Testimonials

Celia Mannings' work is superb.

She goes way beyond the usual formula of picking up those personal touches which mean something to every bride - the shoes before they are worn, the flowers before the service, the bridesmaids before they are "made up". She captures the EMOTIONS that are seen in the faces of all the guests. I was particularly impressed with the way she discretely waited for those all-important moments (the rude joke, during the best man's speech, the fond look from father to bride, the words of thanks from the groom and his love for his new wife), then CAUGHT them!

Celia is also discerning enough to know which people enjoy the camera's focus, and which do not! She is able to portray a PERSONALITY through her work.

The album she has created re-tells the day, and as I look through the photos, I re-live every memory with pride, pleasure and love!

This is especially important for me, as I live in Australia, and do not get to see my daughter and her husband very often. ALL of my Aussie friends have commented on Celia's stunning work, without which, our memories and emotions would fade.

Thank you, Celia for this priceless treasure!

Coral

I immediately took to Celia’s relaxed and informal style - something very important on the day as she would be with me throughout the whole of it. Celia took a lot of time prior to the wedding preparing every last detail; where the sun would be at certain times of the day through to the names of all our family and friends. It was a manic day; Celia worked so hard, starting very early and staying with us until the first dance - which was late! So many of our guests commented on how hard Celia worked and how in control she was.

The follow up was superb. Celia created a ‘show’ for us to screen all our photographs and helped us choose our album images to flow like a story. Celia goes the extra mile to produce the best quality images. For me, I was always keen to have photographs with emotion and detail, colour and spontaneity. Celia captured it all for us. In addition Celia was just a wonderful calming influence throughout the day for me despite being the hard worked photographer! I would never use anyone else for an occasion where I wanted exceptional photographs…and memories.

Sally

"A talented, dedicated, caring professional who is an absolute delight to work with" and that comes from someone who has never liked having her photo taken! What struck me immediately about Celia, was how easy she was to talk to, down to earth, enthusiastic and passionate about her work yet also interested and caring about the bride and groom and their Big Day.

Celia turned two individuals who were uncomfortable in front of the camera, into a beaming happy couple, relaxed on their wedding day - a revelation! I could relax on the day as I was completely at ease with Celia (even in my dressing gown!) and confident of the work she could produce, thanks to the pre-wedding lifestyle shoot.

We arrived back from honeymoon in a daze; did it all really happen? Could we remember anything? Cue Celia! She came round to our house with a slideshow of our wedding photos. Every moment, shared look, expression and detail of the day had been beautifully captured by her - I nearly cried - there was my day being played back to me as a story through photos - what an amazing talent! Not just "and this is us posed by the church/car/with bridesmaids/parents..." but the real emotions of the day. You work hard to plan your Big Day; attention to detail etc and here was someone that appreciated and reflected it back both in her ethos and also her photos. Our finished album is a fantastic keepsake that I will be delighted to show anyone and look at again and again! Thank you Celia.

Amanda

Having met with other photographers, Anthony and I were beginning to despair that we would ever find someone who was not only a fantastic photographer but also unobtrusive, friendly and able to put us at ease on our wedding day. In Celia we found all of these qualities.

From the first time we met Celia and viewed samples of her beautiful photographs we knew that she was the photographer for us. The ‘lifestyle shoot’ was an excellent way of getting us used to being in front of the camera. Celia also spent a lot of time with us checking exactly who we really wanted photos of on the wedding day and many of the guests remarked on how amazing it was that Celia had worked out who everyone was and knew them by name – a really personal touch which made everyone feel extra special.

On the wedding day itself Celia put Anthony and I completely at ease and captured so much more than just the standard wedding photographs. For much of the day we were unaware that Celia was even there; at the reception she suggested we spend time with our guests which was excellent as all I wanted to do was catch up with everyone. Celia had visited our reception venue in advance and managed to get amazing photos of even the most reluctant models without being pushy but just adding to the relaxed pace of the day.

The photographs are fantastic, they are exactly the natural style we wanted and make me smile every time I look at them. The hardest part was trying to pick the photos we wanted in the album as we could have quite happily had them all. We are eagerly awaiting the completed album which I am sure I we'll look at regularly forever more! Being at an age when many of our friends are getting married we have received lots of comments about our photos being the best wedding photographs people have ever seen and I have been recommending Celia to anyone who will listen!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Celia for all her hard work the results are there for us to cherish forever!

Charlotte

When my then fiancé (now husband!!) and I were planning our wedding, picking suppliers was one of the things we worried about the most. It’s such a momentous day in your life, you want to make sure everything is perfect and that no-one lets you down - we truly struck lucky when we found Celia Mannings!

From day one when we met Celia at a local wedding Fayre we knew we had made the right choice. Looking at the photographs she had brought along with her - I think we may have been the first people to cry at such an early stage!! The lifestyle shoot before hand completely eased any fears we had about having our picture taken and Celia was a big part of that. She created a reassuring atmosphere and we both relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon! The pictures themselves blew us both away! What made them even more special was that she completely captured us as a couple.

One of the main things that completely stood out about Celia is not only how happy we were with her service, but also the comments that we received from other guests. I didn’t expect other people to notice the difference in service like we did, but for weeks afterwards we were constantly getting comments regarding how lovely she was, how nice it was to be at a wedding and not to have photo orders barked at them and how she really fitted into the wedding, rather than just being someone on the outside looking in. I think that is a true testament to Celia’s approach and why she gets such amazing results. She knows people and has an eye for capturing moments that sometimes you yourself couldn’t even see how important they would become. Some of the most stunning pictures that we have are the ones that are of hugs between family, someone wiping away a tear when they thought no-one was paying attention (Celia was!!) or when me and my new husband shared a glance that completely encapsulated how truly happy we were.

I would thoroughly recommend Celia time again and time again!! Not only for the fantastic pictures that she has taken for us, but also for the service we received from day one – Celia was part of our wedding experience as a whole. She was an absolute joy to have at our wedding and we won’t be able to thank her enough for the beautiful memories that she has given us.

Tanya

Andrew and I first met Celia in 2006 at a Wedding Fayre in 2006. We had been looking for a wedding photographer for quite a while but nothing we'd seen was to our taste. Celia's portfolio immediately jumped out as being exactly what we both wanted - we booked Celia within weeks of meeting her for the first time! Celia's style of photography is beautifully natural, her ability to capture moments that make you smile every time you look at her work is amazing. During the planning of our day Celia really took time to get to know us and managed to remember all the names and relationships of my very complicated family! Our wedding day was very relaxed and Celia was very much a part of our day. Andrew and I both felt is was important for Celia to feel like a guest at our wedding as over the year and a half planning Celia became our friend. Celia will remain the only photographer we ever use for major events in our lives - she is truly an amazing artist and wonderful person

Kirsty

Celia’s photography for our wedding in December was the best experience we could possibly imagine. I fell in love with her work as soon as I saw her display at a wedding fair. Her images have a true ‘wow’ factor – beautifully composed, natural and capturing the emotion and atmosphere of the moment with striking shots of people and lots of evocative details. We loved everything about working with Celia. She clearly has a passion for taking beautiful pictures and providing lasting memories that goes well beyond the average photographer doing their job. We felt she truly cared about creating special pictures that were meaningful for us.

Our final album is something we’ll treasure for ever. On Celia’s website she talks about re-creating the story of your day. That’s exactly how it is… the album takes us back to how everything felt and unfolded, from getting ready to the end of the evening. It is priceless. Here’s a list of our favourite things about working with Celia… *She proactively guided us through everything we needed to know to get great photos – she was clear and honest about how she’d work with us, and gave us lots of suggestions and advice on what would work best. *Her style is friendly, authentic, unpretentious and caring – we felt completely relaxed working with her, could be open about our wants and needs, and totally trusted her. *She was genuinely interested in getting to know about us and our wedding guests, and the images she created are meaningful because she knew what mattered to us. *She was flexible and accommodating - it felt like nothing was too much trouble, as above all she cared about helping us get a brilliant outcome. *The pre-wedding photo shoot was a great chance to get over being camera-shy. *Celia really connected with us as people - we even ended up inviting her to join the rest of our guests at our wedding breakfast as we wanted her to be part of our day. * She totally put our wedding guests at ease yet managed to notice and capture every moment that lent itself to becoming a lasting memory. *Celia honoured everything about the reality of our day so that we’ve ended up with a finished product that’s beautifully representative of how things really were. *She has a unique talent for capturing the moment in all its beauty; naturally and artistically. For us, Celia ended up feeling like a talented friend as much as a supplier. When the album was completed and the job finished it was sad saying goodbye to someone who was really part of everything our wedding was about. Celia is hugely talented and truly cares, and on that basis we couldn’t recommend her enough to you.

Zoe

Celia photographed our wedding in June last year in Marlborough. We could not have wished for more. From our very first telephone conversation Celia understood exactly what we wanted. She captured our whole wedding day from dawn until night as a story of our very special day; from the smallest of details to the grandest of events she missed nothing and nobody. All of our wedding photographs show the emotions and personality of each and everybody, from the laughter of children and grandparents to the tears and joy of the bride and groom. It was as though she was in about 20 places at once all day! We are so pleased with our album. It is a narrative of the best day of our lives. Celia is such a lovely person to work with; she brings out your best and gives you her own special personal touch. She felt like our friend on the wedding day, not our photographer! So many of our wedding guests have said what a wonderful job she did for us. We couldn’t agree more! Thank you Celia, you’re a star!

Katie