Better late than never! (Oh god, *how* is it June, already?) This year has started flying by at a crazy speed, January and February shuffled by, and suddenly we're approaching the half way point! Here is what's been going on in March, April and May 'Behind the Curtain'..

My weddings started! I've been shooting a lot of family shoots this year, but it really feels like my work has officially begun when the wedding dates start rolling around. I jumped in at the end of March with a double wedding weekend, one at each end of the country. Jo and Travis married at Eshott Hall in Northumberland, and the next day I was down in London shooting Katie and Tim's Knights Templar wedding. An amazing whirlwind, and two fabulous days.. My eldest daughter and I took an Interrail trip (more on that later), and a few days later it was time for Eddie and Tina's wedding at Worsall Village Hall - another gorgeous day to kick off wedding season with a bang.

As well as other general work, including boring stuff I won't go in to and exciting things like blog submissions (and scheduled features!).. I had a real rush of wedding bookings in these months, and it's been so exciting to hear about different plans and to chat to different couples, and I've been running (well, driving) back and forth to the Post Office sending welcome packs to new clients. I was also really excited to be asked to come on Amy Liz's podcast, Work Like A Mother, and chat about juggling self employment, motherhood and the freelance lifestyle. It wasn't scary at all (Amy is wonderful), and you can listen to it here. 

I was also interviews and featured in an article for the Gazette, based in Teesside; again about my work and juggling everything. - you can read all about how I got started in the first place and built my business here.
 

The most exciting thing that happened from a personal perspective has to be the trip that Vivienne (my eldest daughter, 8) and I took. If you follow this blog you will have seen because I blogged each place individually.. but it was just wonderful. Without going over old ground, you can read each post here - Geneva, Montreux, Zermatt, Zurich, Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest.

This year I decided to push family shoots a little more and I'm so, so glad I did. I've had some wonderful shoots, some with families I've worked with in the past, some with couples whose weddings I shot who've since had little ones, and some completely new families who I've loved meeting too. My sister-in-law Kelly was also booked in for an elective C-section, so I snapped a few shots of her the day before Hector came into the world too..

I made time for a social life! I had a weekend off to visit a friend in London, and another to go on my friend's hen weekend in Manchester! During half term we all went up to Newcastle for the day to see my sister, and I also took the girls away for a night to stay with their cousins and went to Flamingo Land -  exhausting but fabulous (apart from when Sylvie threw her dummy in the meerkat enclosure and we had to run for help from the zoo keeper..) Sylvie also started walking (finally, after 16.5 months), so we had the special 'First Shoes' trip to the shops..

I had two engagement shoots with two lovely couples whose weddings I'm shooting this year. For Holly and Jamie's we went to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and for Phillippa and Toby's, we wandered around York City Centre. We were so lucky with the weather both days, and I'm so excited for both their weddings..

So! That's how March, April and May were.. Busy but with some time to breathe too (the best combination). June onwards brings more family shoots, hopefully some amazing weather and some wonderful wedding celebrations. I'll be working behind the scenes editing and creating stop motion wedding videos, doing some admin and drinking too much coffee... Hope your year is going swimmingly so far and that you've all been enjoying a few afternoons in beer gardens while it's sunny too.

Until next time!