Katy & Ben at Cranage Hall

A summer wedding in spring. Talk about choosing the perfect day. Katy and Ben's late March wedding was warm and sunny all day long. Here we go, starting to warm up our camera techniques with a few still lives.

Here's Katy with one of her bridesmaids in one of the 'getting ready' bedrooms. All calm so far.

Katy's daughter Sophie is an absolute gem to capture on photo. One of many charming shots taken with her mum on the day.

While I was doing Katy in the getting ready zone, Tom was doing one of his excellent set pieces with Ben, his best men brothers and his group of friends. I like the way Tom has caught them all relaxing before the big moment.

The magic moment - Ben and Katy are now Mr & Mrs Morris.

This is a good trick to get people looking away from the camera - instead get them to look up at a second camera, held by Tom who squeezed himself onto a balcony to take some overhead shots of the wedding party.

Capturing an off camera moment with two bridesmaids.

Cranage Hall provides a great backdrop for some really good country house shots with the bride and groom walking over some perfectly manicured sweeping lawns. For me, capturing the relaxed off camera moments of the bride and groom in a more relaxed setting is an important part of telling the whole wedding story.

We spotted this reed bed by a large pond in the grounds of the hall and persuaded Ben and Katy to join us on a mini walk across the grounds to experiment with a few shots against this unexpected backdrop. We're pleased with the results!

Ben and Katy walking back to the hotel - another chance to get some informal shots that show the newly married couple enjoying time together before the reception.

The angelic, photogenic Sophie - a photographer's dream.

Boys will be boys - so what better than to capture some male bonding moments with the suited and booted gents outside the main entrance to Cranage Hall.

Jump. And they jumped. Oh the joy and power of being a photographer! Katy wanted a shot of the boys leaping off the front steps - so we experimented with a few trial jumps before capturing the men in flight with this photo.

Just before the sun set we persuaded the hotel staff to switch on the front lights to capture an early evening shot of the newly married couple. Cranage Hall is a truly photogenic backdrop for a wedding with an informal sense of grandeur. Ben and Katy look relaxed after an amazing day surrounded by friends, family and bathed in unexpectedly generous amounts of early spring sunshine.

Istanbul - the ultimate Turkish delight

We arrived in Istanbul at the back end of winter and caught this amazing city just on the cusp of spring. The weather was bitterly cold on our first day or two but our evening walks around the city were brought to life by some amazing Turkish lanterns. The richness of the colours reflected the richness of many things we encountered during our week, such as hand made carpets, ancient mosque interiors, colourful food and exotic bazaars. These lanterns sum up what Istanbul is all about - exotic visual excitement.

A wet Saturday morning in the Arasta Bazaar. Not your average shopping parade - this beautiful avenue of shops is about 500 years old and sits within the shadows of the amazing Blue Mosque. In fact, tenants still pay rent to the mosque which forms part of the wider Sulanhamet area which became a regular thoroughfare for us on our way to the metro. The Turkish rug shops in this Bazaar were truly jaw dropping. Every hand woven rug on display was a work of art. We wanted to buy the lot.

One of the only living things outside the Blue Mosque not being pestered by Turkish salesmen punting everything from carpets and shoe polishing to trips on a tourist bus. If in doubt, be a sleepy cat.

The Blue Mosque is, without doubt, an outstanding world class architectural gem and clearly a 'must see' item on the Istanbul tourist trail. But it is so much more than that - as a religious building in the heart of a massive, vibrant city it provides a spiritual retreat for both locals and a truly international audience of visitors. The maths and architectural vision behind a building of this size and scale is breathtaking, its spiritual serenity becalming.

When in Istanbul, get out the pink shirt and have a Turkish coffee. The shirt may not be the most macho item in Tom's wardrobe but hats off to my husband as he manned up for more than one of these dark and hairy chested coffees.

If you're looking for ancient antiquities, they don't come more ancient and more antique than the 1500 year old Hagia Sophia mosque - for centuries the largest religious building in the world.

The route to the upper story is taken via this well worn

walkway which simply reeks of history. The building was very cold on the day we visited - head here if you visit Istanbul in the heat, it must be a sanctuary from the city's sweltering summers.

If you're a Byzantine architecture groupie, the upper floor of the Hagia Sophie is undoubtedly the holy grail for exploring this ancient aesthetic style. You can clearly see how designs for carpets, rugs, tile work and other Turkish designs are drawn from these early forms.

What we loved about Istanbul was its brave and daring mix of the ultra modern with the very old. The award winning Kanyon shopping mall in the Levant business district of the city is a case in point. Its space age design is more than just a visually pleasing attraction - what is clearly evident from the moment you walk through the security points (reassuring touch) is the sheer quality and integrity of the design and materials. The whole place exudes class, understated glamour and sophistication - an architectural equivalent of a Bottega Veneta suit.

More of the same from the Kanyon shopping mall. Just an amazing, confident building that makes everyone feel glamourous. Every aspirational brand is here - Harvey Nichols, Zegna, Banana Republic, MaxMara - even good old British Aga.

A Turkish delight in every sense. Istanbul is exactly all of this - rich, dark, exotic, surprising, exciting and a real delight. We'll be back.