Last year I found the wonderful website and blog,  The Wedding Community. It’s a fantastic site for all wedding photographers, brides and grooms, and wedding suppliers.  I saw they were running something called ‘Picture of the Day’ where photographers can submit a few images to the blog, and if picked, a picture will be featured on their site. I decided to submit just one image, and I was over the moon to be featured. I had never taken part in anything like this before, so I didn’t expect much when all of the images from the month were put in the ‘Picture of the Month’ competition. To my shock I won!  I certainly never thought I’d win Picture of the Year six months later.

January soon came around, and as soon as I saw I was up against 11 gorgeous photographs, I decided to keep positive, although realistic. I was a finalist, narrowed down from 247 pictures from the year to just 12. That was a huge accomplishment and I would have been happy to know I was in the top 12.

As soon as the competition opened, I was surprised by the huge amount of support from friends, family, wedding photography clients, fellow photographers and other people I had never met before. I received such lovely unexpected comments that were so kind, I was genuinely touched. About six minutes after the competition closed, I received a phone call. Answering with shaking hands, I was shocked to hear Kim from The Wedding Community on the other end. I’d won Picture of the Year 2012!

I’d like to once again thank everyone for your lovely support, without you this wouldn’t have been possible. This award means a lot to me, and it couldn’t have been a better start to 2013!

Here’s a link to the actual announcement on The Wedding Community, and of course the image that has become a bit of a trademark for me.

And this little beauty arrived on my doorstep, which was a lovely surprise!! Thank you to The Wedding Community for my gift.  It is much bigger than it appears in the pictures. Can’t wait to open it and celebrate in style.