Southport Town Hall Wedding Photography | Lancashire Wedding Photographer
A Covid Wedding Story
Very Small and Very Intimate
Falling right between the re-imposing of restrictions in September and the second full lockdown at the beginning of November, Julie and Kurt tied the knot at Southport Town Hall. This was the wedding that I realised just how much I enjoyed shooting these small, intimate weddings. Due to the restrictions at the time, the government reintroduced the "rule of six" meaning that social gatherings of more than 6 people was against the law. With this hanging over everyone planning a wedding, it meant 18 months of cancellations and postponements with only a handful of weddings taking place that year. Happily Julie and Kurt decided to go ahead with theirs no matter what. It was very different to the weddings I was used to, this time with the Bride and Groom and just two great friends, Tony and Shirley as witnesses, and do you know what, it was lovely!
Having pretty much everything stripped away from the usual weddings, it brought back into focus the reason why people actually do get married, they just love each other. It doesn't do any harm to take a step back and remember that if you are planning your own wedding day, all the fluff and stuff that comes with organising a wedding most of it is exactly that. What matters is the two of you stood there, facing each other and saying your vows, anything else is just fluff and stuff.
Starting with a little bit of the Bridal Prep at The Vincent Hotel on Lord Street in Southport, Julie in one room with Shirley and Kurt in another with Tony, I was able to flit between the two (always handy when the couple are getting ready in the same place!). Special mention for the wonderful Trudy not only supplying Julie's dress from her Bridal shop, Trudy Smith Bridal but also helping her get ready too! Every Bride needs a Trudy!
Before we knew it, it was time to head to the Town Hall to get them married...
Face Masks and Virtual Wedding Guests.
In spite of the restrictions in place curtailing the usual "normal" weddings but determined to still keep some of the old traditions, Kurt had already left The Vincent Hotel to wait for his Bride to arrive rather than seeing her before the wedding. After having to postpone their wedding three times, if there was ever an example of dealing with whatever is thrown at you, these two definitely weren't going to let covid stop them getting married this time round, talk about making the most of it, I was only there for a short time but their was so much laughter, even more than I'd usually see when I'm there for a full day, these two were so funny and absolutely do not give a 💩💩💩💩!!!
For the guests that couldn't be there, we had Tony videoing the ceremony on his phone and Shirley live streaming it on hers for wedding guests that missed out on the chance to watch all it in person.
As i said earlier, with everything stripped back it was lovely to get a reminder of why you're actually getting married.
Back To The Vincent On Lord Street, Southport.
After the ceremony we made the most of the short walk back along Lord Street to The Vincent Hotel for a few more traditional, posed shots (but not too posed, I don't do them!!) of the newlyweds and the witnesses, Julie and Kurt stopping off for a photo with the Covid 19 test centre sign, one of the more unusual wedding photos I've ever taken and another example of them both making the most of the mad situation we've all found ourselves in! Anyway it was back to The Vincent and while we were at the Town Hall the staff had been in to decorate Julie and Kurt's room with stunning flowers, balloons and a wedding cake. Awesome!!
And that's where I had to leave them, to enjoy a lovely meal in their room with their best friends.
Perfect.
