The Story So Far
all of my most recent wedding can be read about here on the blog
Katie & Jon - A Vibrant & Truly Wild Chester Zoo Wedding - Chester Zoo Wedding Photographer
Where do I even begin with Katie & Jon’s magical Chester Zoo wedding? These two incredible humans booked me at the start of the year, and from our very first chat, I just knew this was going to be something special. We have so much in common, it honestly felt like photographing dear friends — and today felt more like fate than work.
“Some things just, some things just make sense
And one of those is you and I
Some things just, some things just make sense
And even after all this time
I’m into you, baby not a day goes by
That I’m not into you”
Where do I even begin with Katie & Jon’s magical Chester Zoo wedding? These two incredible humans booked me at the start of the year, and from our very first chat, I just knew this was going to be something special. We have so much in common, it honestly felt like photographing dear friends — and today felt more like fate than work.
Katie & Jon have been together nearly 20 years (yes, TWENTY!) and their love was so palpable throughout the day — gentle, joyful and full of cheeky giggles. They fully embraced the spirit of Chester Zoo weddings, and I still can’t get over how surreal and wonderful it felt to be walking through animal enclosures in full wedding finery, camera in hand, creating magic with these two in such a unique and vibrant setting.
As a Chester Zoo wedding photographer, this one meant the world to me. Chester Zoo is a really special place for my family and me — we’ve been members for the past five years and it’s somewhere we visit often, always leaving with huge smiles and full hearts. Photographing a wedding here has genuinely been on my bucket list, and today absolutely lived up to every dream.
Katie & Jon’s love of colour was everywhere — the breathtaking florals by Funk & Bloom exploded with life, Katie’s freshly dyed mauve-rose hair added such a bold and beautiful touch, and even the smallest details felt personal and joyful. One of my favourite moments? The incredible live watercolour artist, Little Beth Illustration, sketching individual portraits of every guest — such a thoughtful, personal touch that had everyone beaming.
The supplier dream team was, brilliantly, all-female — something that felt extra special. Working with my lovely pal Lisa Simms on hair and makeup (always a treat), the ever-talented Phee’s Films capturing it all on video, the soulful sounds of Lily Kerbey Music, and of course Funk & Bloom’s floral wizardry… it was such a collaborative, creative day, and the Chester Zoo events team were absolute stars, making everything run seamlessly.
Katie & Jon — thank you for trusting me to tell your story. I’m still buzzing. More Chester Zoo weddings like this, please!
Jacqui & Dave (and Mabel pup!)- An Intimate Mid-Week Summer Micro Wedding at Rowton Hall - Chester Wedding Photographer
Yesterday the effervescent Jacqui married her sweetheart Dave in the Inglenook Suite of the GORGEOUS Rowton Hall in Chester with just a few very close family members faithfully looking on whilst their labrador (and ultimate flower girl) Mabel Pie bounded around greeting all her new best friends with her very own flower collar and goober-dog grin.
“Listen, whatever you see and love—
that’s where you are.”
I’m caught out of breath more times than I care to admit by the beauty of this new world. How every gesture, every touch, every small moment and large celebration is an exhuberance of JOY now. The joy to be held once more, to share a grin in giddiness, the unabashed and un self-conscious joy of our children meeting once more and the lack of fear surrounding the contact. I’m greedily drinking this joy in, feasting upon it with gluttony whilst I can because, as I have learned all too harshly in the past 18 months, this life is wild and precious and our only one so we MUST go out and travel to far off places and live beside the sea and find SOMETHING, anything, to make this world a more beautiful place.
So it’s been a jump-in-headfirst kind of summer so far and mid-week weddings are now just as common as the weekend worldies and I’m so so so in love with them all! Smaller, undeniably quieter and yet no less joyful, the micro wedding is mainstreaming into our lives as a welcome post-pandemic addition. I love these couples who trust me to capture the vows even their dearest friends won’t bear witness to and exploring new and more intimate venues or even seeing my usual haunts in a totally different light feels like stumbling onto a secret.
Yesterday the effervescent Jacqui married her sweetheart Dave in the Inglenook Suite of the GORGEOUS Rowton Hall in Chester with just a few very close family members faithfully looking on whilst their labrador (and ultimate flower girl) Mabel Pie bounded around greeting all her new best friends with her very own flower collar and goober-dog grin. Following a short and sweet ceremony, we made our way out to the STUNNING landscaped gardens for fizz and photos and I truly mean it when I say the short time we spent together was perfectly magical and contained all the glee and giddiness of the grand soiree. Jacqui & Dave are so so beautifully in love and their adoration for each other is so infectious you can’t help getting wrapped up in it.
I loved our wedding yesterday, I loved immersing myself in all that delicious wedidng joy and I look ahead to a year of more (and more and more!).
Here’s a sneak peek of what we got up to - with an emphasis on Miss Mabel, the true star of the show!
Mel & Steve - An Emotional, Boho-chic Oddfellows Chester Winter Wedding
Nothing like ending a KNOCKOUT year of weddings with a firework-size bang! Friday was an incredibly emotional, beautifully styled boho-chic wedding of my dreams from start to finish, planned to perfection by the WONDERFUL Mel.
Nothing like ending a KNOCKOUT year of weddings with a firework-size bang! Friday was an incredibly emotional, beautifully styled boho-chic wedding of my dreams from start to finish, planned to perfection by the WONDERFUL Mel. As if this superwoman didn’t have enough on her plate, working full-time for the NHS WHILST completing her Master’s degree she also planned an EPIC Oddfellow’s Chester bash in celebration of her marriage to the always-smiling Stephen. From the wildly beautiful cotton-accented bouquet, to the hand-lettered placecards, THAT CAPE to the most emotional tearjerking speeches and finishing off with a packed out first dance by The Hot Jazz Biscuits singing Gladys Knight, I left on such a high. I cannot thank Mel and Steve enough for truly making me feel like part of the family and entrusting me with these precious memories but also HUGE gratitude to Rebekah and her awesome team at Oddfellows wrangling a group of incredibly talented suppliers - details and links are below.
Mr. & Mrs. Foote, from the very bottom of my heart, thank you for including me in your celebrations, have the most amazing New Year as husband and wife, here’s your sneak peek!
Dream Team
Venue - Oddfellows, Chester http://www.oddfellowschester.com/
Florals - Rock & Meadow https://www.facebook.com/rockandmeadow/
Cake - Mel’s Amazing Cakes https://www.melsamazingcakes.com/
MUA - Laura-Louise Makeup http://www.lauralouisemakeupartist.co.uk/
Hair - Bridal/Occasion Hair by Lowri https://www.facebook.com/BridalOccasionHairByLowri/
Soloist - Ashley Fayth https://ashleyfayth.com/
Band - The Hot Jazz Biscuits http://www.thehotjazzbiscuits.com/
Dress - Kennth Winston, Bespoke Brides Chester https://www.bespokebrides.co.uk/
Steph & Darren: An Elegant Delamere Manor Wedding
Steph & Darren's beautiful Delamere Manor wedding was the perfect example of an English garden party wedding, set on the rolling green hills of the STUNNING Delamere Manor estate (fun fact: it's also Gary Barlow's former home!). There were lawn games and tree swings and a stretch of incredibly moving (and hilarious) speeches in the glassed-in courtyard reception space under a jaw-dropping greenery-dripped floral chandelier by the geniuses at Hayley's Flower Studio.
I talk a lot about about how much I love this job. How lucky I am to be a part of such an inspiring, fun industry. And that's all 100% true but I also forget sometimes that this is my job. Because I've been SO LUCKY to have photographed the weddings of so many WONDERFUL humans that the relationship evolves and our friendship outlasts our business partnership. And as I continue to 'work' and meet more amazing people, I'm realising just how crucial this relationship is to creating incredible wedding photos. It's why I ALWAYS insist on a Skype chat or a meeting before booking: we need to get on, you need to feel comfortable enough to entrust your memories to me. It's why I take the time to learn about your family and your jobs and what's important to you, so I can properly tell the story of your day in a way that feels organic and natural.
Another crucial step is the pre-wedding shoot or meeting that I always bang on about! When we take the time to hang out properly in the lead-up to the day, it diffuses any sort of lingering tension or anxiety about the portraits and presence of a virtual stranger taking your photo.
So when I get the chance to photograph two people as easygoing and sweet as Darren & Steph, it drives home this idea of falling in love with my job with every wedding I shoot, of working with couples who become friends and just how important that is to me. Because what can be more special about your wedding photos than knowing that you chose someone who attempted to really get to know you and care about what you care about.
Steph & Darren's beautiful Delamere Manor wedding was the perfect example of an English garden party wedding, set on the rolling green hills of the STUNNING Delamere Manor estate (fun fact: it's also Gary Barlow's former home!). There were lawn games and tree swings and a stretch of incredibly moving (and hilarious) speeches in the glassed-in courtyard reception space under a jaw-dropping greenery-dripped floral chandelier by the geniuses at Hayley's Flower Studio. There were goofy groomsmen and some serious boogeying and a twilight mini-shoot that took my damn breath away with how beautifully kind and loving these two are. In the months leading up to the wedding, super-organised PA Steph and I were in near constant communication, with the result being that I felt I knew exactly how to approach their wedding day in a way that would do the painstaking details justice. These two literally thought of EVERYTHING and because of all the preparations (and serious wedmin skills!) the day went off without a hitch whilst feeling so amazingly relaxed and easy. My fabulous second shooter Jenn and I spent the day in a bit of a giddy fog and we were so so impressed by the Delamere Manor events team's flawless service and attention to detail, we can't WAIT to be back again.
When we left, the guests were showing off some serious dance moves to the crooning of Bloomsbury Music and neither of us could stop smiling. What a beautiful day it was, how lucky I feel to spend my work days surrounded by so much love.
With shout outs to:
Suzanne & Matthew: A West Didsbury Engagement Shoot
Suzanne & Matthew asked me to photograph their Manchester Town Hall wedding in September this year. 2017 felt so far away but I was thrilled! And after two years of full-time wedding photography, I feel the confidence to truly do their wedding day justice. But first thing was first: we needed to do another engagement shoot, one to reflect the past couple of years of training and evolution and this voice I've managed to find through so much hard work and both self & peer critique. I needed to give them photos that weren't just relying on their own natural chemistry but celebrated it and showed it off.
Suzanne and I first met 6 years ago when I was hired as the full-time receptionist at the Manchester City Centre branch of Nicky Clarke, where she was smashing it as a senior colour technician. We laugh a lot now about how we didn't set the place ablaze with our instant adoration of each other, in fact quite the opposite (I drove her crazy with my administrative cluelessness & she scared the ever-living crap out of me). Years (and several lifetimes) later, we have found in each other a kindred wine-drinking, book-loving, vintage-obsessed spirit and I'm now lucky enough to call her one of my very closest friends. Our past head-butting makes us giggle, though she'll never let me live down an unfortunate hotel-booking mishap that I was entirely responsible for, nor my terrible taste in footwear. She's still killing it as a colour technician but has moved on recently to the up-and-coming Sand Hairdressing in Altrincham. And now she has the wonderful Matthew.
Suze & Matthew met in that most modern way: on Tinder. And I'm not divulging state secrets here, their wedding invite embraces and riffs on how they met in such a clever way! When Suze met Matthew, the stars aligned. These two bring out the very very best in each other and you can't help but almost get giddy when you're around them, their love and respect for each other is soinfectious. When they got engaged a couple of years ago, I was just starting out as a full-time wedding photographer and was so eager to shoot as many loved-up couples as I could to gain experience and truly put my own skills to the test. Suze & Matthew agreed to be my guinea pigs and we spent a lovely afternoon wandering around Chorlton. At the time I was so proud of the photographs, but looking back I realise that whilst my skills were still quite limited, it was their chemistry and commitment to each other that was truly standing out.
So imagine my elation at the end of 2015 when, despite my lack of experience & the slightly amateur nature of that first shoot, Suzanne & Matthew asked me to photograph their Manchester Town Hall wedding in September this year. 2017 felt so far away but I was thrilled! And after two years of full-time wedding photography, I feel the confidence to truly do their wedding day justice. But first thing was first: we needed to do another engagement shoot, one to reflect the past couple of years of training and evolution and this voice I've managed to find through so much hard work and both self & peer critique. I needed to give them photos that weren't just relying on their own natural chemistry but celebrated it and showed it off.
We spent another gorgeous afternoon in the waning spring sunshine in mid-May, walking around West Didsbury and the beautifully tranquil Marie Louise Gardens. Once again, we found magic and I'm so so proud of these images that I managed to capture of my friends. Thank you Suze, thank you Matthew for taking a chance on me. I CAN'T WAIT for your wedding!
Rob & Elizabeth: A Chester Engagement Shoot
I've said this before but I LOVE love. And one of the best parts of this job is spending time with so much joy on a regular basis, with couples and family who just radiate their adoration for each other. Rob & Elizabeth embody this joy so perfectly and I spent a gorgeous grey afternoon wandering around the beautiful Roman walls of Chester with them, doing my damndest to bottle it to the very best of my ability.
I've said this before but I LOVE love. And one of the best parts of this job is spending time with so much joy on a regular basis, with couples and family who just radiate their adoration for each other. Rob & Elizabeth embody this joy so perfectly and I spent a gorgeous grey afternoon wandering around the beautiful Roman walls of Chester with them, doing my damndest to bottle it to the very best of my ability.
They initially got in touch with me about photographing their April 2017 King Street Townhouse Wedding in November of this year by way of my mentor Jonny Draper. Jonny thought we would be a great fit and I was so eager to shoot at this stunningly chic new wedding venue in Manchester city centre. So when we had our Skype date and got on so well, I knew it was meant to be!
We met up in front of the famed Chester Grosvenor Hotel righ tin the heart of city and, after a quick drink, Elizabeth took us on a mini walking tour of her amazing home city. We explored the Roman Ampitheatre and walked up to the clock, we found little parks and cathedral ruins and walked along the river. In the 2 hours we hung out, there was an easy comfortability and I was so inspired by this beautiful couple's relaxed excitement about each other. Rob kept things light with some pretty terrible jokes and Elizabeth filled me in on their unbelievable wedding plans and by the end of the meeting, I felt like I'd known them for years. I am so so excited to photograph these two in just a few short months, here's a peek at what we got up to! Enjoy! x