Meet Pearl. This beautiful little French bulldog is the reason I wound up in France photographing the wedding of Kate & Mike. And yes, this photograph was taken on their actual wedding day. And yes, that is a framed picture of Pearl that Kate received as a wedding gift from Mike. It’s safe to say we are all pretty dog obsessed.

But what makes it even curiouser is that Pearl isn’t my dog, or even their dog…nope… in fact I don’t even know who Pearl actually belongs to.

The story started when I was on a train coming back from a shoot in London in August 2010…. pretty broody for a pup at the time I was always on the lookout for cute dogs to pet and admire…. and right there on the train was this adorable little black and white French bulldog. I asked the owners if they wouldn’t mind me petting her to which they agreed freely. We got chatting and I shared my desire for a pup of my own and my concern about who would look after my dog when I had shoots on. Well it turns out this little dog’s owner had the answer, a great pet sitting service right in my local area that collects and drops off your furry offspring to your door. The couple confessed that Pearl wasn’t actually their dog and that they too, were secretly broody for a furry companion too, but that work commitments prevented them from having a pup of their own, so they took Pearl out on weekends instead. Love on four paws……on demand….

The couple kindly agreed to find out the dog sitters details and email me with them so maybe, just maybe, my own dog owning dreams could come true. I handed them my card with my email address on. Oh! They exclaimed. We are actually getting married ourselves next year. But we already have a photographer. We chatted dogs, weddings, dogs again….

And then a few weeks later I got an email…. your website is fantastic…would you be interested in talking about our wedding?

So one thing led to another….and at the end of July 2011, I found myself in the beautiful region of Gascony, France capturing their 3 day wedding celebration.

Tomorrow on the blog, the night before the wedding…and on Thursday the wedding itself…

{And yes, that robe is just beautiful isn’t it? It’s the Matinee gown from Agent Provocateur}

{And the fairytale ending to this little tale….a year on we are all overjoyed to announce we are all dog owners now, with the lovely Lolo joining me in Feb 2011 and Esteban to join Kate and Mike in January 2012. Congratulations guys! You will be the best pup parents, I know how much this little fellow is already loved & wanted!}