Monday 19 September 2011

Julie and Lee’s wedding at The Village Hotel in Bury

Keeping rolling through these August weddings, my next stop was this great day. Julie and Lee are long time family friends of my wife, so I was honoured to be asked to cover this special day.

My day started at Julie’s parent’s house (next door to my Mother-in-law’s!) with Julie and her sister/bridesmaid having their make-up done (by my wife!). Julie had a bit of a nightmare week in the run-up to the big day, feeling poorly and not getting much sleep. Thankfully on the day wedding preparations took over and the bridal party were kept busy with Page Boy Harvey’s shirt refusing to stay tucked in.

I left Julie and her bridesmaids to make their final preparations and headed over to The Village to meet Lee and his Groomsmen, as they greeted arriving guests. As Julie arrived, so did the notorious Manchester weather but this didn’t dampen the celebrations.

Julie couldn’t hide her emotions as she headed down the aisle but managed to get through her vows in what was a lovely ceremony. This couple know how to have a good time and by the time I left, the party was in full swing (which was disappointing for me as I had to depart to prepare for my following day’s work).

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Congratulations to Julie and Lee and thanks for letting me be part of your special day.

Monday 12 September 2011

Natasha and David get Married at the Parish Church, Bury and the Bolholt, Bury

When I first met up with Natasha and David and they told me that they were getting married at Bury’s Parish church, I was buzzing! The church is a landmark in my home town and I’ve always wanted to shoot a wedding in there. The week before the wedding, I arranged to meet the Rector of the church to find out the do’s and don’ts during the ceremony. I was shocked and gutted to find out that the don’ts were taking photographs and the do’s were… well basically nothing. No amount of gentle persuasion (or pleading) helped sway him otherwise, the Rector has never allowed photos during a wedding service and that was that. Which, I think, is a massive shame as the church is truly a beautiful building and anyone getting married in there would be guaranteed beautiful photographs.

But this was not going to ruin this day, no sirree bob! I arrived at the bride's mother's to find what is probably the most excited bride I’ve ever seen. Natasha was bouncing and skipping between her mum's and best friend's (next door to each other) which had been converted into big beauty salons for the morning. I love covering preparations like this as there were so many people present and so much going on to capture. On from there I headed over to the church and found the groom and some of the guest getting pre-service ‘refreshments’ in the Sir Robert Peel pub across the road from the church. I nipped into the church and had a quick word with the Rector's assistant who reiterated the no photos rule but agreed I could take some shots of them signing the register and walking out together. Better than nothing at all I suppose!

Anyway, Natasha turned up a wee bit late (as is custom) and I stood quietly at the back. The service was great to watch in this awesome church and afterwards I headed back in with the bridesmaids and groomsmen to get some of the groupshots done in there (before being told off and cut short by said assistant, grrr haha!) Then off to the Bolholt for drinks, food and dancing! I’ve documented the Bolholt a few times and praised them well on this blog and they got it spot on again here. The reception was fantastic and finished for me at the first dance, where it all seemed to get a bit emotional, with the dancefloor filling with guests and seemingly everyone bursting into tears of joy! Great stuff, highlights below!

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Congratulations to you both on your fantastic wedding. Thanks for letting me capture and be a part of your amazing day.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Lucy and Michael at St Thomas's, Halliwell and Haigh Hall

RIGHT! I haven’t reported on any wedding stuff for a while, simply because I’ve not had time. The last 7 weeks have been my busiest ever since I picked up a camera. Time to get you all up to speed with what I’ve been up to…

Heading back to mid-July, I was present to capture the big day of Lucy and Michael. Michael and his brother grew up in the same area as me so it was good to catch up with some familiar faces on the day. But I wasn’t there to socialise so I set about capturing the preparations of Michael’s lovely fiancĂ©e Lucy at their home. The bridal party were very chilled out as they got ready whilst quaffing some champers. Lucy looked amazing in her dress, and as she made her final preparations I nipped to the church to meet a very nervous Michael and the lads. Michael kept his eyes facing front until Lucy made it to the front of the aisle, and I think the photo I caught of them first getting a glimpse of each other is priceless!
The service was great with some nice personal touches, after which we all headed to Haigh Hall for the reception. The sun had come out making the picturesque grounds sparkle for what was a fantastic day. Highlights below.

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Congratulations to you both. Thanks for letting me capture your special day and I hope you love your photos.