Oddfellows Chester Wedding Photographer
I was absolutely delighted when Bella & Mark asked me to be their Oddfellows Chester wedding photographer. Oddfellows is a fantastic wedding venue in the heart of Chester, full of character, great light, and plenty of personality. I love being a Cheshire wedding photographer, as it means getting to photograph weddings at unique venues like this across the county.
PHOTOGRAPHING THE BRIDAL PREPARATIONS
Oddfellows is a gorgeous Georgian townhouse right in the middle of Chester and right by the river. A very quirky and unusual venue, it has bags of character with the upside-down table in the tea room and the giant boxing hares in the Grownup room. Lots of great features to make more interesting compositions in the photographs.
The bride was having her bridal preparations at the family home with her bridesmaids. Hair and makeup courtesy of the very talented Daisy the Mother of the bride, and tea provided by brother Mateus!! It wasn’t long before the bride put on her wedding dress and grabbed her flowers ready to be whisked to the wedding ceremony in her wedding car!
I photographed their wedding using a candid wedding photography approach, focusing on real moments, genuine emotion, and the natural flow of the day. Rather than staging or directing events, I work quietly in the background, allowing weddings to unfold naturally while capturing the story as it truly happens.
CHURCH WEDDING CEREMONY
The groom was having a right laugh greeting the guests at the church with the help of his ushers and best man. Our Lady and St John RC church is such a beautiful church. I love church ceremonies, I think they add loads more drama to the vows and the exchange of rings. After the newlyweds had tied the knot it was time to sign the register and walk back down the aisle to loads of cheers from the wedding guests!
There were loads of lovely hugs and kisses from friends and family for the happy couple and I love taking sneaky photographs of these emotional moments. A few solo confetti throws later and we shot some quick and fun family portraits before heading over to Oddfellows Chester.
RECEPTION PHOTOGRAPHS AT ODDFELLOWS CHESTER
As the day moved into the celebrations, this relaxed atmosphere lent itself perfectly to a candid wedding photography style. The laughter, hugs, and spontaneous moments between guests happened naturally, which meant I could document the energy of the day honestly, without interrupting or directing what was already unfolding.
Oddfellows Chester is such a cool wedding venue. The sun was belting down as we arrived to enjoy the drinks reception in in the private roof garden. I love the split mirrors in the main rooms at the front of the hotel, I got a cracking first dance shot using them. Massive cheers and bubbles from the kids greeted the newlyweds as they were announced into the wedding breakfast room. Top speeches all round from the groom, father of the bride and best man. We also got a surprise speech from the father of the groom too!! A perfect sunny day gave us the opportunity to enjoy the golden hour by the river to capture some ace relaxed couple portraits and it wasn’t long before it was time to cut the cake and the first dance! A great touch was banging into “house of fun” by Madness straight after the bride danced with her dad. The father of the groom was in the band too!!
A huge congratulations to an ace couple who never stopped smiling all day. I loved being Bella & marks Oddfellows Chester Wedding photographer. I just hope I’m back there soon to photograph more weddings at such an unusual and cool wedding venue. I even got a few Spotify playlists from the chef who had his brilliant tunes playing all day!
Below are my favourite photographs from Bella & Mark’s Oddfellows Chester wedding.
If you’d like to see more weddings photographed in a relaxed, natural way, you can read more about my candid wedding photography and how I approach documenting wedding days as they really happen.