Jo and Paul's Knowsley Hall Wedding Part 2 - A Very Special Day

Most weddings have something very special about them - and Jo and Paul's wedding was no different in that respect. But it was the things that made the day special that were different. Like Jo's niece and sister-in-law helping her to get dressed, her Uncle Bobby (hi Uncle Bobby!) joining Jo's brother Mark to walk her down the aisle, the ducks and the sheep (don't ask on the sheep - but Wayne from Knowsley Hall did a great job bringing it along to the meal!), and the amazing dragon fly that landed on Jo's dress, and stayed on Paul's finger for ages when he tried to shoo it away.

Eleanor assisted me with the wedding taking place on a Tuesday (Rob likes to tell everyone he is a wage slave, so he was at work and couldn't join me), and we really enjoyed ourselves with their family and friends - and I think I may even have converted Jo's friend Hayley into believing she can look good in photographs!

This is only a small sneak peek of the photographs, but I just know Jo and Paul are going to love them! As always, Knowsley Hall looked amazing, particularly as we were lucky enough to have the sun out, and Wayne and the team excelled again, looking after everyone with a style and grace that only Knowsley Hall can deliver.

Jo and Paul's Knowsley Hall Wedding - Part 1

It's not often I get to do a two part blog update, but with Jo and Paul things were a bit different. The day before their wedding I joined them for afternoon tea and a walk in the grounds at Knowsley Hall for a pre-wedding shoot with a difference. I don't think I've ever done a pre-wedding shoot on the day before the wedding, except when I've photographed weddings in Italy! But it really was good fun to do it that way. So here is a little sneak peek of the pre-wedding photographs ... wedding photographs to follow.

I love the silliness of these last few photographs.

Lizzy and Cris's Wedding at Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral and Hope Street Hotel

Lizzy and her mum found me by accident. They were looking for So Coco Rouge, my makeup artist and hair stylist friends now based on Old Haymarket in Liverpool. But the girls were out on a job and Lizzy spotted my business name, pressed the bell, and hoped. It was a day I was all alone in the office, and I was just thinking of packing up for the day.  We sat and chatted for a while - almost too long as we all suddenly realised that they might miss their bus home, so a quick trip to the bus station got them there just on time.

And then I heard nothing! I was convinced we'd connected and that I'd be able to do something wonderful for Lizzy and Cris. But there was no email, no phone call. Until a few weeks later when Lizzy got in touch saying she had been busy with work and was ready to book. And I knew I was in for a treat. Aside from Lizzy's mum being adorable, giving me a hint of the kind of family she was from, the location of their wedding was sure to be special - Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral! And from there onto one of my favourite hotels, the boutique Hope Street Hotel.

Now you know the weather we've been having this summer, so it comes as no surprise that yet again we had a day of sunshine and showers, but it didn't put a dampner on the day, even giving us enough time for Lizzy to walk to the Cathedral with her mum, dad, sister and bridesmaids. It was very special walking along Hope Street with the wedding party.

It's hard to describe how special the cathedral is, so I will let the photographs tell the story themselves in this sneak peek. You can see the gorgeous Cris anticipating the arrival of his bride, and the joy on his face when the confetti is thrown after they are married. I just know they'll be very happy together.

Jenny and Dave's Wedding in Woolton and on to West Tower in Aughton

Friday was a rare day in the British summer - although there were dark clouds threatening at one or two points, we actually saw the sun and had a reasonably good day for Jenny and Dave's wedding. It was definitely a family affair, with Jenny being the eldest daughter of 5 (I'm still amazed that Karen and Joe had smiles on their faces - or was that the joy at having one daughter married? Hmmmm) - she had her 4 sisters as her bridesmaids, all looking elegant in their dark blue dresses, and they were joined by Dave's sister too, who I have to say is one of the best bridesmaids I've ever come across! I think she should be hiring herself out for weddings, she looks after people so well.

The wedding took place in Woolton, and as I arrived I noticed that the cars were being driven by my old friends at Barrington Cars - and it was also a pleasure to see Godfrey again, who I've previously encountered taking the wedding ceremonies at All Hallows and St Bartholomews, but as a family friend he came to preach the sermon and generally enjoy himself at the celebrations later.

After the ceremony we all went over to West Tower, which is now my most local venue, just about a mile away since we moved. I have always loved the West Tower, and so it is a pleasure when I get the chance to return there to photograph weddings. And Friday was no exception, right up to the band in the evening. Here is a sneak peek of the day - I can't wait to show Jenny and Dave their whole selection of photographs when they get back from their honeymoon.

A little hint with more to come .... Pre-Wedding Shoot

This really is a quick sneak peak, with more to follow - from Bryony and Mark's pre-wedding shoot.

What a relief!

At last! Normal service is resumed, we have internet, so time to catch up with emails, uploads etc. Sorry for the delays this has created. It's such a relief to get things moving again. Having no internet really feels like you've hit a big block. I don't think I realised how much I rely on the internet for my business. And so it's scary to be cut off. Thankfully BT eventually accepted that there was a fault and have agreed to pay compensation, but I think I'd have preferred a speedy acceptance that I needed their help rather than all the brush off I got for days! Anyway, everything is back to normal and this week I'll be catching up on everything.

Continued Internet Issues

A quick apology to anyone who has emailed me or is waiting to hear from me - I am having continued internet problems with our internet being so slow that I am sure pages loaded quicker by dial up in the 90s! 

At last I have managed to get BT to take notice of me rather than having them insist that I accept that I should wait until after 14th July to see if things improve, but at the moment I don't know if I will have fully active internet for at least another week. I shall do what I can to access internet through other means, but in the meantime I am sorry for the delay in getting in touch with people.

If you need to contact me urgently please call me on my mobile on 07792 650 742.

Office Closed - UPDATE

We move house on Friday and so the office is now closed Wednesday 27th June to Tuesday 3rd July. We will have no internet for a few days and so please don't worry if you don't get an immediate answer to your email. If you have an urgent need to contact me, please ring me on my mobile 07792 650 742.

PLEASE NOTE

BT have left us with no internet, even though it was booked in for being activated Monday (2nd July) and they have informed us it will take until end of Friday 6th July to put it right. Please call me if you need me urgently (07792 650 742) or email me and I will get back to you when I can grab internet off friends, family and internet cafes!

Photographs of Lisa and Ben's Fun Chester Wedding

Lisa and Ben got married on Saturday in Chester's original cathedral, a beautiful church which is now St John the Baptist Church, Chester. I had such fun from the moment I arrived, all the way through to the end of the speeches - and I have to admit that I shed a couple of tears too. Oh dear, will I never get used to the emotions of weddings! Some of the tears, to be fair, were brought on by the amazing singing of Hannah, a 9 year old niece of Lisa's who sang Candle in the Wind - I don't think there was a dry eye in the church when she sang!

It was really lovely to be given such a warm welcome by David Chesters, Vicar of the church, and his colleagues, and having such a large porch-way helped when the rains came! And what about this for a wedding present? Ben bought Lisa a VW camper van! And so when we came out of the church, after a little skulduggery, Ben's brother Jake brought the little beauty around to surprise Lisa!

After the ceremony we were all able to enjoy ice creams before making our way over to Chester Racecourse for the reception - and Ben's turn for a surprise as the car driver let off a confetti canon that made us all jump ... but it meant I delivered on a promise to Lisa as she'd asked me to make sure I photographed Ben's 'stupid face'!

I had a lot of fun photographing Lisa and Ben's wedding, and I laughed and I cried - and I have to say as well, Lisa was such a beautiful bride in a spectacular dress that was perfect for her, with the most beautiful flowers, and Ben scrubbed up well too! Here's a sneak peak of their day.

Now, it's not often that I highlight a truly favourite image from a wedding (maybe I should do it more often because I always have a favourite!) but I have to share this one from Lisa and Ben's day - the moment where Lisa and her dad hugged when he saw her dressed in her gown for the first time. I feel the emotion welling up in me every time I look at it! And then a second one which is when Lisa went to hug Hannah, her bridesmaid who sang for her. Two truly beautiful moments.

24 Years On

This evening listening to the bride, Lisa, do a short speech, I found myself reflecting on our own wedding, our marriage of 24 years. And I decided it's time to write my husband an open letter. I would do a private letter, but the last one like that I did, when it arrived in the post for him he thought it was a 'Dear John' letter and refused to open it! So here is my open letter to my husband of 24 years.

Dear Rob,

Monday is our anniversary - 24 years ago my parents were late to our wedding and we nearly got married without them, you stumbled over my name and I couldn't say 'impediment', the sun shone brightly, and we had photographs taken in Victoria Park in Ormskirk. We saw each other before the ceremony, we spent more of our budget on the photographs than anything else, and we had our reception in our own home on a brilliant summer's day with dear friends and close family alongside us.

You know I love you, but I believe even now, after 24 years of marriage, you still don't know how much I love you, even though it was me who proposed to you. People talk of marrying their best friend - on the day of our wedding I don't know if I did marry my best friend, I don't know if I knew what a true best friend was at that stage in my life. Sure, I loved you, I was in love with you, and I felt so very lucky to be your wife - not least because it was great to leave behind my maiden name and become a Richards! And through the years we have disagreed on so many things - parenting, money, how we've lived our lives, where we'll live, and much more. And it's been worth it.

But now, after 24 years, everything is really crystal clear. I am proud of you. I'm proud that even though you have MS you don't let a chronic illness control your life, you fight through it, you force yourself to keep going, and for what? To give me your love in the way you enjoy most to give me your love, through cooking me tea, looking after me, caring for me. You put your own fatigue aside to make sure I am ok, you work on 'Bobby Power' and you selflessly put me first. Now that's love!

And more than that, I'm proud of you as a father to our daughter - you have given her such joy, laughing with her, giving your time to her, letting her know love and security, being there for her. That too is love.

It isn't hard for me to say that you are a great man. You may not have achieved great things in the world, you may not have made a huge difference in the world, but you have achieved great things in our lives, you have made a huge difference to me. And it is true to say that you are a gentle man, in the true sense of the word - a man who is caring, thoughtful and puts others' needs ahead of his own. A gentleman indeed.

So, Rob, thank you. Thank you for 24 years of your unending support, caring and thoughtfulness, so many years of your love.

Now, I may not be as caring, as thoughtful, as supportive as you are to me. But I love you. You are my rock, my cornerstone, my right arm (ok, in your terms, my left arm!). Without you I would not have grown and developed into the woman I am today. I doubt anyone else would have travelled the journey with me!  And I love that we have enjoyed and endured that journey together, grown and developed together. 

I love that you make me laugh ... and possibly moreso, I love that you laugh at my funnies too. I love your expectation that when I say to turn right you think I mean we need to turn left, when I had worked it out already and really meant right after all! I love the way we have managed to parent so very differently, and that difference has been so important in creating the beautiful, clever and independent young woman who is our daughter, 20 in 2 weeks time, and engaged for just under 2 weeks now herself.

I love how you have conversations in your head and then think you've talked something through with me, and I love how you are so determined you are right - and can win an argument on logic even when you are, in fact, wrong! I love how clever you are, and how easily you can outsmart people with a million more qualifications than you have, and I love how your dyslexia and your MS are a challenge for you to push through rather than give in to. I love you more than you will ever know, and I love that I can still, to this day, surprise you with my love for you.

And I thank you for putting up with me - and for being someone I can live with in such a way that there is little more than the way you squeeze the toothpaste for me to have to put up with! May we have 24 more years together, most of them happy, and 24 more after that, and who knows, maybe even more. I may not have known on our wedding day if I was marrying my best friend, but today I do know, I definitely married my best friend. I love you. I'm proud of you. I'm lucky to be with you. You're the best. Thank you.

Your lucky wife

Zoe