Blog - Jill Evans Photography

Relaxed and Fun Winter Wedding at Pendrell Hall

It’s a bit cold isn’t it? I’ve got my second wedding of the year next week and it’s currently hard to believe that it’s March, as we’ve had about a foot of snow around Harborne this weekend. I’m currently hibernating inside so I thought I would share a few sneak peeks of this beautiful wedding I shot last week at Pendrell Hall, a stunning country house venue tucked away just outside Wolverhampton.

Winter Wedding: Couple Story

Lauren and Ashley tied the knot amidst gorgeous winter sunshine (hard to believe this was last week!) and planned their day to suit them – relaxed, family-oriented and full of fun. There was even a little bit of Harry Potter thrown in for good measure. Pendrell Hall is one of my favourite local venues, as it has just the right mix of impressive grandeur and a relaxed atmosphere. I absolutely love shooting there! The wedding was perfect from start to finish, and to top it all off we had the most epic golden hour light to shoot their portraits in. I’ll be sharing more images from this wedding in the near future but for now, turn the volume up and press play for a few sneak peeks from a lovely day.

2017, YOU WERE ACE // LOOKING BACK

Cliche as it sounds, it feels like only yesterday I was looking back at 2016 and reflecting on my year and my wedding photography work. And so it comes time to do it again, as we move into 2018 – I’m a little belated in posting this, but only for good reasons which is nice. I allowed myself a proper break over Christmas and am now hitting January feeling refreshed and motivated – I’m even attempting daily yoga, let’s see how long that lasts! One of the great things about being self employed doing what you love is that coming back to the office doesn’t require too much kicking and screaming, and you can keep eating the leftover Christmas cheese supply without anyone judging you.

2017 was another good year for me, and brought with it some more firsts. My other half Mark and I purchased our first home here in Harborne in December 2016 so last year was primarily about nesting (and updating the most 80s bathroom that has ever existed). We and the cat have been settling in nicely, and the house felt like home very quickly. We’ve adorned the walls with photos and mementos from all our travels, I’ve now got a proper office, and we’ve had lots of evenings with friends and family in our new space. My hair is now a bit pinker, the cat is now in her terrible twos, and my passport has had another couple of outings this year.

Another first this year was the opportunity to shoot a destination wedding in Mayrhofen, Austria. Those who know me will know I’m not usually one to voluntarily go somewhere cold (I’m all about the sun despite being the palest person ever), but even I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoot in such a perfect location. I was working with my best photography pal Dani Salmon and we had an absolute blast. Shooting destination weddings is definitely something that appeals to me for a couple of bookings a year, as I’m so at home when jumping on a plane and disappearing somewhere interesting for a few days. There are so many advantages to the couple too – you’ll know your photographer speaks your language, you can plan everything and meet me in advance, and you’ll keep clear lines of communication open before and after the wedding. Give me a shout if you’re considering a destination wedding and would like to explore taking a photographer with you.

Closer to home, I have been lucky enough to have another year of awesome clients who have had some kick-ass weddings. I love the diversity I see in my clients – I see all kinds of venues and styles and themes, but the thing they all have in common is nice people having fun. I’ve got plenty more to look forward to this year and I can’t wait. I’ll be seeing more new venues, travelling all over the UK, ticking things off my bucket list, continuing with my goal to see as many dogs at weddings as possible, and most importantly of all trying to give every single client the best memories of their day that I can. I’ve been featured on Love My Dress, Rock n Roll Bride, Save the Date and am now part of the absolutely fantastic Un-Wedding.

I’ve also been working for my photography family, The Finishing Touch, as a freelancer. I love being part of the FT gang – we work crazy hours, at a mix of English and Asian weddings, and we have a ton of fun doing it. Working for yourself can occasionally be a lonely job, so it’s really nice to be part of a team as well.

Helping capture memories and fleeting important moments through wedding photography is the best job in the world. I’ve collated a few of my favourites from the year – a mixture of the little moments that are otherwise missed, trends and themes I enjoyed, couples in love, hilarious guests, beautiful venues, cute families, and whatever else made me smile when I looked back. I’ve seen cheese towers, wedding pork pies (always a winner with me), ska bands, fez hats, croquembouches, bridesmen, best women, mismatched outfits, couples walking into the wedding together, ring bearing dogs, inflatables, festival flags, barefoot brides, spontaneous singalongs, handfasting, and so much more. I am so excited to see what this year brings.

So that was the year that was. Looking forward, I try and make sure I’m developing (pun a little bit intended) year on year. I try and learn as much as I can, and I can’t wait to see what 2018 brings me in terms of opportunities and knowledge. I don’t do New Years Resolutions but my goals for the year are to get better, stay creative, tell stories, and give my clients the best experience I can give them to continue to love my job. I also hereby pledge to keep jumping in bushes to get the perfect shot, come up with more corny jokes to make my couples laugh for the camera, fall over amusingly at a minimum of one wedding per season, have only minimal wardrobe malfunctions, bring only sensible healthy snacks to weddings (yeah right), eat less cheese (even less likely), and without fail pull a stupid face if I see a camera pointed at me (thank you Dani for always managing to capture ridiculous photos of me at weddings).

If you’d like to have your memories captured and have fun doing it, get in touch and let me know. Come on 2018, let’s have you…

Pendrell Hall Autumn Pre Wedding Shoot

It’s been a little while again since I’ve blogged hasn’t it! Another awesome and busy wedding season is drawing to a close, so I can finally share some of the fab stuff I’ve been working on. Kicking off then, is Lauren and Ashley’s pre-wedding shoot at their venue, Pendrell Hall. We were actually really lucky to be able to go and do their pre shoot there as this venue is so popular that it’s pretty difficult to get in! Thankfully, we were able to pop along to an open day to get a few snaps and have a wander. It was particularly nice to be able to shoot in autumn as Lauren and Ashley have opted for a gorgeous winter wedding in Feb so it’ll all look quite different on the day!

Couple Portraits: The Highlights

I loved shooting these guys – they’re so relaxed and fun, and Ashley only has to look at Lauren to totally crack her up, they are clearly made for each other. I know their wedding is going to rock, I’m looking forward to it! In the meantime, here are a few of my faves from their shoot. If this looks like the kind of vibe you’re after from your wedding photographer, let’s talk!

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SNEAK PEEK // FESTIVAL WEDDING AT MANSTY FARM // LAURA AND MARC’S ALTERNATIVE WEDDING

Where do I even start with this one???? I am just putting the finishing touches to Laura and Marc’s stunning wedding day but in the meantime I wanted to share a little sneaky peek of their big day to inspire anyone thinking about a festival wedding. If you are, look for ideas no more – this one wins them all and is going to make you want your own! these guys are big fans of music, festivals, the outdoors and beautiful handmade details so it made sense that they’d work all of this into their wedding. I can’t even begin to explain how much effort went into this wedding, and it all paid off. It was gorgeous! I’ll be blogging this in full sometime very soon but to whet your appetite, have a watch of the slideshow below. There was a beautiful handfasting ceremony, wonderful vegetarian indian food, dream catchers, hundreds of handmade paper flowers, a custom made dress, tattoos, and of course since Marc is a DJ there was absolutely cracking music both live and from the decks. Best Man Andy delivered one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard (I almost couldn’t take any photos because I was laughing so much!) and to top it all off the weather held out and gave us beautiful sunshine followed by a stunning sunset. It’s official, having a festival wedding is awesome. Can we do it all again please?

If you fancy having me capture all the smiles and fun at your own wedding, get in touch!

SNEAK PEEK // WEDDING AT EASTINGTON PARK GLOUCESTER // RACHAEL AND SAM’S FUN FILLED WEDDING

So it’s about time I posted something again isn’t it! I have been so very busy with wedding season that I must confess blogging has been a bit tricky but that’s because I’m busy working on some absolutely STUNNING weddings. First up on my list to share is Rachael and Sam’s wedding at Eastington Park in Gloucestershire. I absolutely cannot wait to share this wedding in full soon, but for now here’s a little sneak peek of what we got up to. These two are downright adorable and such a lot of fun, and it was lovely to finally be back at their venue shooting their wedding (we shot their pre wedding photos there too). I’ll save all the juicy details for the full blog but let’s just say that any wedding which includes vast amounts of cheese, a rope swing, gurning, dad jokes and Bruce Springsteen is going to be right up my alley. And did I mention that literally everyone at this wedding looked like a model?? If you’re looking for inspiration for an absolutely gorgeous wedding then turn up the volume, grab a cuppa and press play.

If you’re interested in having me come and capture your own awesome wedding, get in touch and let’s talk!

SNEAK PEEK // WEDDING AT MANOR BY THE LAKE // BAL AND NEIL’S STYLISH OUTDOOR WEDDING

Oh my goodness I’m so excited to share this one! Bal and Neil’s wedding at Manor by the Lake in Cheltenham was absolutely to die for, and it was such a pleasure to shoot. I knew from the moment I met these guys that their wedding would be suuuuper stylish and full of gorgeous details, and I was not wrong! Absolutely every detail was thoughtful and lovely, and it shone through that the main focus of this day was celebrating and enjoying it. It felt like everywhere I looked there was something fun going on, massive smiles and something colourful to photograph! Having an outdoor ceremony was just lovely, and a rare treat in rainy England. We actually had perfect weather for the ceremony and so Bal and Neil were able to have their dream ceremony in the gardens at Manor by the Lake. And lets just take a moment to say how stunning do the bride and groom look? Such an absolutely perfect day all round. There will be plenty more photos of all the details to come soon, but for now here’s a little sneak peek slideshow to inspire you for your own day. Press play and prepare for gorgeousness!

If you’re after photos with a relaxed and fun vibe, why not get in touch and see if I’m free for your big day?

VW CAMPERVAN IN THE LICKEY HILLS // ALTERNATIVE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY // MARC AND LAURA’S LAID BACK ENGAGEMENT SHOOT

When Marc and Laura first approached me about shooting their wedding, I knew it was going to be something special. As Marc is an alternative wedding DJ himself (check out his page for more details), they’re both well versed in approaching things in a non-cheesy way. So it was really important to them and to me to make sure that their engagement shoot reflected this just as much as I’m positive their wedding will. Since Laura owns the most amazing classic VW camper, it was a no-brainer to involve it in the shoot! As I’ve said many times in many posts, it’s really important to get yourself as comfortable as possible on a pre-wedding shoot and a really easy way to do that is to go with a location that’s meaningful to you. Marc and Laura get bonus points for bringing theirs with them! I’m hoping we’ll be seeing more of the van at the wedding so we saved some ideas for then – not going to give anything away about the wedding plans but it’s safe to say it’s going to be pretty epic. These guys are so clearly right for each other and they’ve got a great sense of fun.

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BIRMINGHAM WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER // MY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY BUCKET LIST

One of the things I absolutely adore about my job is getting to see so many fabulous and interesting new places. I’ve travelled all over the place already which really suits my wanderlust – I’m one of those people who never quite puts their passport away as I’m always hoping to get to the next exciting destination as soon as I possibly can. Despite being primarily a Birmingham wedding photographer, my work takes me all over the place which is ace. Even closer to home here in the UK, I’m constantly amazed by all the wonderful places we have, and I love getting to see them at weddings and engagement shoots. It’s always lovely to hear my couples telling me all about why they fell in love with their particular venue – there are so many stories about why a particular place is special to certain people and it’s different each time.

Something I’ve been meaning to do for ages now is to put together a bucket list of sorts, thinking about what my absolute dream backdrops would be for a wedding or engagement shoot. For me, these places are a combination of wanting to take epic photos of course, but also to work with like-minded people who I have interests in common with. I really do think great wedding photos are borne out of good working relationships between the photographer and the couple, and it’s definitely a great place to start if you share a passion such as travelling, film, music etc, or a particular location. So this list is by no means exhaustive, because as I said before I love to go to all sorts of interesting places (for more of my interests, see my About Me page!). But these are the ones that immediately spring to mind when I think about my photography bucket list.

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BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL GARDENS // CHILLED OUT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY // KATIE AND BEN’S RELAXED ENGAGEMENT SHOOT

I absolutely love an excuse to go to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens – it’s such a lovely place for an engagement shoot and it changes all the time. Since Katie and Ben are fellow Harborne locals, it was a great choice for somewhere we could have a nice relaxed stroll. I love that there’s always something new to see, and plenty of little romantic spots for pictures. It’s a great place to grab some quiet spots as well, as the gardens are so big you can have a wander and just find your own little space.

Katie and Ben are really relaxed and natural together and clearly make each other really happy, so it wasn’t hard to get lots of shots of them looking at each other – I love these types of shots for couples; you definitely don’t need to be staring at me with my camera all the time, I prefer getting people to look at the person they’re marrying! I know these guys are going to have an awesome wedding, I’m massively looking forward to it. Bring on October! But in the meantime here are some of my faves from their engagement shoot. Well done guys, you nailed it!

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CUSTARD FACTORY DIGBETH // BIRMINGHAM WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER // BAL AND NEIL’S COLOURFUL PRE WEDDING SHOOT

Ahhhhh I’m so excited to blog this one! Funnily enough, despite being based in Birmingham and being a lover of all things colourful and alternative, I’ve never actually shot at Birmingham’s iconic Custard Factory in Digbeth before. Bal and Neil are getting wed next month at the stunning Manor By The Lake, so recently we set about thinking of somewhere to shoot their pre wedding photos. Since their wedding venue has absolutely gorgeous gardens and we’ll be capturing those on the big day, I was thrilled when Bal and Neil opted to do something a bit different and have their shoot in Digbeth.

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