Crowne Plaza Wedding Photography | LIverpool Wedding Photographer
Suzanne & Paul’s Wedding Story
Bridal Prep At The Crowne Plaza Hotel.
One of my favourite Liverpool City Centre wedding venues has got to be the Crowne Plaza hotel, it is set right on the world famous waterfront and iconic Liverpool skyline. It’s a perfect location for wedding photographs contrasting the architecture of the stunning Three Graces alongside modern buildings, a short stroll to the popular Albert Dock on one side and the modern buildings and bridges of the Princes dock to the other, there’s plenty of opportunities to get those wow shots for your wedding album.
Suzanne and Paul’s wedding was one of the rare and very few 2021 weddings that was lucky enough not to have been affected by the postponements and rescheduled dates due to covid, it did look like it would be touch and go at some points during that time though with all the uncertainty surrounding lockdowns and restrictions. I first met up with Suzanne and Paul at the Crowne Plaza back in November 2019, who knew what was just around the corner back then! It’s nice when you meet a couple for the first time and just click with them straight away though and I instantly got a good feeling about photographing their wedding, this one was no different such a lovely laid back, genuine down to earth couple, this wedding seemed to take forever to come round after the initial meeting. Both Suzanne and Paul were getting ready at the Crowne Plaza albeit in separate parts of the hotel and on different floors (knackering), it’s nice to get the chance to get some of the groom prep too, more on that below. I’m sure Suzanne won’t mind me saying but the girl is definitely a weeper, as soon as I arrived to start photographing the bridal prep it set her off, the bridal bouquets were delivered, it set her off and that set the theme for the day, so much real and genuine emotion.
Suzanne just had the one bridesmaid, her lovely daughter Jess, she was absolutely fantastic on the day, teens her age often their head buried in their phone and everything is an effort but she was always helping her mum whenever she wanted anything, even just giving her a hug if she needed one. The love and the bond between them was so cute and was clear for everyone to see, they even had to make sure they took the time to do a quick TikTok dance routine on the wedding morning during the prep.
She puts a lot of Maids of Honour and Bridesmaids to shame, high fives all round Jess!,
A Little Bit Of Groom Prep Too.
With Paul also staying at the same hotel as Suzanne, it was nice to get a chance to shoot some Groom prep too, us men really do have it easy compared to the girls. A quick shower and shave, give your hair a brush(or not), a bit of aftershave and spray of deodorant and we’re pretty much done-EASY!!
Kissing The Ring!
It’s traditional for the Bride to be a little bit late for the wedding ceremony and Suzanne kept us waiting (not too long) but I’m pretty sure it was only while she had a bit of a wobble, another little cry the other side of the door and to compose herself before walking down the aisle. After photographing over 100 weddings, I’d have to say just when I think I’ve seen it all and there’s not many things left to see, SURPRISE!! During this one there really was a first and It happened during the vows and the exchanging of the rings, the celebrant running through the ceremony said to Paul after he’d put the ring on Suzanne’s finger, “do you want to give her a little kiss?” he misheard what she’d said an proceeded to lift up Suzanne’s hand and innocently planted a smacker right on her wedding ring and everyone cracked off laughing and then even funnier and not to be outdone, Suzanne with a cheeky laugh did the same to Paul when it was his turn for the ring, everyone set of laughing again and summed up her personality perfectly, just a brilliant moment and when I eventually hang up my cameras for good it’ll definitely be one of the memories that stays with me.
The Iconic Liverpool Waterfront
As I said right at the start, the Crowne Plaza is in the perfect location to make the most of Liverpool’s historic, world famous waterfront and Suzanne and Paul were certainly keen to do that. Starting off at the docks just outside the hotel, Suzanne gave us all a quick flash of her garter belt as she made her way down the steps from the viewing platform, we then went for a short walk around the Princes dock before crossing the busy dock road with all the roadworks going on at the time as we headed over to the beautiful gardens in the church of our Lady and Saint Nicholas, one of my favourite places to take a couple for portraits, as well as the lovely little garden, you also get a great view of the Liver Building too.
*A little first anniversary update…
Suzanne sent me these brilliant couple of photos on instagram from their recent trip into Liverpool, recreating memories from their wedding day, great fun!
Party Time
On to the evening and everyone was having a great time. Shortly before the cake cutting and the first dance were about to take place, Paul disappeared and as it turned out, he’d gone off to the hotel room, couldn’t wait to get out of his wedding suit and relax for the evening with the wedding guests so he’d gone get to changed into something more comfortable. When he realised they’d not actually done the cake cutting and first dance yet, he quickly had to nip back up to the room get changed back in to the wedding attire again. Suzanne had actually booked a surprise for Paul, the brilliant Andy Bailey King of Swing belting out classic Rat Pack hits from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darrin, Nat King Cole and more keeping everyone up dancing and having a great time. A lovely day with a lovely couple…
