Liverpool Documentary Wedding Photographer - The Racquet Club - Becca and Sean

Urban Wedding

I love shooting urban weddings, so when Becca and Sean asked me to shoot their lovely chilled out wedding at The Racquet Club in Liverpool. I knew we were in for a treat! The Racquet Club is in a great little spot. It’s near enough to the Liver buildings for you to get a good couples portrait with one of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings in the background, the sun also sets just over the water making for some epic light at golden hour. Right next to the venue is Our Lady Saint Nicholas Church who are kind enough (with the little help of a donation) to let you use their gardens for group photos and getting a bit of greenery into your portraits. If greenery isn’t your thing, the area is bursting at the seams with beautiful architecture and street art to make for more modern portraits with cool Liverpudlian City Vibes. Luckily for me Becca and Sean were up for it all!  We even bumped into the Liverpool Ghost Tour on our escapades and Becca managed to grab a photo with them!

The Racquet Club Wedding Venue

Inside The Racquet Club is a real treat, with it’s huge rooms, tall ceilings and massive long window there is plenty of natural light around to make capturing those natural moments and fleeting interaction between guests a piece of cake. Becca and Sean had the super talented Sweet Pea and Ivy decorate the venue with a beautiful display of old books, candles, delicate roses and cascading foliage. The room looked amazing! Becca and Sean also added some personal touches themselves, Becca hand made some decorations attached to some huge white balloons and they brought Sean’s obsession with collecting Vinyl into the day by having guests sign records as a guest book and had a friends live band play music for their guests to dance to into the night. It turned into quite the party as you can see from the photos.

Thanks for having me Becca and Sean, you threw and beautiful, fun amazingly chilled out wedding and you were both up for anything! It was an absolute pleasure to photograph your day. Lots of Love xxxxxx

What Becca and Sean had to say...

“Katie thank you so much for capturing our day.

We were so excited when our photo package arrived, we relived the whole day going through it you captured every moment perfectly it was lovley to look back at some of the bits we missed on the day.

We really couldn’t of ask for anything more you really got us and what we wanted from our day and from that captured some amazing memories for us to keep.”

A few wedding dates in 2018 are still available and I am now taking bookings for 2019. 

If you are looking for your Wedding Photographer and would like to get in touch, drop me a message! I have a few dates in 2018 still available and I am now taking bookings for 2019. 

Manchester Wedding Photographer - Sarah and Ben

Sarah and Ben's Epic Manchester City Centre Wedding

I love a good Manchester City Centre wedding and Sarah and Ben did not disappoint! It was off to a bumpy start in the wedding planning days for the two of them, when their first Manchester venue cancelled on them just a few months before the wedding! Luckily The Renaissance Hotel on Blackfriars Street came to rescue and they were able to hold their chilled out urban wedding right in the heart of Manchester.

Getting ready shots with the Groomsmen was exciting for me as I was allowed into Barber, Barber in the Barton Arcade, (normally girls aren’t allowed in) so I felt like a spy… Sneaking around with my camera. There were a couple of close shaves, but I think I got away with it… Oh dear… Then it was on to Sarah and Ben’s City Centre apartment to see how the girls and Sarah’s Dad were getting on and photograph Sarah getting into her magnificent wedding dress. It was a lovely chilled out morning full of tears and laughs. Some beautiful thoughtful presents from Sarah to her bridesmaids and parents, not to mention some killer dance moves getting thrown out by flower girl, Freya.

When we got to The Renaissance Hotel the excitement was building. The room looked stunning, but it had nothing on what Sarah looked like walking down the aisle to Ben, they were both glowing with happiness and laughing together throughout the ceremony. It was an absolute corker! After some confetti, fizz, canapés and a few family group shots by the River Irwell we hopped into a taxi and made our way to Stevenson Square in Manchester’s infamous Northern Quarter to bring some of Manchester’s amazing street art into the Sarah and Ben’s portrait session. We had about 20 minutes, so it was a mad dash from spot to spot, but Sarah and Ben totally nailed it, as I think you’ll see in their photos. We even managed to find some graffiti that fitted with the smoke bombs Sarah and Ben had wanted perfectly and literally just a few minutes before the taxi arrived to whisk us back to Black Friars Street in time for the wedding breakfast! We then enjoyed some hilarious and heartfelt speeches, before it was time for for the party, which obviously, like anything Sarah and Ben do, was done in style. I’ll let the party photos tell you the rest of the story.

Thank you for having me Sarah and Ben. You guys rock! Xxx

Katie Dervin is a Documentary Wedding Photographer based in Manchester.

To book a shoot or enquire about wedding bookings click here. 

Why I Love This Photo Series 1.3

 

This photograph might not look like much at first. A family sitting at a table together in an empty room… But this moment was more than that. This was the moment when June and Steve took time out with their daughter Rosie during their wedding day. Rosie was overwhelmed. She didn’t really understand what the wedding was about and somehow thought that Mummy and Daddy getting married meant that they didn’t love her anymore. She was inconsolable. So deeply upset, it was hard to watch. After the ceremony was over June and Steve took her to one side to make her feel loved and spend some time as a family unit without the busy commotion of their guests around them. It was a beautiful, private and tender moment between the 3 of them and as it happened I managed to capture this little photograph of the 3 of them being a family.

Documentary Wedding Photography

Part of being a documentary wedding photographer is looking out for the small moments in between the bigger more obvious ones. Rosie will grow up and probably forget most of this day, when June and Steve tell her that she was so upset she may not even believe them! When I look at this photo, I see Love. The unconditional love that June and Steve have for their daughter. One day she’ll be older, she wont need them to hold her hand any more, she’ll make friends, move out, travel, become independent, but there will always be this little moment frozen in time when all this little girl wanted was a cuddle from her mum and Dad and that’s beautiful…

To view my full Wedding Portfolio click here.

Katie Dervin is a Documentary Wedding Photographer based in Manchester.

Liverpool Engagement Shoot - Jess and James

I love engagement shoots, it’s a lovely chilled out way to spend a hour or two having a laugh while creating something together.

I met Jess and James at The Ship and Mitre in Liverpool, it was a special place for them as that is where they had their first date, the place where the story of Jess and James really began, so it seemed fitting to start the shoot there. After a catch up and drink in bar we made our way out to explore the city and see which bits of the beautiful urban Landscape we could incorporate into the shoot. We were spoilt for choice! Finding wonderful Liverpudlian street art along our way, including a piece by the anonymous graffiti artist Banksy and of course it would be rude to not incorporate the infamous Liver Buildings into a photo or two. As we made our way to The Docks and the sun grew lower in the sky we stumbled upon a small fair ground, so made use of the bright and playful backgrounds before grabbing another sneaky drink from one of the sea front bars. We then took it upon ourselves to hunt down the prettiest Lamb Banana we could find, ending the evening shoot by taking some snaps as the Seagulls flew low over our heads while sun shone across water and then making our way home.

Jess and James were such a pleasure to shoot, they booked the engagement shoot as they thought that they might be nervous in front of the camera on their wedding day, but turned out to be complete naturals. Complete naturals at just being themselves with each other, making each other laugh, having nice little snuggles together and just being in love. It was beautiful to capture them doing just that. I’m really looking forward to shooting their wedding next month, it’s going to be an absolute belter!

Couple and Portrait Shoots for you and your partner in crime... Whoever that may be...

If you would like to book an engagement shoot, couples shoot, shoot with your bestie or partner in crime send me a message! I’d love to hear from you.

FYI Couples that have booked me as their wedding photographer receive a £50 discount on their session fee. Just because I LOVE YOU. xxx ;)

Why I Love This Photo Series 1.2

This is my second post in this series, if you missed the first post the idea is to look over my favourite photographs over the past year and think about why I love them, which ends up being a nice exercise for me, while also giving an insight into my though process and the reasoning behind creating these images.

Details

Details don’t always have to be pretty and perfect, although sometimes they might turn out that way. Detail shots that tell a story are the ones that speak to me and they are the ones as a documentary photographer that I am always on the look out to create. There are obvious detail shots, the cake, shoes, dress, flowers, but there are also photographs of things that can really help set the scene and build on the story of the day.... That brings me to this photograph I took of a stack of dirty dishes at Victoria and Steve’s Wedding in Nottingham. 

Why Dirty Dishes?

This photo isn’t just a photo of stack of dirty dishes, it’s a photograph of love, friendship, kindness and the beauty of the relationships Victoria and Steve have with their friends and family. Their wedding was at Victoria’s family home, they had the service at the church down the road, held for them by the Vicar (and family friend) the rest of the day happened in Victoria’s family garden. Everything about this wedding was very homemade and personal, the flowers came from next doors garden, the cake was home made, the decorations were made by Victoria herself, Victoria’s make up was done by her sister (a make up artist) her father had even made a statue of a family member who had past away recently to greet the guests as they entered the garden so he could still be part of the wedding.  Performances from friends and family kept everyone entertained though out the evening. Family friends served the homemade food up to guests and used the family kitchen to prepare the food, all of the dishes were washed by hand in the sink. This photograph is a reminder of the hard graft that went into making such a wonderful day for everyone, a reminder of how much Victoria and Steve’s family pulled together to make it as awesome as it was and that’s why I think this might just be one of the most beautiful stacks of dirty dishes I have ever seen, and believe me I have seen a lot! If you have ever been to my house you would know this. ;)

To view my full Wedding Portfolio click here.

Katie Dervin is a Documentary Wedding Photographer based in Manchester.

Why I Love This Photo Series. 1.1

Why I Love this Photo 1.1

So I thought it would be a nice exercise to pick out some of my favourite photos over the past year and explain why I love them, which brought about the Why I Love This Photo Series.

Details

I thought I’d start with details, as a lot of the time that’s how I’ll start my day photographing a wedding. I’ll often photograph the exterior of the place I’m about to enter and then usually the first few pictures I will take will be of details the couple have requested or things of interest around the room that I think add context to the story, this gives me some great photos to help me put together the story of your day for the couple, it also gives the people around that morning a little bit of time to relax and get used to having a photographer around before I start taking photographs of them.

Why Wedding Shoes?

Today’s photograph is maybe a strange one to start with… I am a documentary photographer yet the photo might not so obviously be in that style.

You’ve probably seen a photo like this a million times before. Detail shots are done in windows a lot because of the quality of light, it’s an easy go to shot, it looks nice, but it’s nothing ground breaking so why choose this photo?

The reason I love this photo is that it shows the brides beautiful shoes and the setting off, but it also adds some context to the day. You can see the delicate rain drops on the thin paned glass of the windows, a hint of the beautiful gardens of Middlethorpe Hall in the back ground and that’s why I love this shot. It isn’t just a shot of Donna’s lovely shoes it adds to the story of the day Donna and Kev got married by reminding them of those extra little details of the morning that otherwise would be long forgotten.

When shooting detail shots, I’ll always look around for different ways I can add context to the photograph, sometimes the best way to shoot these items is to photograph them where you find them, other times it can be nice to find somewhere that helps add another layer to the story.

To view my full Wedding Portfolio click here.

Katie Dervin is a Documentary Wedding Photographer based in Manchester.