Abbey House Studios

More raves …..

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:25:58 +0000

It’s an amazingly busy time here and I’m feeling somewhat guilty that the blog is getting further and further out of date …. on the up side we are more up to date with album production than we’ve ever been in the past. Here are some lovely comments received over the past couple of months …..

“We would like to, again, say a huge “Thank You” for our Wedding Album. Words cannot describe just how gorgeous and brilliant it is. It has captured our wedding day minute by minute and with the turn of every page we are able to relive our story and are reminded of our joyous day. You both should be very proud of the work you do as photographers and the happiness you bring to married couples. Everyone who sees our album is amazed by it and their first word is “wow” accompanied by facial expressions of awe! It really is the best wedding album ever and we are so glad to have had you both as our photographers.” Claire and Gethin

“We just wanted to say a huge thank you for the time and energy that you have put into providing us with photos of our wedding that we couldn’t have dreamed of!! We are still buzzing from the viewing session that we had with you on Sunday and can’t wait to see the finished product.” Laura and Jamie

“Thanks very much for the albums: we are very very happy with them!!!
Thanks again!” Helen and Paul xxx

“Thank you so, so much!x The photo’s are very special and they look wonderful!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! See you when we get back from our Honeymoon…”
Kay and Alex

“The album looks fab! Thank you! Everyone who has seen it has said how
interesting and lovely the album is. I took it to where I have my nails done
on Saturday and she said she has never seen an album like it. She said
normally the wedding albums she’s seen have been a bit boring after a few
pages as the shots are all the same angle etc etc but she said ours was so
interesting and such unusual shots. Everyone thinks the page with Phil
getting ready looks like a Next catalogue page for wedding outfits!!”
Nicola and Philip

“Well what can we say …..

From the moment we booked you we were confident that you would do a fabulous job and you exceeded our expectations!

Thank you for yesterday and the help you provided with choosing the final photos and creating our perfect album. We can’t begin to tell you how thrilled we are with the results and can’t believe that you managed to capture the emotions of the day so perfectly.

Your organisation (and calming influence- Fran) on the day was fantastic and everyone commented on how well you organised shots and have captured the mood of everyone involved.

We are so happy that we chose you, as you have portrayed our wedding in ways that we had never dreamed of.” Thank you, Love, Laura and Matthew Clarke

“Well, we both totally totally LOVE the album design! (I knew James would
too!) You really really have done a great job, and it is a fab way to see
all our favorite photos. We do appreciate (from a lay persons point of
view) that the conditions must have been very tough. Thank goodness we
found you and didn’t go for some of the other photographers we saw! Many
many thanks.” Natalie and James

“Sorry have been meaning to thank you for the album but work has been
completely manic! Looks absolutely fantastic and we are both really
pleased. Thank you”. Alex and Jason

“Anyway, we saw the photos on the highlights page when we were out there. I think we nearly had the world’s quickest divorce as if I look at them one more time Paul said he was going to divorce and/or kill me! They are absolutely fabulous - we love them - yes, even cynical Paul said he thinks they are ace and we’ve had loads of comments already. I have too many that are already my favourite! Can’t decide which one to have as the 6 foot canvas….!!!

Just wanted to say a massive thank you for the big day - you were both awesome and I don’t know how we ladies (and Dad) would have got through the morning without you Fran - obviously can’t speak for the boys, but knowing them as I do I imagine that Bob’s input would have been invaluable!” Jennifer and Paul

” … thanks for the great wedding album we are over the moon with it!” Cheers, Paul and Jess

“We got back from our honeymoon last week … after having an amazing few weeks away. We and lots of our family and friends have looked at our photos online, and we wanted to let you know that we are all loving them & looking forward to choosing the ones for the album. Although, we think there may be far too many to choose from if they’re all as lovely as the ones online!!” Ruth and Neil

Thanks guys, we really appreciate your comments …. Love to all, Bob and Fran xx

Canada Lodge - Cardiff Alex and Matthew

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:36:07 +0000

It’s always a privilege to be asked to photograph a wedding co-ordinator’s wedding and also very flattering to be chosen from all the photographers that they see at their venues … if not a bit scary.

We must be doing something right as we have covered three wedding co-ordinator’s own weddings in the last couple of years … as well as some very talented lady photographers who have chosen us.

Alex is the co-ordinator at Canada Lodge, a fabulous lakeside venue just outside Cardiff close by the village of Creigau. It has to be one of the most tranquil and peaceful settings and offers almost an unlimited amount of picture opportunities.

We met with Alex and hubby-to-be Matthew yesterday (Monday) to discuss the final run down for their wedding and also take a few shots around the place and discuss a few “coaching tips”. The effort that we put in prior to the wedding is a big part of turning in stunning pictures on the day … our couples are relaxed and confident. They know that they can trust us to deliver a superb result, whatever the weather or conditions on the day.

We are looking forward to producing a Canada Lodge based album as it’s a prestigious venue that we can “showcase” our work and our elegant, natural style. Although a relatively new venue it’s already proving a popular venue with South Wales brides and has a fast growing excellent reputation.

We are pleased to have a number of 2009 bookings there. Fran and I (Bob) are really looking forward to Alex and Matthew’s wedding, it promises to be a fabulous day ….

Lucy Rhodri - Viewing ….Wedding 31st May, The Vale Hotel

admin — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:31:56 +0000

Lucy and Rhodri were in today to view their images from their wedding at the Vale Hotel on May 31st, back from honeymoon and the first opportunity to get away from work together. Our viewings normally take around 4 hours and we project the images and are on hand for help and advice.

Whittling down nearly 600 images takes a wee while!

The guys chose a beautiful Queensberry 12 x 12 square format album, which will perfectly complement the elegant and stylish collection of images that will be going into it.

It’s a really brilliant feeling when our couples come in and are wow-ed by the pictures, more so when they are very keen photographers themselves and understand just how hard we have worked to give them a fabulous record of the day.

The picture of Lucy and Rhodri in the open top Alvis that they had to go from Radyr Church to the Vale just has a “feel” to it that I can’t put my finger on, but is a perfect example of there being something outside of the actual content of the image …
We now can’t wait to put the album together!

John and Rhiannon - prewedding shoot

admin — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:09:02 +0000

John and Rhi are getting married at Llansantffraed Court Hotel which is just a few miles in open countryside from Abergavenny. The hotel has a fabulous staircase at the side and attractive regency windows looking out over landscaped, well kept, ground and lake. If the weather is fine there are literally hundreds of picture making opportunities. This shot with “Ozzy” the labrador was made when John and Rhi came to Tintern to finalise arrangements and have a few pictures taken in our pre-wedding “coaching” session. It helps relax the couple and feel confident with us and being in front of the camera, always a big help in achieving natural, relaxed pictures on the day. Only a couple of weeks to go and Fran and I (Bob) are really looking forward to it ….

Thank you!

admin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:41:21 +0000

Bob and Fran

Back at work already what a pain!

Thank you for everything you both did on our wedding day.. I still can’t believe it has been and gone but we enjoyed every minute of it so thank you for both helping to run as smoothly as it did.

The taster pictures look fab and we are really looking forward to seeing the other pictures. What we aren’t looking forward to doing is making the decision about which photos to choose! Decisions decisions! A collegue of my sisters recently got married and I was shocked at how poor her photos were. It just reaffirms our good decision to go with you both as your photos are at a totally different level ….

Thanks again
Nicola

Nicola and Philip’s pictures are here

More raves ….

admin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:37:44 +0000

Lovely email received today from Paul and Jennifer:-

Hi Fran, hi Bob!

Sorry we haven’t been in touch - Venice was AMAZING and we’re back to real life and work with a bump …

We saw the photos on the highlights page when we were out there. I think we nearly had the world’s quickest divorce as if I look at them one more time Paul said he was going to divorce and/or kill me! They are absolutely fabulous - we love them - yes, even cynical Paul said he thinks they are ace and we’ve had loads of comments already. I have too many that are already my favourite! Can’t decide which one to have as the 6 foot canvas….!!!

Just wanted to say a massive thank you for the big day - you were both awesome and I don’t know how we ladies (and Dad) would have got through the morning without you Fran - obviously can’t speak for the boys, but knowing them as I do I imagine that Bob’s input would have been invaluable!

Lots of Love
Jen and Paul x

Pictures from Jennifer and Pauls weddings can be seen here

Blog offline in May and June ….

admin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:35:03 +0000

Thanks to some nasty attacks from Germany and the Ukraine hacking our website via a security weakness in the blog software we have been in a computer twilight zone.

I hope that these holes have now all been plugged. The bad guys are being banned from accessing the server …. and abuse reports logged with their service providers.

Hopefully we can resume normal service …

Over the course of the next few weeks I shall attempt to catch up with everything that’s been happening (lots) and expect a flurry of posts.

As you can imagine these ****** have impacted our whole business and consumed hours of our time fixing, tracking and patching our server unfortunately at the expense of our production schedules. Our own service provider has been as much use as a chocolate fire-guard (on the end of an expensive telephone), so all the fixing has had to be done “in-house”.

Three of our couples are waiting much longer than they should do for their albums, for which we apologize profusely, everything is almost back on track and back to normal.

Thanks for your patience.

Thank you for being our photographers ….

admin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:16:21 +0000

Fran and I really appreciate e-mails like this one …..

Dear Bob and Fran,

Thank you for being the photographers (and guests) at our wedding. It was great to be able to meet you before the wedding to discuss our expectations and then for you to record what was the most fantastic day.

It truly was perfect.

Prior to the wedding we had not expected our photographer to have so much input into our album design, and we have been totally impressed. The album has exceeded our expectations and has drawn so many amazed comments from our friends and family. To not only have wonderful memories but to have such a sophisticated and beautiful album to bring it to life, is the best record we could ever hope to achieve.

We would not hesitate to recommend you.

Thank you again. Hannah and Mark

Hannah and Mark’s “Brief Taster Gallery” can be seen here

Venue Visit - The Vale Hotel - Rhodri and Lucy

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:37:54 +0000

It’s a year since our engagement shoot around Tintern Abbey with Lucy and Rhodri. Their wedding is now just 6 weeks away and our signal to visit the various places involved, home, church and reception.

It gives us a chance to meet parents, vicars, wedding co-ordinators and make sure that we are all working to the same plan. Guest numbers are known, timings sorted out and lots of little details that are essential to know as a photographer if you are going to effectively capture the “story of the day”.

Any ex-military personnel will always tell you that the performance rests largely with the preparation (the 5 ‘P’s !!)

So we discovered beautiful light in Radyr church (no pictures during the ceremony whatsoever (!)) … and fabulous locations in and around the Vale Hotel as well formulating a “wet” weather plan.

It’s such an important day … nothing is left to chance.

Raves - James and Natalie

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:29:40 +0000

We get lovely e-mails from our couples after their weddings, viewings and when they get their albums that we normally just keep to ourselves.

At the end of the year I always mean to collect them up and create a “raves” section on our website but bever get around to it … having been nagged by Fran I have created a new “Raves” section on the blog and will post them as we get them.

Natalie and James (highlights here) sent us this after their viewing on Friday last ….

Hello Fran and Bob!

We just wanted to say thank you so much for a great day on Friday! We had so much fun re-living the day through your beautiful photos and both came away very very happy! You have done a brilliant job and our album will most certainly be worth the wait!

We very much appreciate all the little things you have done for us!

All the best

Love

Nats and James

It’s great to feel appreciated as we do try very hard to make every wedding special and get the best out of the circumstances (in this case gales and torrential rain!!)