DIY Pub Wedding in Manchester with Fish and Chips!

Lloyd Street Registry Office Manchester

Keith and Catherine (AKA Pea) or The Eggs as they sometimes call themselves tied the knot at Manchester’s Registry Office on Lloyd Street before strolling through Manchester City Centre with their friends and family to Gullivers Bar, the pub that they had their first date in. Catherine or Pea as Keith affectionately has named her wore a red dress from Hope and Ivy as she didn’t really feel herself wearing a white dress and she looked bloody amazing!

The Ceremony

Pea gave Keith a little cheeky wink as she walked down the aisle and that set the town for the ceremony, both of them messing about and making each other laugh throughout.

Confetti and Walking Through Manchester City Centre

After having a load of Confetti chucked in their faces the newly weds and their wedding guests made their way through Manchester City Centre to go and get the party started at Gullivers Manchester. We managed to sneak a few couples portraits on the way, including some outside the local green grocers and a couple on Oldham Street as Keith and Pea are big music fans, going to a gig nearly every week, Oldham Street and the music venues there are pretty important to them in their day to day lives.

Gullivers

Keith and Pea chose Gullivers as it was the place where they first met and had their first date, it’s also a pretty bangin’ music venue in it’s own right and great to go for pre and post gig bevies. Keith and Pea wanted to keep their wedding day super relaxed and low key. It was all about of their friends and family getting together on the day and having a great time so having their wedding reception at Gullivers seemed like the perfect plan and it was! Being massive music fans Keith and Pea put a play list together to cover the whole wedding day.

Fish and Chips!

Keith and Pea had the genius idea of asking the local chippy behind Gullivers to cater for the wedding! All the wedding guest were given wrist bands to get into Gullivers and a little token to have anything that they would like from the chippy. It meant that people could just eat what they liked when they liked and kept with the super relaxed feel of the day.

Keith and Pea also loved the idea of having their first wedding meal in the chippy together, the idea was so them, they fed chips to each other during a romantic candle lit dinner in the chippy.

Couples Portraits in the Northern Quarter

After dinner we went for a little walk around the Northern Quarter and grabbed a few more photos of the two of them together. From pretending to be in the Titanic to Keith mock dragging his new wife back to the pub they constantly making each other laugh throughout.

No Speeches

Keith and Pea got the fizz in for everyone but couldn’t really see themselves doing a speech or getting any of their friends and family to do one, so they just opted for a simple “Cheers” instead and it was perfect. Then after the toast they got Pea’s mammoth cake cut (all of the layers were different cakes and I can’t remember what they all were now but the Ferrero Rocher layer was hands down the best cake I have ever eaten!) Also look at the size of it!!! Cake paradise!

The party!

Once the cake was cut everyone headed upstairs. Keith and Pea had decorated the upstairs room with loads of photos of their favourite bands and things, including each other making it look a lot like the Gullivers they remembered from back in the Glory Days, there was even a sneaky photo of Keiths band that I took 10 years ago when I used to do a lot of band photos. A prize to anyone who spots it!

It was an absolute belter of a wedding day! Well done The Eggs you bleedin’ nailed it!

Dress - Hope and Ivy

Pumps - Kate Spade

Suits - Slaters

Flowers - Northern Flower Tibb Street

Chips - King Fisher Northern Quarter Chippy

Buffet - Morrisons

Wedding Cake - DIY by Catherine (Pea)

Venue and Venue dressing by Gullivers

Wedding Invites Printed.com

Halle St Peters - Micro Wedding - Manchester

City centre micro wedding

Ilona and Chris live in Manchester City Centre and spend a lot of their time there so having their wedding in the City Centre seemed the most natural thing to them. Ilona and Chris got ready separately to maintain the element of surprise but met back at their City Centre Apartment. Ilona arriving in a beautiful green Volkswagen camper van on loan to them from a family friend. They travelled to Halle, St Peter’s together in the camper van while their guests made the best out of that glorious sunny April morning and walked to the venue.

Halle St Peters

Halle St Peters was a small live music venue, playing orchestras from all over the world and it is a beautiful building with high ceilings, stain glass windows and interesting architecture smack bang in the heart of Ancoats. More recently Halle St Peters have began putting on weddings and events and it is a beautiful setting for it. The staff were really lovely and helpful too and were on hand to make sure Ilona and Chris has everything that they needed.

The Ceremony

Ilona and Chris had a beautiful heartfelt ceremony full of loads of smiles, laughter and teary eyes. After a long wait it was so evident that they were both just totally made up to finally get to marry each other. There may have only been 6 people at the wedding but that huge room was absolutely bursting with pure joy and happiness from everyone in there to witness these two legends finally making it official after a long Covid induced wait

After the Ceremony

Ilona and Chris were greeted by some friends and family armed with confetti before making their way through the city centre to the near by canal for a picnic. On the way they were greeted by friends who had made them their very own special wedding sign and another friend was kind enough to pass by and deliver home made wedding cake for them to enjoy on their first few hours of being Mr and Mrs Higson.

A shout out to the awesome Wedding Suppliers!

Venue: Halle St Peters https://www.halle.co.uk/venue/halle-st-peters/

Biker Jacket: https://www.themermaideffect.co.uk/

If you were a supplier on this wedding and would like your business linked to this blog please just send be an email and I’ll be happy to link you up. :)

WHITE HART INN LYDGATE - A WINDSWEPT WINTER WEDDING

White Hart inn Lydgate

Amy and Ben chose the White Hart Inn in Lydgate after looking at loads of different venues including some as far a field as Vegas! They loved the White Hart Inn for it’s warm and friendly vibe, delicious award winning food, open fires and beautiful views making it the perfect location for their Winter Wedding.

Amy got ready at the one of the White Harts cottages just a short walk away from the venue and had a lovely busy morning, with her bridesmaids, parents and family members popping in and out to give their best wishes before Amy and left the cottage to brave storm Dennis and most importantly go and marry Ben!

The Ceremony

Amy and Ben got married surrounded by their friends and family in the large ceremony room at the White Hart Inn with Storm Dennis howling outside the the large open fire roaring inside keeping Amy and Ben and all their wedding guests nice and toastie for the duration of the ceremony. There was lots of laughter and these two couldn’t keep the massive grins off their faces for a millisecond!

After the Ceremony

Amy and Ben were joined by their beautiful dogs Dexter and George, to have some very important family time before they headed off into the storm to grab some lovely windswept wedding portraits of just the two of them.

CONFETTI, SPEECHES AND SNEAKY NIGHT TIME PORTRAITS

After braving the storm Amy and Ben headed back inside to warm up and be ambushed by their wedding guests who were more than happy to chuck a load of confetti at them before they headed in to the wedding breakfast and some wonderful heartfelt speeches. After the speeches were finished and everyone had finished their delicious food me Amy and Ben sneaked off to take some night time portraits but all was not as it seemed, Amy had a card up her sleeve that Ben knew nothing about… A surprise that was secretly being set up while we went about taking our night time couple photos….

Bringing Vegas to Lydgate

Amy had thought that if they couldn’t have their wedding in Vegas, Amy would bring Vegas to them! Ben had absolutely no idea! After playing some casino games, they feasted on pizza, cut the cake and hit the dance floor to party the night away with their friends and family.

Thank you for having me Amy and Ben you threw an absolute belter of a wedding! xx

A Shout Out to Amy and Ben’s Awesome Wedding Suppliers:

Dress: Anna Campbell Bridal purchased from Jean Jackson Courture
Shoes: Rainbow Club
Wedding Jacket: The Mermaid Effect
Trainers: Converse from Office
Suits: Next
Flowers: DIY
Band: Pac Band
Casino Tables: Ace of Diamonds fun casino hire
Hair & Make: The Bridal Luxe (Charlotte Riley for Hair & Charlotte Laskey from Make up)
Cake: Sweets by Sarah
Videographer: https://www.facebook.com/KukjansProduction/

Winter Wedding at The Old Grammar School Middleton

December wedding

I LOVE photographing weddings in December. There’s Christmas magic in the air, people are excited, there are twinkling Christmas trees with carefully wrapped presents scattered beneath them, stockings hanging up on fire places, cups of mulled wine and there are fairy lights EVERYWHERE. Note: Wedding photographers bloody love fairy lights! AND people are ready to PARTY!!!

The Victoria Hotel

Chelsey and Darren chose the Victoria Hotel in Oldham as their ceremony venue, the hotel has a beautiful Victorian ceremony room and 92 rooms for guests to stay at the night before and evening of the wedding. Chelsey and her bridesmaids had their hair and make up done and got ready together in Chelsey and Darren’s room while having a good laugh together, sipping champagne and keeping any wedding nerves at bay with some good old fashioned larking about.

The Ceremony

Chelsey and Darren exchanged their wedding vows in front of their closest family and friends in the beautiful victorian ceremony room at the Victoria hotel, before making there way out to the hotel foyer and bar to enjoy and few drinks together and have a good catch up.

The Wedding Bus

When organising a wedding it’s always a good idea to consider transport for guests, even more so in the winter months when the weather is usually much colder. Chelsey and Darren thought about this when organising their day in December, they wanted their guests to be able to relax after the ceremony and have a drink and liked the idea of everyone travelling to the reception venue together so booked a Red London Bus so that everyone could relax and stay together, there’s something quite nice about keeping the wedding guests together in this way and it means that the festive atmosphere of the wedding continues without being interrupted by having to wait for an Uber or getting stuck in traffic, the celebration and conversations continue on the bus and as you can see from the top window the party was already in full swing.

Winter Wedding Portraits

If you are planning a winter wedding one of the things to consider is what time the sun sets on the day you are getting married. Chelsey and Darren got married on the 7th of December and chose to have their ceremony at 1pm meaning that they had plenty of time to get married, have some drinks, jump on a bus, get their group shots, munch some canapes and get some couple shots before the sun set at 3.51pm.

If you are planning a winter wedding and have booked a later ceremony it can sometimes be an idea to have some photographs such as your group photographs and couple shots before the ceremony if you love the natural light light look and your aren’t too superstitious about seeing one and other before hand. Otherwise your photographer should be able to do some shots for you using flash, it’s a good idea to have a chat with your photographer if you are planning a later ceremony to see what photographs will be possible after sun set.

Chelsey and Darren didn’t want to spend ages on photos as they were itching to get inside and join their friends and family for the party so we had a nice relaxed portrait session where they had a little wander and mess about looking magnificent as I’m sure you will agree they both do.

Later on when the sun had gone down we also took a few portraits inside The Old Grammar School as Chelsey and Darren loved the venue and wanted some of the atmosphere of the venue captured in their wedding portraits.

The Old Grammar School Middleton

Chelsey and Darren were both really excited to have their wedding reception at The Old Grammar School in Middleton as they fell in love with the building when they first went to see it. The Old Grammar School was built in 1412 and is a Grade 2 listed building. The School has tons of character was the perfect setting for a beautiful winter wedding with the tons of fairy lights and large roaring open fire as soon as Chelsey and Darren walked through the door and saw how beautiful the venue looked they were both moved to tears.

Ping Pong

I love a good game at a wedding. It’s nice to have something to keep your guests busy and although I see a lot of lawn games and fun things to do and Summer and Spring time weddings, Winter Weddings deserve some fun too! I have to admit this was the first time I’ve seen a Ping Pong table at a wedding before and it was a massive hit with the guests, even the ones who couldn’t actually hot anything!

Wedding Breakfast and Speeches

While the guests were busy trying to find the lost ping pong ball under some furniture we sneaked off to get some portraits upstairs in The Old Grammar School. Before Chelsey and Darren headed back down stairs to get enjoy their wedding breakfast and speeches. There was a lot of laughter and a few sneaky peeps at the football before one more portrait of Chelsey and Darren in front of the epic amount of fairy lights before I bid them farewell and set off into the wintery night and the party rumbled on.

A Shout Out to Chelsey and Darren’s Awesome Wedding Suppliers

Dress: Adele Howarth Winstanley Bride - https://www.ahwbride.com/

Suit: https://www.slaters.co.uk/

Shoes: https://www.rainbowclub.co.uk/

Flowers: Milly Davey Flowers - https://www.millydaveyflowers.com/

Jacket: Mimosa Couture  - https://etsy.me/2w8KqZq

Cake: Homemade 

Table plan: Homemade

Catering: The Old Grammar School - https://oldgrammarschool.com/

Bus hire: http://www.weddingbuses.co.uk/

Venue dresser: - https://www.millydaveyflowers.com/

Bowlicious provided the chairs and tablecloths - https://www.bow-licious.co.uk/

Hair - Emma at Studio Em https://instagram.com/studioem_?igshid=1f7vn5bfplksk

Makeup - Ashley Elizebeth https://instagram.com/makeupbyashleyuk?igshid=y9bljxbycp7d

Penny Lane Wedding Photographer

St Georges Hall Ceremony

Nikki and Stu got married at St Georges Hall in front of their closest friends and family. Nikki and her bridesmaids wore dresses from Hope and Ivy and flowers crowns from Mary Mary Floral design, giving the wedding a 60’s aesthetic. As big music lovers music was a big part of the day. Nikki walked in to a song by the The Beatles and had their reception Party at Dove Dale Towers on Penny Lane.

Nikki and Stu had their wedding guests picked up in a big white bus that was decorated with ribbons, lace umbrellas and bunting. The party started on the bus, with guests being greeted with a glass of fizz as they got on board.

When we arrived at Dove Dale Towers we grabbed some group photos on Penny lane and the street that Nikki used to live on in her pre Stu days.

Dove dale towers

At Dove Dale Towers Nikki and Stu’s guests got straight into the party dancing to an acoustic set played for them by Paul Duffy from the Coral. Keeping with the music theme Nikki and Stu had a guitar instead of a guest book that Stu had designed, guests wrote their messages on the guitar with sharpies and some even had a little sing song with it.

Nikki and Stu went for a relaxed buffet style wedding breakfast and skipped the speeches keeping the focus on the music and the party and making the evening more relaxed. A family member made the main wedding cake for them and they had Beatles cup cakes designed for them by Terry Tang Designer Cakes.

Once the cake was cut and the first dance had been had we popped outside to grab a few family night portraits before I left them to get back to the party.

Thanks for having me shoot your awesome wedding day Nikki and Stu. xx

A Shout out to Nikki and Stu’s awesome Wedding suppliers:

Dress: Hope & Ivy

Suit: Moss Bros.

Shoes: Debenhams

Flowers: Mary Mary Floral Design

Hair: Toni & Guy

Make up: MAC Cosmetics

Cake: Family member Hannah Jones

Cup Cakes: Terry Tang Designer Cakes

Guitar: Stuart sprayed/designed himself

Flower crown: Mary Mary Floral Design

Bridesmaid dresses: Hope & Ivy

Catering: Dovedale Towers

Bus hire: Presidential Travel

Music: Paul Duffy from The Coral

Hackney Town Hall Wedding Photographer

Getting Ready Together

Imogen and Iain went for a more modern approach and got ready together at Imogen’s parents house near Hackney Town Hall. The morning was super relaxed everyone hanging out in the kitchen together sipping champagne and getting excited about the day ahead of them. Iain occasionally asking Imogen if she was going to get dressed or if she was going to get married in her dressing gown, Imogen would just laugh and continue to flounce about in her dressing gown regardless. Both Iain and Imogen got dressed in Imogen’s childhood bedroom.

Iain wore a traditional Scottish kilt and and Imogen wore a beautiful fitted wedding dress that she had made her own by having it shortened, giving it a retro 50s vibe paired with a hand made birdcage wedding head dress complete with silk flowers and it’s own little bee. Which was a theme of the wedding.

Catching the bus.

Before setting off, we grabbed a few sneaky photos of Imogen and Iain in their last moments together before becoming husband and wife in the near by communal gardens. Then we made our way Hackney Town Hall that was just a short walk and bus ride away. Imogen and Iain were congratulated by passers by as they made their way to the wedding.

Hackney Town Hall

On arrival at Hackney Town Hall, Imogen and Iain took a moment to greet their friends and family and then we headed inside for some photos and to get them good and married! Again Imogen and Iain chose to do things their own way and walked down the aisle together.

Imogen and Iain had Hackney Town Hall for the whole day so we were able to grab some photos on the steps outside after their wedding guests had pelted the pair of them with confetti before heading round the back of the Town Hall for the party!

Portraits

Having the Town Hall for the whole day, meant we had the surrounding streets to play with for some nice urban portraits. We popped out in the evening for a little stroll around Hackney and grabbed a few photos, which consisted of Imogen and Iain just looking so adorably cute together with the streets of Hackney as their back drop. We even found a high rise that matched Imogen’s shoes and flowers and a bike that matched her flowers and head dress. I love a good colour match I do and Imogen was very colourful so it made it easy!

The Party!

Imogen and Iain kicked off the party with the cutting of the cake and a hand fasting ceremony performed for them by their friends, the party then kicked off with a ceilidh band getting everyone up and running around straight away, it was quite a work out! Everyone was having a wale of a timing pegging it up and down and skidding across the floor together. I’m pretty sure the Wedding breakfast was well and truly worked off by the end of the night.

Thanks for having me you absolute mega legends! xxx