Rich and Rosie got married at St George’s Hall in August last year. Their wedding was an intimate, family occasion with only their nearest and dearest in attendance. The reception at Hope Street Hotel in Liverpool felt like a big family dinner. It has to be one of the most emotional weddings that i’ve had the pleasure of photographing. It was just wonderful.
Here is Rosie, who will explain a bit more about what went in to creating their wedding day.
Venue: St. George’s Hall and Hope Street Hotel
My husband and I are originally from Yorkshire and moved over to the Liverpool area 4 years ago when my husband signed for a rugby team over here. When we got engaged we decided we wanted a city wedding venue that would really show off Liverpool – our new home, to our family and friends.
We picked a Grade 1 listed building, St George’s Hall for our ceremony, which is where the city’s registry office is situated. It’s a truly magnificent building and the huge steps are perfect for photos!
For our wedding breakfast venue we picked ‘The 5th’ at Hope Street Hotel. The room’s huge glass walls and private balcony offer breath-taking views over the city – I couldn’t wait for our guests to stand out on the balcony for arrival drinks admiring the view! The room was also perfect for a small and intimate wedding breakfast. We only had 34 guests to our day time and the huge single table on the 5th was ideal for what we had in mind. I loved the idea of us all sitting together around one big table. On the day it felt really close and special.
Bridesmaid Dresses: Little Mistress, ASOS
My wedding dress had a soft, floaty tulle skirt, so I wanted a similar look and style for my bridesmaids dresses. My wedding dress also had a very subtle hint of dusky pink under the skirt which is why I picked this colour for my bridesmaids. I found the dresses at ‘Little Mistress’ on ASOS. They were midi length and complimented my own dress perfectly. Buying them from ASOS also meant they didn’t break the bank!
Rings:
I opted for a traditional, plain wedding band; a style I think will be timeless and ever-lasting. As my engagement ring is quite fancy I also wanted to make sure it didn’t get overshadowed!
Cake:
Our cake was home-made by a close friend of the Mother-of-the-Groom. I got my ideas from Pinterest, (of course!) I wanted something a bit different from the usual, ivory tiers and cascading flowers. I went for a dusky pink ruffle layer to match our colour scheme, a cracked gold leaf layer for something a bit fancy, and a classic white layer to top it off. I didn’t actually get to try a piece of it as I didn’t have any appetite on our wedding day – but I’ve been told it tasted delicious!
Flowers: The Bouquet Residence
I spent a long time planning the flowers and really enjoyed the process. Our florist – The Bouquet Residence in St Helens was lovely (and very patient despite me changing my mind several times!)
For my bridal bouquet I went for roses in a range of vintage pinks – quicksand, amnesia, metalina and ivory, with baby’s breath and eucalyptus added in for greenery.
For our table flowers we needed something to suit our long single table, so we chose a runner/garland made from eucalyptus, with hints of baby’s breath and vintage roses. We also scattered some cracked gold tea light holders and candelabras down the length of the table for a twinkly effect. It looked stunning!
Photographer: Laura Rhian Photography
We wanted a photographer that would not only create stunning and flattering photos of our wedding day but would also be able to capture our personality and the emotion of the day too. I chose Laura Rhian Photography because I was blown away by the beauty of her photos and because I saw in them something truly unique. The poses and ideas were so different, creative and arty compared to your usual, traditional wedding photography. They were relaxed, loving and fun. The expressions and emotions of the people in Laura’s photos were also really moving and I could see that the true feelings had been captured. We are totally over the moon with our photos from Laura Rhian and have so many favourites. I love the variety of our couple poses, the emotion captured on ours and the guest’s faces, and just the general look and feel of Laura’s unique style, from the colours and lighting to the creativity of the shots.
Evening Entertainment: Ed Alexander Whelan, Paul, Wedding Jam, and Imagine Selfie Mirror
For our evening reception we moved down to Hope Street Hotel’s ‘Residents Lounge’, and we had lots more guests join us in addition to our day guests. For our entertainment we booked Ed Alexanda Whelan to play on the venue’s Grand Piano as our evening guests arrived. He played some fantastic upbeat music which really set the mood! For our DJ we used Paul from Wedding Jam. We clicked with Paul as soon as we met him at Hope Street Hotel’s Wedding fair. He was fantastic to work with. Such a great guy with just our taste in music!
As a couple we have our own Selfie Mirror business, ‘Imagine Selfie Mirror’ which gets hired out to weddings and events, so of course we had to have it at our own wedding reception! The Selfie Mirror was great entertainment for our guests and we got some fantastic photos from it to treasure!
When you were planning, what were the most important things that you wanted for your wedding?
Apart from wanting everyone to have a great day and for the sun to be out (which it was, yay!) We just wanted our whole wedding day to be personal, intimate and relaxed. We didn’t want too much fuss as we wanted to make sure it was about what really matters – our marriage! Our choice of venue, table layout and keeping our number of day guests small really helped make this happen. We also made sure that everything from our ceremony music to our first dance music was really meaningful and special to us. Looking back we have such lovely memories of the day and we’re fortunate that everything on the day worked out perfectly!
Can you offer any advice to couples in the planning process?
Be organised from day 1- make a spreadsheet, keep a budget tracker; create a separate email folder for everything wedding-related! Get confirmation of everything you book or order and keep in regular communication with all of your suppliers. Make sure you choose what you and your partner want to do, not what anyone else wants you to do or what you ‘think’ you should do! If the planning gets too much or too stressful then make sure you ask for help from your family and bridesmaids. Enjoy the planning as much as you can and be excited for the day! Lastly, remember what the day is about and make plans for your marriage not just your wedding day!