Devon Wedding Photographers, Exeter Wedding Photographers, Devon Wedding Photography

My very talented and imaginative friend Vicky Rowe, who runs Vintage Teasets in Bristol has always been a dab hand at making her own hats and fascinators. She’s recently developed this side of her business into her new website www.clarabows.co.uk (created by my husband Lee!) and has started hosting the most fabulous fascinator workshops at gorgeous venues across the UK.

I joined her at Caffe Clifton in Bristol this Monday to shoot some images at one of her workshops for her new site, and what’s more I even got a chance to try my own hand at making a fascinator (a lovely little teal green number!).

I’ll be heading up to London with her for the next date which is a Mad Hatters Tea Party afternoon workshop on Sunday March 7th at uber cute Hampstead tearooms Bake-a-boo www.bake-a-boo.com/. We also plan to take in afternoon tea at the brilliant Sketch as a birthday treat (I’ll be 28 in two weeks time – eeek!).

For all the details of Vicky’s London workshop check out www.bake-a-boo.com/workshops – it would be great to see you there!

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If you’re into taking care of the environment and want to use eco friendly suppliers for your wedding day, then Devon-based site Green Union is somewhere you absolutely have to check out.

My good friend Vicky from Vintage Teasets paid me a visit today, and we decided it would be rather marvelous to also head off the beaten track and down the Devonshire country lanes to visit the lovely Rosie who runs Green Union.

We were especially impressed with her amazing lemon pollenta cake that was warm out of the oven – yummm! And enjoyed meeting all her fluffy chickens!

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Exciting news all round in the Parsons camp!

First bit of news is that I’ve just launched my new commercial photography site! You can access it from the main rosieparsons.com homepage and just like my wedding photography, it aims to provide something a little bit different to the average corporate photography sites!

I’ve had a lot of fun putting it together with Lee and getting all the images for it. We had a fantastic few days in Dartmouth shooting at Browns Hotel and then at celebrity chef John Burton-Race’s gorgeous place The New Angel.

I’ve also been working with solicitor’s firm Hartnell Chanot & Partners in Exeter on their new staff profiles for their website. My father is a partner there and it’s been great to work with family!

The other bit of news is that we are moving home!

If you’ve been following me for some time, you might remember that we only moved to Bristol about 6 months ago – so it’s been quite a stressful year, but Lee has got a new job in Exeter doing web design and we are really excited to be moving to this wonderful part of the country!

I’ve already been along to a couple of networking meetings for Devon folk and am looking forward to meeting many more. There certainly seems to be a thriving social networking scene down here on Twitter and I’ll be heading along to the Exeter TAGS tweetup on Thursday.

I grew up in Exeter, so it’ll be fantastic to be back and to meet up with old friends. The city has changed a lot since I left for University aged 18 (almost ten years ago now!) – the new Princesshay shopping centre looks fantastic and I know Lee and I will probably be found in the Apple Store most weekends!

We’re already setting up home down here, but are still receiving post at our Bristol address for the next few weeks.

Look forward to seeing you all for cream teas down here soon!

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It’s been a bit quiet on the blog front lately as I’ve been editing like mad and shooting lots of weddings before heading off to Italy tomorrow for Bren and Julie’s villa wedding near Lake Garda. Hurrah for sunshine!

I don’t think there will be much chance to check emails etc while I’m away, but I’ll be back on Friday so if you drop me a line I will reply to you then!

I look forward to updating you with some fabulous pics upon my return (as well as photos from the beautiful Shan + David’s wedding in Wales and Anna + Roberts at Notley Abbey from yesterday)!

See you then!

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Hope everyone else made the most of the bank holiday! I didn’t have a wedding on (don’t worry – I’ll be making up for it with three within the next ten days!) so Lee and I headed down to Devon to see my family.
On Sunday night we had a lovely BBQ with the neighbours...

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Yesterday I put on a funny accent and with my friend Katheryn (whose wedding I photographed at the Thali Cafe earlier this year) we hopped over the water to Cardiff and headed to the Museum of Wales to see an exhibition of work by portrait photographer Diane Arbus.

Until her suicide in 1979 she photographed a variety of portraits, most of which – judging from the exhibition – were focused on the strangeness of life.

She seemed to seek out the weird and eerie, especially in the normal and everyday. But the sad thing is that the photos seemed to speak louder about the woman who took them than the subjects she photographed.

Arbus focused on the marginalised in society – disabled people, transvestites and the poor, among others. But instead of photographing these people with dignity and compassion, her work seemed to have a mean undercurrent. She chose images which were obviously from a series and she’d picked the photo where her subject looked the worst or was in the middle of speaking. She suffered from depression, and I wonder if this contributed to what she chose to photograph, or the frames she chose to keep from each session. It can’t be easy when you are depressed yourself to see the positive and good in others, and the exhibition of 69 images itself certainly conveyed to us the feeling of hopelessness that she perhaps felt herself.

It’s not really fair for me to write too much more as Arbus is no longer around to speak for herself about why she chose her subjects or particular images above others. But I came away from the exhibition thinking that I should like to do an exhibition myself – but this time one of joy, showing the best of human nature. I’m brainstorming ideas already!

To view more of her work visit her wikipedia page here (I can’t post her images as they are under copyright) or visit the Museum of Wales website.

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On Friday I was really excited to grab Lee after work and head up to Clifton to see the annual Bristol Balloon Fiesta. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea, and the city was gridlocked. No balloons for Rosie and Lee – very sad.

I’d just about given up all hope of seeing any hot air balloons this weekend, when on Sunday night – the last day of the fiesta, I was on the computer and Lee suddenly pointed out the window. Hundreds of hot air balloons were heading right over our house!

I shrieked with joy, grabbed the camera and ran to join our neighbours outside in the evening sun to catch some shots as they flew overhead.

I’m so glad I got to experience a little of the balloon fiesta, even if it wasn’t when I’d planned!

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This morning I was reading about origins of the ancient Jewish festival of Passover. I was taken aback when I saw the message from God echoing through history in the words on the page.

Why do Jews celebrate the festival of Passover?

Jews celebrate Passover as the miraculous time after the plagues of Egypt – the time they were just about to be freed from slavery and the evil reign of Pharaoh.

The Jews were living in Egypt as slaves, under intense oppression from Pharaoh. Their lives were miserable, and they’d been there for generations – 430 years to be exact.

Moses, the leader at the time had a great relationship with God – they were close and he was able to hear what God wanted him to do. I don’t know if this was like modern day prayer, or if he saw God in some other way – but in any case, when he heard from God he was really good at doing what was asked of him even when it was difficult – like standing up in front of Pharaoh (who the Egyptians considered as their own god – very important man!) to ask for their freedom!

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Last night I headed out into the unchartered territory of Stokes Croft in Bristol, wearing my sparkliest silver stilettos – all in aid of the lovely Gilly Woo’s 30th birthday celebrations!

Gill is the most amazing dress designer and maker. She works from her studio in Stokes Croft creating one-off bespoke designs for lots of lucky brides, and I know her through the fab creative lady that is Helen Ward – plus I photographed one of Gill’s 1950s style tealength dresses for Katheryn and James’ wedding at the Thali Cafe in March.

Everything Gill does is completely glam, and last night was no exception! Held as a joint birthday party with her friend Jason, the do was at Jesters Comedy Club with a glitterball theme. They’d put out loads of childhood sweet treats on the tables and had a veritable caberet of performers to entertain all their guests.

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I don’t know what you were up to Sunday lunchtime, but if it was anything like me it might have involved being punted along an Oxford river in the pouring rain, drinking champagne, noshing on strawberries and giggling a lot.

All this was in aid of my lovely friend Flo’s hen do. Flo is an amazing person – one of those once in a lifetime kind of pals. She is so warm, positive and open – always seeing the best in people. Innocent in heart but also with a cheeky sense of humour! What a girl – Ed is a lucky man!

Bridesmaids Amy and Laura organised the day and although I felt bad for them that their plans for sunny picnics out in Christchurch Meadow didn’t quite pull off, in a way it was even more special that it wasn’t the “perfect” day everyone had anticipated. Shrieking as cold splashes of rain soaked our bottoms, paddling furiously to get our punts out of the overgrowth and then hot chocolate all round afterwards meant it was a real bonding experience – a wonderful way to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

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