantly prepped them that they WILL be having photos on the castle despite wearing wedding dresses.  We had to ask the kids to leave the bouncy castle for a few minutes whilst we focus on some great bride shots and even got the bridesmaids up on there too.  As the day progressed (and the alcohol flowed) the adults couldn’t help themselves and the bouncy castle provided much of the evenings entertainment.

There were even more playful features througout the day including the table placements being themed around ‘Celebrations’ chocolates, a sweet pick and mix was available in the evening and the Pinata provided much entertainment for both the adults and the kids.

We had a really great time and got some really fun shots, here are just a few.