Last night was a huge night in the wedding blog industry calendar. 

It was the 2013 Wedding Magazine's Wedding Blog Awards hosted in London at The Ritz and attended by the most influential bloggers in the UK. 

In the winners list were some wedding blogs I read like wonderful coffee table magazines, even though there won't be a wedding to (hopefully - I will be the mother in law to be eek), help plan for at least 20 odd years and some that were totally new to me that I can see becoming firm favourites.

All divine, all full of inspiration for weddings and beyond. The creativity in these sites and the determination and drive of the people behind them is so admirable. 

Congratulations to all the winners!

From top to bottom, left to right; 

Best Newcomer Blog - Wedding Sparrow

Best DIY Wedding Blog - BrideDeForce  

Best Alternative and Best Real Life Weddings Blog  - Rock n Roll Bride 

Best London Blog - London Bride 

Best Flowers Blog - Flowerona

Best Wedding Style Blog - Love my Dress

Best International Blog - Style me Pretty 

Winner Editor's Pick - Before the Big Day 

Best Inspiration Blog - Brides up North 

Check them all when - you won't be disappointed - they are award winners after all! 

There were also a number of fantastic blogs who received highly recommended accolades. You can see the full list here. 

I would so love to one day see The Wedding Wishing Well Foundation up with those amazing sites. 

The work they do is unique, inspirational and in one day they can achieve so much that effects people for the rest of their lives.

Take a minute to look at the work they do helping terminally ill couples get married. And if you have another minute donate £1. 

I hope you will see one of their weddings featured on one of the awards winners' sites soon, to give them even greater exposure, so more people can help raise much needed funds. 

Well done Naomi, I hope all your efforts are recognised and rewarded by the industry again this year. 

This is pumpkin month and I love it.  

Mini ones, giant ones, funny shape ones and even better pick your own ones.  

I wanted to make something the whole family would eat, so something small boy friendly whilst still being full of flavour for us.  I used half a large pumpkin in this recipe and saved the other half for something else which I will share soon.

The mini ones make super props don't you think?! 

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions
• half a pumpkin
• drizzle olive oil
• 500ml stock (I used boiling water and a Knorr vegetable gel pot)
• 250ml coconut milk
• salt and pepper
• pistachio nuts to garnish

Dice your onion and pumpkin and soften in a drizzle of olive oil for 5 - 10 minutes. Add your stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for approximately 20 minutes until the pumpkin flesh is soft. Test with a knife.

Blend until smooth and add the coconut milk, season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped pistachio nuts.

I like to serve it in little mugs. A lovely alternative to watery cup a soups!  

Dip in chunks of crusty bread. 

There's something quite heart warming about holding a cup of soup in your hands. How sweet are the copper mugs - 50p from my local charity shop?!  

I have some super cute photos to share later this week. Straight from the patch. 

Hooray time for Sunday Prop Shop! But this week it comes with a warning! No perfect shots! I have shared some unedited photos this week, some on the Canon and some on my iPhone, but do click on the links to the finished posts to see how they turned out!

The internet has been bursting over the last 2 weeks with amazing inspiration for how to use props to improve your photography. 

My favourite posts I have read include an old post of Matt's prop tour OMG. Yes that's right I OMG'd. I am in awe of the blog photography on Lark and Linen, so effortlessly styled and finally the most sumptuous photography of a pavlova I have ever seen from Tanya Zouev.

This week I wanted to share some behind the scenes photos of some recent blog posts. All food related but I thought it would be interesting to see how I layer up the styling.

My style is definitely not less is more, although I am working on some more simplified styling. It just goes against everything I love! 

I love telling a story. Using props to add depth, texture and interest.  So the pictures themselves become more interesting than the subject itself.

You can see I use my tin bath as both a backdrop and to place a subject matter on. It has great texture and I leave it outside year round, as the rustier it gets the more I love it.

I always have scissors to hand to chop bits off here and there, and extra ingredients to have as back up props. The sprinkled coconut in the fig tarts post almost looks like snow! The "plate" is actually a garden stepping stone from a local DIY store! But the grey stone, combined with the effect of wood knots really adds to the photo.

I like to use flowers and greenery in my photography as that is what my natural style has developed into. What do you think defines your style? 

You will also notice that these were all taken outside on our patio either on the garden table, the boys sandpit with the cover on it, or on the wrought iron green table. With the weather turning and the afternoons getting darker, I will show you another time how I am creating the same photos indoors. Time to embrace the darker more atmospheric blog photography style and take advantage of what nature is giving us! 

I haven't edited these images in any way but you can see the finished posts here. 

I'll save how I edited them for another time. 

Ratatouille Tarts

Fig Tarts

Orange Blossom Cakes

Open Cherry Pie

Tomorrow I am off to Honeybuns again for an extra day of shooting (including a magazine recipe shoot, only for my absolute favourite magazine Pretty Nostalgic eek) and I can't wait to blog my time there in next fortnight's Sunday Prop Shop. Their collection of vintage kitchenalia is breathtaking! 

Here is a sneak peek. 

How did you style up your photos lately? Did you take an extra minute to think about your composition or lighting? Did you place a spoon or fork so delicately then rearrange it?!

Link them up here, it's a great way to share ideas and be inspired! I have noticed lots of bloggers taking extra care with their photos recently and I hope that maybe I have have a little hand in their extra effort.  

Show off your skills here! Did you style up a food post or have a little at home or on location photo shoot? Thank you so much for those who take part I feel truly inspired by you.

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