what an absolutely perfect way to celebrate a very special wedding anniversary !   some of this lovely family live in scotland and the others in northern brittany so they all came together for a week on a big family summer holiday near the beautiful town of annecy, near the french alps.    to mark the occasion i was invited along on the last morning of their stay to take pictures of them all in the sunshine. 

it was a really fun morning – and a big thanks to the kids for making everyone giggle !   x

wow !  what a really really specially fabulous wedding !   special for lots of reasons -  first of all the gorgeous bride & groom , carol & narinder, and their fantastic kids and family and friends.  secondly because once again i got the chance to shoot alongside Jo & Si from Shoot who were doing photography and filming, as always they were an absolute joy to work with.    

when we arrived this is the view that greeted us  – the stunning and sumptously decorated Carlton Towers in North Yorshire – smiley excited faces were the next thing to greet us – a hugely happy buzzy atmosphere of anticipation. … the start of a brilliant day !  

carol & narinder i wish you both a very long happy and healthy life together full of laughter  x

more photos to follow soon   x

in the meantime do go and have a look at Jo & Si’s choice of images from this first part of the day on their SHOOT blog

this lovely family were celebrating a very important anniversary whilst on holiday together near annecy.   to mark the occasion they decided to have a family portrait shoot done before they headed back to brittany and scotland at the end of their stay.   

more to come soon     x

a few days ago i was lucky enough to be invited to take some shots of an absolutely gorgeous 5 month old baby in geneva – when i arrived he was fast asleep, i couldn’t help but get the camera out – he looked sooooooooooo sweet, and so peaceful.   after giving his lovely mum and me enough time to enjoy a coffee he woke and smiled and from then on was a total star !    we did some portraits in the sunny flat and then we all wandered over to the beautiful park and took some more photos of him cuddling his mum.  

i had a wonderful morning with them both and i can’t wait to show his mum the portraits of her little one very soon

his mum and dad have asked to keep his "gorgeousness" all to themselves and who can blame them

i hope they will enjoy the images of his early childhood for a long time to come  x

woohoo !      spring looks as though it’s finally here !   the sunny weather was the perfect excuse to go to the lake in annecy to do a bit of paddling … okay and take a few fun portraits of the girls !

so this is how it started …. "please can we go paddling, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaase ?!!!"

then this happened .. but hey it was fun if a little chilly !

a really brilliant afternoon  x

it was the school / village carnival last weekend, the theme this year was cinema so thanks to father christmas being amazingly good at predicting the future they went as jack sparrow (honest !) and an indian princess (look she liked the sari … hee … think blonde bollywood!)  anyway i think they look fab … but then again i might be just a tinsy winsy bit biased !

back on a beautiful late autumn day last year i was lucky enough to do a family portrait lifestyle shoot for this gorgeous family.  recently i delivered the colourful leather albums and classy white frames and i have just had a lovely thank you note from them – "a gorgeous afternoon in mid-november captured in beautiful photos. thank you again for your work gill"  - which just seemed like the perfect excuse to put my favourite shots from the shoot up for you to see ….

and my absolute fave    …

myriam, ronan and the girls thank you again for a really, really fun afternoon with you all  x

i really love spending time with families and taking shots of them having fun and laughing, i love showing them just how gorgeous they are and then i love the designing and product choosing bit too.  this family chose some fantastic frames, a beautiful 9 shot frame for home, a classy white 4 image frame for the office and the girls had a contemporary box frame each for their rooms

then as an extra present from mum & dad they were given an album each,  as you can see in some really funky colours – i LOVE that hot pink suede look, and yes it really is that bright !  i know i’ve shown you beautiful portrait album shots before but i can’t resist putting some shots of the pages in to show just how good the quality is … just look at the thickness of the pages

and how about these little accordeon keepsakes that just fold up small and slip into your handbag … keep the gorgeousness with you but easier to carry round than the frames !

this portrait shoot of this gorgeous, fun little boy is one of my favourites.    emma, his very lovely multi-talented mum is a singer in Tripliquette, a trio of "girls singing a huge range of songs in sweet harmony" across the midlands.  she also runs a fertility support group based at the bridge centre for natural health in derby which gives women a fantastic opportunity to get together and chat to others in similar situations.

the little man was a joy to photograph happily playing and just beaming at the camera.  if you enjoyed looking at these shots please have a look at my other child portraits shots on the blog and my main website at www.gillmaheu.com

thank you emma – it was a great portrait shoot – really good fun – look forward to doing it again soon  

wow -  what an amazing New Years Eve !!!!    Jeanette and Peter had a brilliant masquerade ball to celebrate their first 24 hours of wedded bliss,  at the very gorgeous Palace de Menthon, by the lake in Annecy.

friends and family from all over the world had come to celebrate their wedding on the 30th december here in france and everyone stayed on to bring in the New Year with the newly weds.   the happy couple were radiating happiness and were dressed in exquisite indian costumes, the guests were having a great time, the masks were gorgeous, there were some amazing costumes – mr & mrs ‘mozart’ won the prize.   jeanette and peter , helped by their wedding organiser – Caroline Berthe, had looked after all the little details to make sure the party was a memorably special night and had arranged for a totally talented and totally gorgeous belly dancer to perform -  what can i say wow – she was superb and even managed to convince some of the guests to get up there and shake their stuff too !

i had a fantastic time and the atmosphere was pure party thanks to Peter Stone of RiveriaDJ who kept everybody dancing until the small hours with music from all round the world – and boy did the polish guests know how to party !!! 

wow – j’ai passé un 31 décembre d’enfer !!!  Jeanette et Peter ont organisé un bal masqué genial pour fêter leur première journée de mariage … et la saint sylvestre !   le lieu ?  le magnifique Palace de Menthon au bord du lac d’Annecy.    Leurs familles et amis sont venus des quatre coins du monde pour se réunir à annecy pour assister à leur mariage féerique le 30 décembre – et tout le monde est resté pour célébrer le debut de 2010 ensemble au palace.   

les jeunes mariés étaient habillés en prince et princesse indiens dans des costumes de soie somptueux,  les invités, également déguisés portaient des masques fabuleux.  Jeanette et Peter, aidés de leur organisatrice de mariage, Caroline Berthe, ont fait que la soirée etait magique, mémorable, magnifique, merveilleuse, …..  une des nombreuse surprises de la soirée etait la visite d’une danceuse du ventre  – wow -  tout simplement wow ! – super talenteuse elle a même reussi à faire dancer les invitées et les invités !!!

Peter Stone de RivieraDJ nous a fait dancer jusqu’au petit matin avec la musique de fête pour tous – la soirée était la façon parfaite de commencer la décennie!

Jeanette and Peter thank you so much for inviting me along to your masquerade ball and i wish you both a very long, happy & healthy life together ! x

un très grand merci à Jeanette et Peter de m’avoir invitée à leur bal masqué – je leur souhaite beaucoup de bonheur pour leur vie à deux !