Goldstone Hall in Market Drayton

Up on the blog today we’ve got Lucy and Nick’s gorgeous autumnal wedding at Goldstone Hall, Market Drayton where they had a intimate outdoor ceremony (despite a tiny bit of rain) amongst their closest family and friends and surrounded by the most beautiful wild flowers both inside Goldstone Hall and out! I’ll let Lucy and Nick take it from here. If you’d like to see the full day from start to finish click on the link below to watch Lucy and Nick’s nifty little Wedding Photo Trailer!

Lucy and nick’s Story

 A mutual friend (James - Lucy's friend from uni and Nick's friend from school) invited us both to an outdoor film screening in Summer 2013. It wasn't intended to be a set up but we hit if off! As we met at a film screening we (unimaginatively!) arranged to go to the cinema for our first date. We saw Only God Forgives not quite realising it was full of gory violence, definitely not a first date film but at least it gave us something to talk about!

 We got engaged in our flat in London, the first place we've ever lived together! It was super low key but perfect for us, Luce was wearing her pyjamas while I got down on one knee! She immediately burst into tears (and then said yes thankfully!)

Goldstone hall wedding venue

 We got married at Goldstone Hall, Market Drayton, one of the most beautiful venues we've ever seen. Lucy wanted to get married in an old house and have the reception at the same venue, Nick wanted a marquee reception and so Goldstone was ideal! We visited on a rainy autumn day and even then the gardens and house looked so beautiful that we knew it was right for us! Goldstone couldn't have been better throughout our build up, they even managed to somehow give our guests a choice of food on the day!

FLOWERS

The biggest superstar supplier of the day was our florist, Nicola (Brown Sugar Blooms). We wanted relaxed, colourful flowers that didn't look too neat or tidy and she absolutely blew us away! She turned something that was just inside our heads into the most perfect arrangement and made for a stunning marquee! And Lucy adored her bouquet!

 Wedding SUIT

Nick's suit supplier, Beggars Run, were also awesome, making the whole process super easy, enjoyable and producing a great looking suit!

The Dress

Lucy’s beautiful wedding dress was by Maggie Sottero Designs

Wedding cake

 Nick's Mum made our cake and decorated it with flowers to match Brown Sugar Blooms, it looked and tasted amazing! She then went one step beyond and made all our bunting too!

Photographer

 Of course Katie Dervin - who did the best job! Getting our photos through after the wedding was like reliving the whole day again!

The BAND

 Our band were The Vivas and they were brilliant! They played an amazing set that got everyone dancing, so much in fact that the speakers began to shake as everyone jumped up and down! They really made the evening a great party!

Advice for future couples on their wedding day

 The day will go really quick, so make sure to try and stay in the moment and don't worry too much about what's coming next, it'll all work out just fine! And make sure you make time for each other, it's easy to get lost in making sure everyone else is having a good time!

OUTDOOR WEDDING GAME IDEAS

Outdoor weddings can be fun, but they are even better with some games to play. Here are some of the top outdoor wedding games to keep your guests occupied. FYI a lot of these games can be played indoors too, maybe not the fire one.

Signs

Having games to play is great, but if people don’t know where they are, if they are in fact part of the wedding or even in some cases what the rules are it can money into the wind. Sometime you need to lead the horse to the water. You know the kind of horses that will be coming to your wedding and the kind of games you will be playing so if a sign or two or a little bit of info about how to play will help, chalk boards are a great re usable way to point people in the right direction.

Hula Hooping!

Hula hoops are like super bloody cheap, like I just googled one and you can get one for £2.50 online (probably cheaper from an actual real life shop) and you can get a glow in the dark one here for £13.99! I might get one of those actually… https://www.glowsticks.co.uk

I’m not here to sell you hula hoops, but what I am saying is watching friends hula hooping is fun, beating your friends at hula hooping is even better, hula hooping is a laugh. You can even do that skippy thing that you used to do at school where you swing it round your leg and hop over it… If you want to. Anyway basically I’m really good at hula hooping and this is why hula hooping is number one, if you want me to put my camera down for a few minutes and beat your friends at a hula hooping competition… IT IS ON.

Limbo

Limbo is loads of fun and you quite literally just need a stick. I very generously donated a bamboo garden stick to my friends wedding this summer to use as a limbo stick and it went down a storm. If you aren’t going to have a special “Limbo Time”

1. Why the hell not?

2. Maybe get something to hold your limbo stick up for people so it doesn’t just look like a stick on the floor and less than 3 people can have a bash.

Cards

A couple of packs of cards knocking around the place can’t hurt, unless people start throwing them at each other. It can help the kids play snap and maybe give other guests that fancy a game a chance to show off their best shuffles. Everyone knows a card game. A pack of cards on each table will not break the bank and give everyone, young, old, introvert, extrovert a chance to have a bit of fun with some people they might not have otherwise spoken to.

Connect 4

It’s a golden oldie, you will no doubt have seen it at a wedding before but it wouldn’t be a proper blog with out good old giant connect 4! Plus you give your photographer a chance to take arty through the hole photos like this, we love that kind of shit.

Bouncy Castle

Who doesn’t like bouncing around like an idiot?! Just make sure you don’t bounce on straight after dinner * puke emoji *

GIANT JENGA

Giant Jenga works a treat at keeping small and larger guests occupied, but if your budget wont stretch to hiring out a giant garden game set, why not just put a few normal sized ones out of tables instead? You can even force your guests to write messages to you both in sharpie pen on the side of the blocks in thats your thing. It might keep them away from the bar for a few minutes.

HOOK A DUCK

This is a fun carnival type game for kids and can also be used to help guests win prizes if you put a number on the bottom of the duck and have a prize for each one, or maybe just write insults or cryptic fortunes, it’s your party! Write whatever you like on the bottom of the ducks.

WATER GUNS

Depending on how brave you are and how hot your wedding your day is, arming your guests with water guns could be a really fun or really fun-stupid idea. Maybe have some towels to hand.

FIRE!!!

Ok, you got me a fire isn’t a game, but they are fun to build and keep going. People like burning stuff. They will keep your guests warm and together when night falls and can be a good old place to crack out a guitar and have a sing song or just sit up into the sweet hours of the night catching up with your mates. They certainly add a bit of extra atmosphere to any outdoor wedding and if one of your guests breaks a chair that you hired from the chair hire company, you can quite easily burn the evidence.

Thinking about colour palettes? Your Go-To Color Palettes for A Perfect Wedding

Oxfordshire Wedding Photographer - Village Hall Wedding

St Mary's Church in Aldworth & Letcombe Regis Village Hall Wedding

Click on the image above to go to Jess and Scott’s FULL WEDDING TRAILER!

So in early September this year I had the absolute pleasure of travelling down to South Oxfordshire to shoot Jess and Scott’s Wedding. It has been a wedding I’ve been looking forward to for a while as Jess and Scott are absolute sweethearts and I was so excited by Jess’s description the the beautiful 13th Century Church her and Scott were getting married in. I was also going to get to see some old faces at the wedding (Hey Kate and Tim) which always makes for a extra special day.

Jess wore a gorgeous dress from Rock the Frock Bridal Boutique in Berkshire on her wedding day teamed with a gorgeous silk flower crown her bridesmaids had bought her for her hen do, it ended up being so beautiful and going with Jess’s dress and make up so well that it was a main feature of her wedding outfit.

Jess and Scott rented out a local Village Hall in Wantage for a lovely, relaxed village hall reception. Anyway I’m giving away far too much… I’m going to let Jess and Scott take it from here in their own words.

If you would like to see the full wedding trailer click on the image above. ;)

Jess and Scott’s Story

“We met at a heavy metal nightclub! Scott was the DJ, and I went up and asked him to play a song by Polish death metal band Decapitated. We got chatting about death metal and had a bit of a flirt. He disappeared briefly to the loo and I left to get a kebab (I was a bit worse for wear). Fast forward a week and I spotted him loitering at another rock night - turns out he was trying to find me! We literally talked for about 5 hours, and then agreed on an official first date a few days later. I think he fancied me first, but I was the one who officially announced our relationship to all my friends at a party (with Scott standing next to me). I think that was the first he knew of it as well.” 

“Scott asked me to marry him underneath the liberty statue in Budapest on a very misty autumn day in November. We were sitting quietly together on a bench, and he asked me suddenly. It was one of the best moments of my whole life.” 

Jess on Scott: “He's kind, loyal, and is fiercely protective of the relationship we've built. He's the best man I've ever met.” 

Scott on Jess Jess: “Is loving and caring, emotionally strong, always positive, clever, very fun :)”

St Mary's Church in Aldworth, South Oxfordshire

“I did postgraduate work on medieval literature and culture, and St Mary's Church is a stunning example of Transitional Norman architecture, and the inside of the church contains these amazing 13th century stone effigies! It felt super intimate, very English and had a melancholic beauty (basically my dream aesthetic).”

Letcombe Regis Village Hall

“We had the reception at Letcombe because we wanted a proper old English knees-up. The cricket field outside and the amount of natural light in the venue just swung it for us. We were also planning on doing nearly all the decorating ourselves and a village hall gave us the freedom to do that.”

Wedding Suppliers

 “For my dress I went to Rock the Frock bridal boutique in Berkshire. I used RTF because I liked the idea of choosing from a small collection of thoughtfully curated dresses rather than a huge collection of dresses that all look basically the same. I also knew I wanted something a bit different, and something that would complement my body type. The wedding dress industry is often super focused on making brides look like a completely different person on their wedding day - I didn't want that. The atmosphere at RTF was completely relaxed, un-pressured and lots of fun. I ended up going for a dress I thought I would hate before I tried it on, and then fell in love with as soon as I walked out of the dressing room in it.”

“I used the artisan dried flower company for my bouquet and accessories. I get to keep my bouquet forever (well, almost...) and it was about a third of the price of fresh flowers. I cannot recommend dried flowers highly enough - they are much more cost effective, they look incredibly elegant and feminine, and you get to keep them after the wedding. Dried flower confetti is also muck kinder for the environment!”

“My best friend baked my wedding cake. This was one of the most special parts of my whole wedding. He made a three tier cake - chocolate and porter fruit cake, amaretto drizzle cake, and citrus gin drizzle cake  he decorated it with a thin layer of buttercream icing, gold leaf, dried rose petals and bee pollen. It was stunning.” 

“We made the majority of the decorations ourselves - I painted glass jars for candle holders, hemmed and sewed my own cloth napkins and painted my table plan by hand. It was a huge amount of hard work, but incredibly rewarding to see it all come together on the day. Seeing all of our nearest and dearest hanging bunting and ironing table cloths the day before was a very emotional experience and made us both feel so loved.”

”We had a South African braai! Scott was born and raised in South Africa so we wanted to keep the food super authentic, casual and just plain tasty. Everyone loved the food and we were both chuffed to see people up for seconds. I knew I didn't want a sit down meal, and queuing with my plate for boerewors and Mrs Balls chutney was one of my fave little moments of the day! Flame BBQ did an epic job.”

“Our pictures from the day are beyond what we expected - natural, intimate, stylish, and all suffused with a genuine warmth. Katie got some absolutely magical shots and provided a calming presence when I was getting ready in my bridal suite. I'm actually trying to think of excuses to book her again! Do you do 30th's Katie?”

Ha, ha the answer is yes I do. ;)

Is there anything you wish you could have done differently?

“I wish we hadn't allowed the stress of all the last minute organisation to get to us as much as it did. We were stressed out, exhausted from all the work and bickered a lot. When you spend so long planning a wedding, it becomes the biggest thing in your life and any little problem gets very easily blown out of proportion. I wish we'd have maintained a greater sense of perspective and not allowed the stress to impact us.”

Advice from Jess and Scott for other Couples

“No matter what goes wrong on the day, you will still be on cloud 9. Stop worrying about worst case scenarios, because on the day you absolutely won't care! You've just married the love of your life - congratulations!”

Thanks so much for having me Jess and Scott it was a bloody marvellous wedding indeed!

Lots of Love Katie xxxx

Dress was by https://www.rockthefrockbridal.co.uk/

Flowers by https://www.artisandriedflowers.co.uk/

Food by https://www.flamebbq.co.uk/

If you are looking to book your wedding photographer and would like a little bit more info get in touch with the form below. ;)

Creative Documentary Wedding Photographer - Manchester - Cristal & Max.

Creative Couples Shoots are the Best! 

I love couples shoots, it’s always a nice fun relaxed way to get a load of photographs of you both together, there’s more time to mess around, be creative and get the kind of photos or travel to kind of places that you might not have the time (or the motivation to) get to on your actual wedding day

How Does A Creative Documentary Couples Shoot Work?

Sometimes people ask how Documentary Photography and things like couples portraits can work together and I suppose it differs from photographer to photographer, but generally getting people to relax and be themselves and mess around together in a place of special meaning to them, makes for the perfect mix of context and emotion for the photographs to work. We obviously set up these scenes but I promise you the fun and laughs in these photographs are very, very real! ;)

Falling In Love In Manchester

Photographing Cristal and Max was an absolute dream! Manchester is a really special place to them as it’s where they met at Manchester University before travelling back home together and getting engaged. They visit the UK and Manchester every 4 years if they can, to check out their old haunts, see old friends and see how the landscape has changed since their last visit.

Remembering the Normal Every Day Parts of Your Story as A Couple.

We visited their favourite KFC, the Sainsbury’s where they would have “shopping dates” (I was in awe of the practical time use of that one!), their favourite bars and cafes, their university and old university halls and a dozen other places with special meaning to them both and their individual story as a couple. Cristal and Max did this all while donning their stylish wedding gear and they both totally rocked it!

Cristal and Max

Cristal and Max will be getting married on the 2nd of February 2019 in Singapore.

Cristal and Max I wish you both a wonderful married life and future together, it was an absolute delight to be a small part of your adventure. Thanks so much for having me along for the ride! Lots of love Katie xxxxx

Lowry Theatre - Documentary Wedding Photographer

Les and Stacy

When I first met Les and Stacy for their Engagement Shoot in Heaton Park Manchester, I knew I was in for a treat. We had a right laugh together and the session flew by, while Les and Stacy mucked about taking the piss out of each other and we strolled around the park hunting for nice light and back drops, it was completely obvious they absolutely adored one and other. 

I was a bit nervous meeting Les for the first time, as he's a super talented Wedding Photographer himself, but he was such a lovely warm mischievous character I felt comfortable straight away just chatting rubbish with them and snapping away as per usual, plus I knew pretty early on that if Les was gonna give me any grief Stacy had my back! lol 

Morning Preparations

When the day of the Wedding arrived I met Stacy and her excited bridesmaids at her Maid of Honours house and Les's Best Mans house (these two still deny setting Les and Stacy up... but I'm pretty sure they had something to do with it!) They had a lovely relaxed morning together the girls getting ready for the wedding while Les's best man made the finishing touches to his speech downstairs. Then we all jumped into the teal vintage wedding cars (how cool are they!) and made our way to The Lowry Theatre.  

Compass Room

The service was super emotional, there were plenty of tears of happiness from all the major players while Les and Stacy said their vows under the beautiful twinkling fairy lights of the Compass Room in The Lowry Theatre. Once the Wedding ceremony was finished everyone headed down to the bar to get the party started and what a wedding party it was! I Let the photos tell the rest of the story, but before I hop off. Here are a few words from Les and Stacy themselves...

Les and Stacy's Story...

"We met in my cousins car on the way to a wedding that Lester was the photographer for I'd been asked to go last minute due to her husband being unable to attend. (still think it was a setup even though they both to this day deny any of it). Of course he was sat in the back next to a 4 year old while I rocked it up front."

 The Lowry Theatre as a Wedding Venue. 

"We wanted a city wedding but something different that wasn't a hotel. I love all things theatre and have been going with my mum since I was little so as soon as we saw it we knew it was perfect for us."

Advice for Future Couples

"It's as much the grooms day as it is the brides. Always think about others but what you and your partner want should be paramount in it all. It's the one day you get to have exactly what you want do it your way and enjoy it."

Les and Stacy's Wedding Suppliers

Bloomin Ells (Ellen Stone) - Florist and Venue Dresser    http://www.bloomin-ells.co.uk/
Wed2b - Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid Dresses https://www.wed2b.co.uk/
Lovely wheels - Wedding Cars http://www.lovelywheels.co.uk/
The Lowry Theatre and Lucy Markey - Venue and Organiser https://www.thelowry.com/
Liz Hendry - The Live Piano Experience Pianist http://www.thelivepianoexperience.com/liz-hendry/
Wayne Farrow - Wedding Singer https://www.waynefarrow.co.uk/
Swarbricks Formal - Grooms and Groomsmen Suits https://swarbricks.co.uk/
Stitches Manchester - Alterations http://www.stitchesuk.co.uk/

Chetham's Library Wedding Photographer Manchester - Maddy & Craig

Maddy and Craig's Story

"We met at work and had known each other for a while before one fateful night at the Liar's Club sparked the start of something. We had our first date the very next day

We got engaged in Copenhagen, which Craig managed to surprise me with for my birthday - I didn't even know we were leaving the country until we turned off the m56 for Manchester airport. He had even packed miniature toiletry holders so I could repack my shampoo etc without having to tip me off in advance. Craig proposed almost as soon as we got to the hotel, I think the stress of getting the ring through security without me noticing had taken it's toll! It was a beautiful weekend in the snow in January." 

Chetham's Library and Lock 91 as Wedding Venues

Maddy and Craig got married in one of Manchester’s hidden gem wedding venues, Chetham’s Library. It’s a beautiful venue with loads of character and wonderful little pockets of light and shadows that make for a wedding photographer’s dream! So if you are getting married there and reading this, give me a shout! Your wedding guests are also able to wander around the library and explore the stacks of old antique books while they catch up with one and other and sip on their champers. It’s a really unique wedding venue and all in Manchester city centre! Making getting there, staying there or hoping off to somewhere else all super convenient possibilities. In this case Maddy and Craig hopped over to Lock 91 in Deansgate to continue the party, which is another great venue for a lot of the same reasons Chetham’s Library is, without the epic Library to wander though of course!

Here’s what Maddy and Craig had to say about Chetham’s Library as their wedding venue:

"We wanted casual but classy venues for the wedding and we wanted to keep to a strict budget. We visited Chetham's Library and fell in love with how beautiful it was and all of the history behind it. We thought about having the full day there but really wanted to put our own stamp on the party and keep it quite casual and Lock 91 was perfect for that. It was also extremely reasonably priced to have the ceremony at the library's Baronial Hall and we had exclusive use of the library itself for photos and for guests to explore after the ceremony. It turned into a wedding of two halves really, with a fairly traditional civil ceremony at the library followed by a raucous party at the bar!

Lock 91 were completely relaxed and accommodating, which was extremely helpful as we were maybe a bit too laid back with the planning until quite last minute. We had caterpillar cakes for our wedding cake which I completely forgot to buy until I went to drop everything off the night before and Andi (the manager) helpfully reminded me and I made a mad dash to Tesco! Simon at Chetham's was brilliant as well, we were very fortunate with everyone we dealt with.

In choosing the venues (and in choosing everything) within budget we decided to focus on what was important to us and what wasn't. I got a taxi to the venue as neither of us is particularly interested in cars. Our two wedding cakes cost £10 from Tesco and who doesn't love caterpillar cake!? The biggest outlays of the day were on drinks, food and the band and as the aim of the day (besides getting married) was to have a really great time with friends and family, drinks food and music were our priority and therefore where chose to put our money. Craig is a big music fan and spent much of the year building up to the wedding making Spotify playlists for pre-ceremony, ceremony, drinks reception etc."

Suppliers

"I got my dress and hairpiece from case of the Curious Bride in Sale and the dress designers are Hazaar of London (the headpiece was done by Melanie from case of the curious bride). Craig bought his suit online in the sale and the groomsmen wore their own blue suits. Bridesmaid dresses were from Dorothy Perkins (also in the sale!) And Jasmine's dress and shoes were monsoon. Flowers were amazing and were done by Emily at Bloomin Altrincham Market. The food was done by Cafe Mozaic in Ashton and everybody loved it! Mr Wilson's Second Liners were the most incredible band we could have wished for. We bought shed loads of prosecco for the drinks reception at Chetham's from Sainsbury's. Rachel McDonnell did my dress alterations. Rachael Dutton did hair and make up. We had the most amazing wedding night at Hotel Gotham and they were very patient when we completely overslept our check out time.

Also we had THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHER EVER  and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a wedding photographer!" 

Looking for your wedding photographer? Get in touch!