Laid-back and fun winter wedding at Hope Street Hotel – Eve & Mark

Hope Street Hotel winter wedding

Eve and Mark were married just before Christmas last year. Their beautiful Hope Street Hotel wedding was also my last of 2021, topping off a fabulous year for me!

It was such a fab day! I adored Eve’s dress from Vintage Lane Bridal, it was 100% her! She even had a second dress for later on in the evening and why the hell not? If you can’t have two dresses on your wedding day then, when can you?! It was so lovely seeing how much these two love each other and how much their friends and family love them too. It left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside! Funnily enough, my first wedding of 2022 is taking place at HSH too and I’m really looking forward to getting back there!

A bit about the couple

Eve and Mark both went to university in Liverpool so it was the perfect location for their big day. They were sold on Hope Street Hotel after seeing the amazing views and loving the modern, laid back style of the place. Another plus was the fact that they could have the wedding breakfast upstairs and a different vibe for the party which was in the basement bar.

The couple decided on a festive wedding as it’s their favourite time of the year. There was also the added bonus of the venue already being decorated with twinkly lights for Christmas! This complimented their theme perfectly. They wanted minimal, simple decorations so opted for white and forest green with lots of candles and pine cones.

When they originally booked their 3pm ceremony E&M hadn’t thought about what time it goes dark in December! So, in order to make the most of the daylight they did a “first look” and pre-ceremony portraits on the balcony which was a really great idea! I also suggested we get out of the hotel as soon as possible after the ceremony as they wanted to do portraits along Pilgrim Street and Hardman Street too. They still had time to chat to guests, grab a drink and have confetti chucked at them though! We were only gone for about 20 minutes but it’s something anyone planning a winter wedding should consider. Also, it’s going to be cold so consider a jacket or shawl!

Wedding planning advice

“We’d always decided when we got engaged that we wanted to shun some traditions, the normal wedding day routine didn’t feel like us. I didn’t like the idea of being “given away” so we decided to walk down the aisle together and when a suggestion was made to do a first look to take advantage of the daylight, we went for it despite both being quite camera shy. Seeing each other alone before was very special and something we are so happy we did. As we were walking down the aisle together we were able to spend the pre-wedding period having a drink with our best man and bridesmaid. These are some of our favourite memories and took away any pre-ceremony nerves! 

We carried on the non-traditional vibe by opting to sit with all our friends at the wedding breakfast which made the speeches a lot more fun and made the whole day feel true to ourselves. I would encourage anyone planning their wedding not to feel they have to be traditional. It’s your day and you can only do it once. Ultimately, it’s about marrying each other, not pleasing everyone else. You’ll be more relaxed and have more fun!”

Kind words from Eve & Mark

“We were very lucky to have Emma photograph our wedding in December 2021. We knew we didn’t want the day to feel too constrained or traditional and on speaking to Emma for the first time we knew she got us completely and would be the perfect fit for us (and wouldn’t make us do any terrible poses!)
When booking the wedding, we hadn’t factored in the lack of daylight! But thankfully Emma gave us lots of ideas as to how we could make the most of the light. We are left with the most amazing city photos which sum up how excited and happy we were on the day.
We came across her following a recommendation from a lovely lady who sadly could no longer continue with photography due to the pandemic and we are very thankful that she matched us up. Emma knew exactly what we wanted, made us feel at ease, made us laugh and felt completely at home with our friends and family. We are so happy that Emma was there to capture our day. We cannot recommend her enough or express the worth of investing in an amazing photographer. Thank you Emma, you really were the best!”

If you’re planning a wedding at Hope Street Hotel please contact me if you’d like me to photograph it!

Suppliers

Venue: Hope Street Hotel

Dress: Vintage Lane Bridal

Flowers: Rock & Meadow

Suits: Next

Cake: Bakin’ Marvellous

Photo-booth: The Photo Cabin

DJ: Wedding Jam