Banting/ Slimming world/ PH balance combo diet, can it work?

Due to the fact that sugar is more addictive than cocaine it comes as no surprise that the Banting (New food revolution diet) has not been a great success for me so far as I'm unable to stick to it! The irony is that, with every other diet we've tried I've found it relatively easy, with varying degrees of success, whilst my husband really struggled.  He has taken to Banting like the proverbial duck to water and has found it quite easy and left me gobsmacked at his sudden drastic change in eating habits, going from constant carb snacks which, although allowed on Slimming World, slowed down his weight loss as the science behind the Banting diet will attest to.  He was constantly hungry and thus I was constantly cooking and to say I hate cooking is an understatement! He has now cut down to just one big meal a day at lunch time where we have meat and either salad or veg and cheese and a snack in the evening.

I can be strong for a while but life tends to derail me a lot with birthdays and other special occasions and basically any excuse to give in to the chocolate craving.  The reason Slimming World worked so well for me was that I could still have my chocolate every day and lose weight.

So hubby is happy on Banting but I'm gaining weight left right and centre as Banting and carbs and sugars are not good friends.  So I figured, what if I take the best of both of them and try and combine them.  Another consideration I have at this point is my ph level, which is way to acidic, it was measuring 5.5 a few weeks ago, way off the 7 it should be so lots of high ph foods also need to be incorporated.  With my ph level being so acidic it puts me at higher risk of cancer which, I'm sure we'll all agree is a prevention is better than cure scenario.

Day 1

Generous slice Watermelon.  I have this first thing in the morning as watermelon is a very high ph food, if it's not in season I'll have to switch to other melon.  Melons should always be eaten on their own, not with other food as they require a unique digestive juice and an hour to digest, otherwise they or the other food it is eaten with just ferments and you don't get the benefit from it.  It's a lovely refreshing way to start the day.

Ramekin plain yoghurt with teaspoon honey.  I was a bit hungry mid morning so I thought this would make a nice snack.  I used to have it with fruit but I think I've had too much of it so wanted a break and also to keep the fruit till later, if you have it with a spoon of honey it's lovely. I decided to have it in a ramekin for portion control.  With Banting the full fat plain yoghurt is basically free although honey is restricted as it's sugar.  The full fat yoghurt would be a no no on slimming world as they advocate fat free of everything.  This is where the two diets clash.  I agree with the principals of Banting in that the carbs and sugars are the enemy and as soon as you have low fat you are pumping in the carbs and sugars so I figure the full fat is better for me in terms of what my body can burn.  Honey has more health benefits than sweeteners but you could have sweeteners instead of honey.  Be careful about which sweetener you use, long story short aspartame is the enemy.

glass of water with tablespoon acv 15 minutes before the main meal.  Acv has a long list of health benefits but this is primarily for my ph balance, I have to keep reminding myself as I gag it down what I'm doing it for! Although I'm gradually getting used to the taste lol.

2 pieces salmon baked with mixed leaf salad, tomatoe, red pepper, cucumber

Delicious salad, both for Banting and Slimming world.  The salmon is quite juicy so I didn't feel the need to add any dressing.  Duane added cheeses to make it more fatty for the Banting, which fends off his hunger pangs longer than mine will be but I'm opting for the less dairy fat version as I think this might be where I'm going wrong.

ramekin half mango and 3 strawberries

On slimming world fruit is free, on Banting fruit needs to be restricted due to the high sugar content.  By having only a small amount of mango and strawberries I was able to get a little sweet kick whilst still staying in my Banting parameters. Strawberry and Mango are also quite high on the alkaline scale so double bonus.

coffee 3 sweeteners and full cream milk

My little indulgence.  I usually have red bush tea as this is better for the ph.  I've stuck with the full cream milk, again to avoid the carbs and sugars.

Water with lime squeezed in 

I drink this in between when I'm feeling thirsty and am learning to quite enjoy it, much better than the fizzy drinks, 99% of which have aspartame and the same goes for the juice mixes.  I look for a water that has a high ph no just to add to the ph boost and the lime is also quite a high score, if you can stomach lemon it's even better but that's just one step too far for me lol.

mushroom stir fry veg, asparagus, kale, splash sweet chilli sauce

This is acceptable on both meal plans.  The splash of sweet chilli sauce adds a lovely flavour and doesn't do much damage in terms of carbs and sugars.  The green veg is very good for my ph, especially the asparagus and kale.  This was a nice light dinner snack to see me through.

iced coffee

My favourite Banting treat.  200ml full cream, 600ml full cream milk, 2 teaspoons coffee, 4 teaspoons granulated sweetener and a handful of crushed ice, blended together.  It's lovely and creamy and the fat makes it quite filling and I can probably just about get away with it under my syns for the day with slimming world.

1 lindor ball

Because my life is just not worth living without chocolate ;-p

So, that's day 1 of my personalised version of these diets, let's see how it goes on day two.

Mad Max

Age restriction 15

I don't think there's much in the movie to warrant the 15 restriction.

All in all quite a disappointing movie really. I was looking forward to Charlize Theron and, although she did deliver a good performance, it wasn't quite enough to save a dull plot where the action was simply not enough of a substitute.  Not much more to say without spoilers but suffice it to say, what you see in the trailer is basically what you get.

Ph Diet, Banting, Ketogenic diet

I've been on the diet for almost 2 weeks now.  Monday I hit a snag as I entered the sugar bitch phase of the month!  So a Crispy Cream, Custard slice and 2 Cream slices later I can hardly complain that my body is not in Ketosis!   

The scale hasn't been overly kind but I was very excited Saturday night when I managed to zip up a skirt that wouldn't zip up 2 weeks ago :-) 

I have been having Melon when I wake up, which is quite refreshing and good for bringing my ph level up a bit, I'm trying to get it to a neutral 7.   About an hour later, after I've done the school run and such I have some breakfast if I'm feeling hungry.  Either a bit of mango and strawberry with plain Onken yoghurt and a bit of double cream or an omelette with kale, asparagus heads and mushrooms, all fried either in butter or coconut oil.  

NB! Found some of that spray on coconut oil and it smells DISGUSTING when you spray it on and is rubbish as doesn't actually cook very well so avoid it! I've gone back to a normal tub of proper coconut oil, which is great for cooking with and you can take a teaspoon and swish it around in your mouth for a few minutes in the morning to draw toxins from your tongue and help whiten your teeth.  Also good to give a teaspoon to the dog for a healthy coat :-)

For supper we usually have a big salad with mixed leaves, cucumber, tomato and peppers and then add

Tuna, bacon and Helmans mayonaise or

a piece of white cod fried in butter and then add double cream and dill (yummy!)

or a piece of salmon cooked in foil with a fish stock cube

or a chop, cooked with Steers spice, so yummy being able to eat the fat too :-)

These are really filling meals and we usually have them as a late lunch, which will keep us full till later

In the evening if we are hungry or feeling peckish we will have some fruit in plain Onken yoghurt with some cream and honey drizzled over the top

Another favourite of mine at the moment is iced coffee!

Crushed ice, 2 teaspoons of coffee, 2 teaspoons of yellow sweetener,400 ml full cream milk and about 100-200ml double cream, blitz and put in the freezer for a bit to properly chill.

Settlers of Catan

I think the biggest problem with this game is that the box probably puts people off.  It doesn't look much fun or terribly interesting but it's one of the nicest/most addictive games I've ever played!

As you can see by this pic it looks a bit more exciting. You have 4 teams (although I have a 5-6 player expansion for when we are at camp and there are more people to play ;-p)

GAME PIECES

You pick a colour, eg blue.  You get 5 settlements (little house), 4 cities (church looking one)  and 15 roads (look like match sticks).  

The resource cards are what you get when the dice are rolled and you have a settlement on that resource with that number and what you use to buy roads, settlements, cities and development cards.

GAME BOARD PIECES

You have production hexes which form your island

The green is wood x 4

grey is Ore x 3

yellow is wheat x 4

light green is sheep x 4

brown is brick x 3

creamy colour is desert (you get nothing from this) x 1

Each hex will be given a number - see picture above for how they look on the hexes

The dots under the number indicate how many combinations of a throw of the dice will result in that number.  6 and 8 should come up the most often as they have the most possible combinations when you throw your dice ie. 4+2, 3+3, 1+5 etc for 6.  These are the hexes you want to build your settlements on because at every throw of the dice you will get a card of that type ie wood, sheep, brick that you have a settlement built on so it is more likely that you will get one on numbers that statistically occur most often. (In our experience though, this doesn't actually happen and the throw of the dice seem to be a lot more random lol)

SETTING UP YOUR PIECES

Once the board has been set up and the numbers have been allocated to each hex you can decide where you want to put your first 2 settlements and roads. The spots you put your settlements are important as they will have a big influence on helping you win. Throw the dice to see who goes 1st (highest roll) and go clockwise from there.  The 1st person gets to place the 1st settlement with a road attached, then you go round and each person places their settlement and road.  Then the last person gets to place their settlement and you go counter clockwise so the 1st person places their 2nd settlement last, this allows for a fair shot at the good hexes.

Settlements must always be two roads or spaces (sides of a hex) away from each other.

This is actually a bad example as you shouldn't have 2 hexes with red numbers next to each other, distribute them more evenly to allow for a fairer game.  Also try not to have the same resource next to each other.  One of the nicest features is you can change the lay out of every game so it is different, not like the usual static boards of boardgames.  Once you get expansions like sea farers and cities and knights it becomes really exciting!

Try and place your settlements on an intersection of 3 different resources, eg. wood, brick and sheep and the next one on the other three eg. ore, wheat and another wood or brick if you can as these are the most needed, especially to begin with.  Whatever three hexes you place your 1st settlement on are the 3 cards you start the game with so blue (below) will get a brick, wood and wheat. Brown will get a wheat, ore and wood.

Blue has placed their first settlement on wood 11, brick 6 and wheat 4

2nd settlement wood 8, brick 11 and sheep 10

Blue rolls the dice and gets an 8.  Blue gets a wood and brown gets a wood as they both have a settlement on the 8 wood hex.  Even though it's not your turn you still get a resource card if the number is rolled that you have a settlement on.

HOW TO PLAY YOUR CARDS

So blue now has brick, wood and wheat from the 1st placement and another wood from the 1st roll. The first thing you have to do is build a road so you can get to other hexes to build more settlements to get more resources and each settlement is worth 1 victory point.  Blue pays a brick and wood back to the bank  and places a road adjoining one of the other two roads.  You always have to attach your road to another road or a settlement to make it continuous, ie. you can't place them randomly around the board.

Looking at the picture above there were 2 options for where blue could place their road.  You could either place your 1st road between the brick 6 and wood 11 so that the road you build now can be placed between the sheep 2 and the wood 11.  You would then technically be able to build a settlement on the junction of the sheep 2, brick 3 and wood 11 but I would wait and build another road between the sheep 2 and brick 3 so you can build a settlement on the junction of the wood 6, sheep 2 and wood 3. 

The chances of the wood 6 being thrown is higher than the 2, 3 and 11, which are all the lowest numbers. Chances are red will try and beat you to that spot though but they will need the resources for a road and settlement to do so.  

The other option is leaving the road where it is and building your 2nd road along the coast so you can build a settlement on the harbour. (see lower down for the advantages of this)

TRADING CARDS

You may ask the other players if they would like to trade a card if you are short for building something when it's your turn.  

Eg. After spending the brick and wood to build a road blue still has a wood and wheat card left.  Blue could offer the wheat card to the other players in exchange for a brick.  If one of the other players needs a wheat they will make the trade but you don't have to trade if it is not to your advantage.  

You can trade with the bank at a 4 to 1 ratio ie. you have 4 wheat cards and want a brick to build a road you may trade that with the bank.  There are harbours around the edges where you can build a settlement.  At the tip of the wood 8 hex where blue has built 2 roads there will be a harbour 

This picture may be a little clearer as to where the harbours are.  (although their position will change with each game as you change the layout of the board)  So if blue were to build a settlement on the harbour it would give them a trading advantage.  The harbours can be a 2 to 1 of a particular resource eg wood.  If this is a wood harbour it would help blue as they have 2 settlements on wood so likely to get quite a few wood cards.  So he would give the bank 2 wood cards in exchange for another card that he needs.  There is 2 to 1 of every type of resource so head for the one that you seem to be getting the most of.  There is also a 3 to 1 of any resource, which is the one with the question mark.  This means that you can trade 3 brick, or 3 wood etc for 1 resource that you need.  Please note they have to be the same so you can't trade 1 brick and 2 wood.

 GAME PLAY CONTINUED

Brown rolls a 3 and gets an ore and red gets a brick (you can see the red settlement on the 3 brick hex a bit further up). White gets an ore.

So brown now has wheat, ore and wood from the 1st placement of their settlement and another wood from the 1st roll and an ore from the 2nd roll.  

Brown could build a road along the 8 wood and try and beat blue to building a settlement on the harbour.  He can spend the wood and brick to build a road.  He now needs a settlement which costs a Wood, Brick, Wheat and Sheep.  He has Wheat, 2 Ore and a Wood.  He could offer to trade the 2 Ore for a Brick and a Sheep to be able to build the settlement but it is unlikely that players will be willing to trade at this time as they won't have many cards themselves.  As he already has 2 Ore and 1 Wheat he could save up to convert a settlement to a city but then he risks losing his harbour spot to blue. As you can see, there is a lot of strategy that goes on in making decisions about what to trade and build.

NB All settlements have to be 2 roads apart from any other settlement

Red rolls a 4 but doesn't get a resource as they don't have a settlement on a number 4 hex.  Blue gets a wheat and orange gets a sheep. 

This should give you an idea of how the resources are dealt out on each round. 

Cities

A city costs 3 Ore and 2 Wheat to build.  You should build one as soon as you can as it yields you double the resources. Cities are worth 2 victory points

As you can see white has a city on the 2 wheat, 8 wheat and 9 wood.  So every time a 2 or 8 are rolled they will get 2 wheat instead of 1 and for a 9, 2 wood instead of 1.  As you can see, this gives you the advantage in building quicker.  You can only replace a settlement with a city, you can't just build a city outright.  When you have replaced the settlement you may then build that settlement somewhere else.

Development Cards

These cost 1 Sheep, 1 Ore and 1 Wheat to buy.  it's a lucky draw basically as to what you will get as the pile of cards is kept face down with the banker.  There is a 

Resource Monopoly  You can use this card once.  You name a resource eg wood and all the other players who have wood have to give it all to you.  A handy card to have but make sure you play it strategically ie you know when players have stockpiled that resource or you would have wasted the cards it cost you to buy it.  You don't have to play it when you buy it, you can keep it for later in the game when you are sure of your return.  Once you have played it you give it back to the bank and it goes at the bottom of the pile.  

Road Building You get to build 2 roads using this card.  Once you have used the card it also gets returned to the bank to be placed at the bottom of the pile 

Year of Plenty  You can chose 2 resources of your choice and then return the card to the bank to be placed at the bottom of the pile. (basically a waste of what you spent to get it lol)

Victory Point These are obviously the best ones to have as they count as an additional point for you at the end of the game.  Keep it face down next to you until the end of the game.

Knights These are handy and annoying at the same time lol.  Annoying because they make up the bulk of the cards in the pack but handy because they help you move the robber from off your hex and whoever has the most nights face up at the end of the game gets 2 Victory points for Largest Army

The Dreaded Robber!

You may have noticed that there is no no.7 on the board.  This is because when a 7 is rolled the robber attacks! All players holding 8 or more resource cards in their hand have to lose half of them to the bank.  The person who rolled the 7 gets to then place the robber on someone else's hex.  This then prevents that person from getting that resource until he either rolls a 7 or uses a knight card to move it.  You then take a random card from that person, ie. they hold up their cards facing away from you and you pick one.  (Just to add insult to injury ;-p)

Any knight cards you buy from the development pile are put face down next to you.  If the robber is placed on one of your hexes then when it is your turn you may turn the knight face up and move the robber to someone else's hex and steal a card.  

That knight is then in play for largest army at the end of the game.  ie. any knights that are still face down and haven't been used to move the robber are not counted.

As you can see by the picture above the orange player will now not be able to receive wheat when their number is rolled.  This is great for the other players as orange was obviously getting a lot of sheep from this hex, given the 2 cities.  This gives the other players a chance to 'catch up'.

We have actually decided not to play the robber when we play as it causes too many fights! lol. Losing half your cards is bad enough!  In the last game we even changed it so that you don't lose your cards but instead chose a resource card! lol It's your game, have fun with it!

You could be fair and say each time the robber is moved it has to move to a different person, that way the same person isn't targeted every time. 

WINNING THE GAME

The best part about Catan is you can make it as long or short as you like.  You can set a target ie. the first person to get to 10 victory points or you can set a time limit.  Ie. we'll play for 3 hours and then add up everyone's victory points to see who wins.

Have fun! And once you have mastered this version get the expansions! 

Tusky pup 6 months old already

Izzy thinks she's a cat! Hey, if the cat can be in the windowsill so can I!

Fun at the park exhausting her brother and sister.  This new generation is so unfit! 

Yay! finally someone who can keep up with me! my buddy Sizzle! Sizzle is a Patterdoodle ;-p

The potty training headache seems to be easing off, although she's in and out every 5 minutes, especially at night, I think she knows she has us where she wants us because we're scared if we don't let her out she'll wee on the carpet and her scratching at the sliding door to come in is very distracting when you're watching TV! 

We need to work on walking and recall now as her Husky side kicks in and she like to mush rather than  walk nicely by your side.  Last week she managed to slip past my daughter and got out and it took us 45 minutes of stressing that she had run out of our neighbourhood into the busy street before we managed to track her down! 

We do get lots of kisses in the morning after she has been out for her pee and poo and she makes a dash back up to the bedroom to kiss me awake.

Far from the Madding Crowd

12A I'm not really sure why this one is a 12A, there is one scene on the wedding night but it's quite discreet I thought.

I took my 14 year old to see this as part of his home schooling program, feeding him the classics in movie format is infinitely more palatable than reading the book, especially for a dyslexic.

Being a lover of classical fiction I may be a tad biased but I really enjoyed this rendition, as did my son.  Although, to be fair, the last one I made him sit through was a screening of a play of Hamlet for 3hrs and 20 min so this must have been sheer entertainment in comparison.

Very well acted and I thought gave a lovely insight into Victorian life, although I fear that it might have been veering more to the fiction than fact as I doubt a woman would have been that readily accepted in such a male dominated role.

Definitely worth a watch

Monsters: Dark Continent

Rated 15!

This is the first problem with this movie but certainly not the last.  There is a scene the night before the soldiers ship out with what are obviously prostitutes and I would be squirming in my seat with embarrassment if I had my under 18 child next to me.

I watched the first Monster movie and, although it wasn't going to win any oscars was a bit of mind fluff and thus enjoyable.  I can't stand war movies, I find them too upsetting as they are too real but I thought this one was going to be in the same vein, a monster ripping someone to pieces is entertaining, a land mine blowing someone's legs off is not.

This is basically a badly acted war movie with the monsters appearing as bit actors and (spoiler alert) not one person was actually killed by the monsters.  Very disappointing and not really worth a watch in my opinion.

ph balance/ ketogenic diet

Day 4 of my ketogenic diet

I'm determined to give it a good go! Like my recent repost of Burnedbutternut states, we are Sugar sluts! Love it! So true, I don't know if it's a girl thing but the hormones definitely don't work in your favour.

I'm feeling a bit better today, a bit more energy since I hope that most of the carbs and sugars I binged on over the weekend have worked their way out of my system.  A case of why do we do it? Seemed like a good idea at the time! Route of all epic bad ideas.

What was making me nervous was the fact that, even though I had been good the week before I had lost no weight but then when I really give myself a hard Paddington stare, was I 100%? I don't think so.

I have actually been quite good this week, although I think I might be compensating too heavily with the double cream!  The cinema is usually my Achilles heel with all the ice cream and pop corn but hubby and I made some lovely iced coffee and took it along and it really hit the spot.

You take a teaspoon of coffee and mix it in a blender with whole milk and crushed ice and add some double cream.  You can add a teaspoon or two of sweetener, preferably Xylotol if it's still too bitter.

I'm in a routine of having melon, mostly watermelon for breakfast.  It's good for my ph balance, which is currently sitting at 5.5, which is way off the 7 it should be! Always eat melon on its own and give it an hour to digest.

I then pour myself a glass of ph 7.6 bottled water and squeeze in half a lime, this is much more palatable than lemon as I'm far too sweet a person to tolerate sour things ;-p

After doing the school run and Facebook and blogging sucking up an hour of my morning I make a cooked breakfast if I'm hungry, I quite enjoy an omelette as I can add some ph friendly veggies to it

Butter, mushrooms, a handful of Kale, a few tips of asparagus.  add the egg and a bit of grated cheddar. Yum!

I must say I really love the food on this diet, if they threw in a bit of chocolate it would be perfect! lol

For lunch we have our main meal of the day, a huge salad with lots of different mixed leaves, tomato, cucumber, some peppers, avo and then topped with either bacon fried till crispy mixed with tuna and mayo or  with a bit of fish or chicken and add in some bree, haloumi, feta, whatever cheese we have in the fridge for a bit of added fat.

I try and have a glass of water with a table spoon of ACV (apple cider vinegar) 15 minutes before, it's also supposed to help with the ph balance and has a few other health benefits too.

After that lovely big lunch we are seldom hungry at night, something that still doesn't cease to amaze me as my husband was a carb junkie who used to eat all day and his insulin was very efficient in storing it as fat and telling his brain he needed more fuel.

We usually just have a bowl of plain yoghurt (The Onken is the best in terms of low carb/sugar content), some strawberries and mango with a teaspoon of honey drizzled over and a dash of cream (ok, maybe a smidge more than a dash ;-p)

I was very pleased when I jumped on the scale this morning and my weight had come down half a kilo! Doesn't sound like much but for me that was just enough to put a smile on my face and a spring in my step so onward and upward Banting, PH Ketoners!

Wedding photography: The big day

If the hall is set up the day before you can take the time to get the pictures of the venue/s.  If the wedding is later you can maybe pop to the venue before you go to meet the bride. If the reception and ceremony are at different venues then you'll just have to try and snap some pics of the venue while the guests are milling about waiting for the bride and groom to arrive for the reception line. (Discuss this with your bride before hand so she knows to give you a few minutes' head start after the photos. 

Try and get as many detail shots as you can, remember, your bride has spent months working on all these little details and all she has left after the wedding are the photos in most cases.  With the above wedding I took pictures of the ceramic bride and groom on the cake, during the cutting of the cake the stand collapsed, the other one is a picture of them catching the cake, which is something they will probably look back on and laugh but the figurine fell on the floor and smashed.  The poor bride was very upset but very relieved to know she at least had a picture to remember it by.

Arrive a half an hour or more before the bride to take a few pics of the groom and groomsmen and the guests as they arrive.  You could use the standard aperture of 5.6 and 200 shutter speed, that should give you pretty evenly lit pictures to work with, you can always adjust the lighting in lightroom to compensate for the sun going in and out.

Pics of the bride arriving at the chapel.

And walking down the aisle.  These are the tricky shots as you have to be in a good position to get them coming in and then rush down to your spot (Which you had planned at the meeting with the bride where you can get the best shots while still being out of the way so as not to disrupt the service)

Be sure to check with the bride at your meeting whether photography is allowed as some church weddings won't allow photos inside the chapel. You could maybe find a window and take a few cheeky shots through there ;-p It's important to take a few practise shots, perhaps when you see the venue with the bride or in the few minutes before they arrive to get your settings right.  Most services will not allow flashes so you will need to bump up your ISO to get your shots (don't forget to change this back again after the service!) The key is to always be checking your screen to make sure your exposure is correct so you can correct it before it's too late. If your camera doesn't have a high enough ISO your next best option is to go with a slow shutter speed but be sure to have a tripod to avoid as much blurr as possible.  Chances are you won't get as many good shots but it's better than nothing. Don't be scared of pumping up the ISO instead, the noise shouldn't be too much of a problem in the small prints in an album and just tell the bride she can't blow up those shots as the venue is too dark and you're not allowed a flash.

It's important to be in a good position for the ceremony as you won't be able to move around.  Plan this with your bride before hand and remind her to put the rings on slowly to give you time to capture the moment, although they do tend to forget as they are caught up in it so you should be snapping away!  It's also nice to get a few pics of the guests, especially those who are emotional like the parents. 

For the signing of the register you won't be able to take pictures of the actual signing and check with the registrar what pics you can take of the actual register as there may be someone else's information on the opposite page, work with the registrar from the outset, they can get very grumpy and nasty if you don't ;-p Once you have taken pictures step back and allow the guests a chance to take pictures too,  nothing worse than an official photographer who hogs all the shots.

Always check your background.  This is also something that's worth planning before hand with your bride as a cluttered background distracts from your subjects and takes hours to edit out and is seldom done successfully anyway.  With the picture above, even though there are still pictures in the background and the notice board isn't an ideal backdrop, it's still better than the notices that were pinned to it before we took the shot!

Get as many pics of the bride and groom as you can, when walking to the different places get them to stop and pose every now and then when you think you have a cute shot.  

If you're lucky enough to have stairs, this is a great place to put everyone for the group shot.  Otherwise you can try and get above them ie. shoot from a 1st floor window or even on a hill in the garden.  With the bottom shot I didn't have much choice in background as the garden was facing an ASDA, whose sign inconveniently dominated the shot and I was not going to spend hours trying to get rid of it! lol As you can see though, in terms of getting a print, the bottom one will be much harder.  

I suggest a tripod for this shot as you will have to have your aperture as high as possible eg F11 to get as many people in focus as you can.  As the light may not be bright enough to light the picture at this aperture you can either up the ISO if you have a good quality camera or slow the shutter speed, although you will then have the possibility of blur if people don't stand still enough.

It's easiest to start with the big group and work your way down to the bridal party from there, especially concentrating on the older guests so they can go sit down and have a drink or get to the reception venue.  

Take some unposed pics while the helper is getting the next group together.

NB: Check your background! 

NB: Where is the sun?

The most difficult part of taking photos outside is the variable light conditions.  The best thing you can do is keep the sun behind them and use a flash to light the shadows.  You could get a fancy white umbrella for your bride to use, which helps diffuse the light nicely.  

You can try and get all the pictures evenly lit but bright sun lighting half the face and shadow in the other half don't make for good pictures and are very difficult to fix in editing so always check your screen and get the shots as close to perfect as you can.

Get some fun shots with the bridal party.  Although everyone wants posed shots, it's the fun ones they will cherish later.

Arrange with your bride before hand where you are going to have the reception line, this is a great time to get individual photos with the guests.  NB background again. 

The reception is a tricky time for photos.  You can go round to all the tables and get posed shots of all the guests. Arrange with the bride before hand that you'll be taking pictures of her food and maybe one or two posed shots of bride and groom feeding each other but see what they feel comfortable with, if they don't want these shots then that's their call but don't try and force it on them on the day, they want to enjoy the event.  Never take pictures of the guests while they are eating, it's too intrusive. 

Get a good position for the speeches, in front of the bride and groom.  Check the background again with the bride before hand. If possible get the person who is giving the speech to stand between the bride and groom, if not make sure you have an unrestricted view of the whole table.  Be sure to get pictures of the bridal party's emotional reactions.

Cutting of the cake is another matter to discuss with your bride before hand to again make sure that the cake is in the best spot for a good background.

You can see the difference it makes not having a distraction in the background.

The first dance is another matter to discuss.  This is probably the most difficult part to take photos of as the lighting will be bad. Try and have as strong a flash as possible but this might not help, you can up the ISO too.  The best solution is to have a few posed dance shots before the actual dance.

After the first dance is usually when I pack it in for the day.  I inform the bride of this at the meeting so it doesn't feel awkward or her having expectation of me staying to the bitter end.  After this the party really gets going and guests want to relax and enjoy themselves without fears of their actions ending up in the wedding album, we leave that to camera phones and facebook to document!

As for payment, I take a £100 deposit at the time of the meeting and the balance when I deliver all the printed products, never ask for money on the wedding day, it just makes things awkward and takes away from the bride enjoying her day.  Always be polite and friendly and never stop other people taking photos.  If they are getting in the way of any formal shots ask them if you can take your photos and then you'll give them a chance to take theirs and if they are still intrusive leave it to the bride or groom to deal with, don't make a scene or make anyone uncomfortable.  

The next phase is your editing and that takes weeks.  I like to get a sneak peek preview up on facebook for the bride (again make sure it's private to her so she can approve them first) This is also a great way to showcase and advertise your work

If you scroll up and see the collages framed in black, those are the ones I put on facebook, it makes it difficult for people to download and copy them as the resolution is low (I make them 72 dpi as apposed to the printed ones at 300 dpi) and being in a collage makes it even more difficult to get a specific picture.  

You can make the end product available on photobox and tell your bride to let everyone know and share the link on facebook if she's happy with that, then the guests can page through them and order any prints they like without the bride having to go to the trouble or even order a copy of the wedding book.  You could have a smaller, cheaper version available with just the highlights of the day.

I like to pic an unusual shot for the cover of the book

Good luck!