The Wedding Of Will & Karen

Congratulations to Will and Karen who were married on Saturday 2nd May 2009. Their wedding was the smallest weddings we've ever covered with only 13 attendees (bride and groom included)! This meant for a lovely, warm and loving atmosphere throughout the day and also meant that we got plenty of time to play around with ideas. The wedding itself was at Shire Hall but was followed by a blessing service at St Peter's Church on Castle Hill. St Peter's is probably a church that every Cambridge resident overlooks but it really is one of the most picturesque in Cambridge and well worth a visit. The church can only hold about 20 people inside so it was the perfect venue for today’s wedding! After the service we headed to Dedham in Suffolk and to the Sun Inn for sandwiches and Champagne. We left the wedding party as they prepared to sit down for a lovely looking family meal! Our photo highlights follow:

Simon & Claire's Location Pre-Wedding Session

We don't usually shoot pre wedding sessions on location because of the good old British weather. Sometimes there is a special reason to do so and tonight's shoot (on our second attempt because of that same British weather just mentioned) had one! Simon and Claire are getting married in July and their wedding reception is in the middle of nowhere at the family farm. We really needed to give it the once over before doing the wedding and thought it a good idea to kill two birds with one stone and combine a location scout with a pre wedding shoot! It's a gorgeous location and we can't wait to shoot the wedding. As to whether the dog and the cows will be present at the wedding, we will have to wait and see!

The Wedding Of Gary & Mandy

Congratulations to Gary and Mandy who were married on Friday 1st May 2009 at Histon Baptist Church. It was a wedding first for us in that the bride arrived in a full sized council dust truck! Mandy's business is the Cambridge bin cleaning company Weelie Fresh Bins so there is a connection for those of you who don't get it! Their wedding reception was held at the Bedford Swan Hotel which is on a very pleasant spot by the river. We got a chance to take a nice stroll along the river in what was actually very reasonable wedding weather for the beginning of May! Our photo highlights are as follows:

StillVision Abroad - Aquaid Lifeline Part1, Malawi

The final part of our month in Africa was a visit to the Aquaid Lifeline Fund's orphan village of Namisu near Blantyre in Malawi. The Cambridge based water company and associated charity are coming up for 10 years old and we were there to help them produce an anniversary brochure. Since starting out Aquaid have put over 3 million pounds to good use with their Malawian projects donating £732,000 last year alone! The orphan village is an amazing success and the work being done by the charity owner John Searle is really inspirational.

The number of projects has grown and grown and we managed to visit a good number of them. We also met a number of the people being helped either through schooling, day care, employment, college sponsorship or simply given access to medical treatment.

Hopefully the following images sum up the good work being done and portray the positive atmosphere that exists within the projects, the people that work for them and the children that they help:

THE SCHOOL AT NAMISU

















SCHOOL AT LASUNGWE

StillVision Abroad - Aquaid Lifeline Part2, Malawi

Aside from the huge amount of energy that goes into putting orphaned children through school, housing those without any family at all and feeding all of the day care children twice a day, there is a lot more that Aquaid funds and a lot more that goes on behind the scenes:

NAMISU ORPHA VILLAGE - views.





WOODWORK TRAINING - cabinets and structures for the building projects, schools and residential facilities.



TAILOR'S SHOP - providing uniforms for the school.



THE GARDENS - Maize and other crops feed the day care children (400 + in Namisu alone). The aim is to make the village self sufficient and provide an income.




FLATPACK WHEELCHAIRS - Self assembly wheelchairs that require only a simple, plastic garden chair!



ELEPHANTISIS - After consultation with the Doctor at Namisu the action decided on was for amputation of the arm.



VILLAGE PASTOR - Pastors hold village communities together and many are sponsored.



MIKE - being funded through university in nearby Zomba.