Rachel & Dan’s Wedding

Rachel and Dan's Wedding Story

Bridal Prep At Home.

Rachel and Dan's wedding was originally scheduled to take place in July 2020 but unfortunately like so many other couples, their wedding was yet another wedding day lost after falling victim to the covid 19 pandemic their big day ended up being a case of third time lucky (just like ourselves). So after first meeting them both back in August in 2019 at Mossock Hall and coming after several postponements and potential rearranged, held dates and in what seemed like absolutely ages since the first meeting, it was eventually given a green light 2 years later in the summer of 2021 when they finally managed to tie the knot just after lockdown restrictions had finally been relaxed, as long as the wait had been it was definitely a day worth waiting for. Bridal prep took place at Rachel’s Mum and Dad’s house in Aughton,. having grown up in Ormskirk and having family around there I know the area very well so it was nice for me personally getting to go back there to see some familiar sights again. Bridal prep was well underway when I arrived, the Bride and Bridesmaids in the talented hands of Kate Elms Beauty, all the girls sporting matching dressing gowns, enjoying a glass or two of fizz and making time to grab a few photographs in the back garden for the Bride Squad.

Once the Bridesmaids had all finished getting ready, they helped Rachel into her wedding dress and after finishing off the final touches, they jumped into the wedding car and headed off to get dropped off at church before the car made a return trip to pick up the Bride and Dad, it was then off to St. Michael’s Church in Aughton to meet up with hubby to be Dan and after a long old wait, finally say their I DOs.

St, Michaels Church in Aughton, Ormskirk

Rachel and Dan’s wedding had a little bit more of a personal note to it for me, it is the same church that my Mum and Dad were married in so it felt nice that I was able to shoot a wedding there myself and as it’s their Golden Wedding Anniversary this year, it bodes well for Rachel and Dan’s future together. I had actually photographed a wedding there once before but it was as late emergency cover after the booked photographer Phil said he was stuck in traffic on the notoriously busy car park that is the M6 motorway and was in danger of running late and missing the start of the ceremony. After I couple of quick phone calls I packed my gear in the car and made the short drive over to cover the wedding until Phil arrived shortly after the ceremony started.

After taking a few photographs of Dan, his Groomsmen and the wedding guests waiting at church for the Bride to arrive, it wasn’t too long before the wedding car was spotted heading down the road making its’ way to church, Bridesmaids waiting to help Rachel out of the car and fix her dress before walking up the aisle.

Light is one of the most important things for a photographer and the light pouring into St.Michael’s through the gorgeous stained glass windows is perfect on a lovely sunny day like this one. A lot of churches can be prretty dark even if the sun is cracking the flags but It’s a beautifully bright and airy old church this one and when the sunlight streams in from the side it creates a lovely ambient glow over the whole church congregation and when it’s just in the right spot it highlights the couple perfectly and gives you the chance for some really great atmospheric shots. After the ceremony it was into the churchyard as all the guests congratulated the newlyweds and I took the opportunity to take a few natural reaction shoes of everyone before setting up the few formal family group shots that the couple had requested. Once they were out of the way we all headed down to the church gate for a good confetti shot as we weren’t allowed any in the church grounds and certainly not wanting to upset anyone. As the guests all headed off to Mossock Hall we nipped back into the churchyard to make the most of the empty grounds with everyone gone for a few couples portraits using the church as a backdrop as well some with the wedding car too as Rachel and Dan enjoyed a glass of bubbly.

Mossock Hall

I quickly jumped in my car to beat the couple to the venue and make sure I could get a few photographs of the car heading up the long, picturesque driveway to Mossock Hall bringing the couple to their wedding reception. We took a stroll onto the golf course for some scenic shots with the newlyweds as the golfers kindly watching and waiting patiently and holding the next shot until we’d finished and moved out of their way.

I’m sure I’ve said this before in previous blogs but the wedding speeches are probably one of my favourite parts of the day, along with the dance floor bouncing towards the end of the night. Guaranteed are some of the best photographs on the day, watching and capturing everyone’s reactions, the tears, laughter and occasionally some shocked looks are priceless. They’ll always give you a little smile when you’re looking back at your wedding photos in the future! I’ve heard a lot of wedding speeches now and the best ones are always the most heartfelt and personally written, Its easy to Google wedding speeches and use them as a starting point or pinching jokes, I will usually know within the first line or two wether I’ll have heard it before and the chances are I probably have and probably more than the once. I promise that the best reactions from wedding guests are always when the speech is more personal to the Bride and Groom, stories about them growing up and meeting each other, it’s nice for me to hear the backstory about the couple too, a relatable speech always provokes genuine reactions from everyone, myself included so if I’m feeling it and don’t know the couple as well as all the guests do, imagine how much more of a reaction they’ll be having to it. It’s a perfect opportunity for me to get some great natural and relaxed photos of everyone, you can see just what I mean in Rachel and Dan’s speeches below.

There was definitely a first for me at this wedding, I’ve seen plenty of bouquet’s being thrown in the air for someone in the waiting group to catch it but I’ve never seen an indoor bouquet toss before, props to Rachel for A) not taking out one of the chandeliers and B) not getting it stuck in the creases of the marquee roof, backwards over her head too, what a great throw!

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