I seem to be photographing more and more weddings local to me in Heaton Moor recently. I love chatting with couples and realising ‘you live ten minutes down the road from us!’ There seems to be a growing sense of community in Stockport and The Heatons now and it’s great to see couples choosing local suppliers for their wedding.
You can’t get much closer to home than good old Stockport Town Hall, which is a cracking building. Jem & Tim had their ceremony on the stunning marble staircase which really shows just how grand the town hall is inside (if you’re looking for a town hall venue, I’d really recommend it!)
After an intimate ceremony with just close family and friends, myself Jem & Tim headed to the Parsonage Gardens for a few photos and then straight on to Wine and Wallop in Didsbury for the big do.
After being together for ten years, Jem & Tim decided to plan their whole wedding in two months which I absolutely love. They just wanted a relaxed day surrounded by the people they love and it was perfect.
I see more and more couples choosing a town hall ceremony followed by a bar/restaurant/private dining situation for the reception and I think it’s a brilliant idea if you’re wanting a relaxed wedding day.

A few words from Jem & Tim:

”How did you two meet?: We went to the same primary and secondary school in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. In secondary school we were both part of school bands/orchestras. I played clarinet and Tim would rock up with his violin and not play it, just came to mess around. Our music teacher loved beer and trains, so every now and then he organised a music trip to Austria or Belgium, where all the school kids would drag their instruments abroad, to play in a bandstand for two hours, and then run around getting up to mischief.
Austria 2008, was a landmark trip for us. Tim launched a snowball at the back of my head to get my attention. We became childhood sweethearts. We broke up before we left school, but he was the one that got away, and we rekindled in 2013.

Describe the proposal!: Tim had been a pilot for years, and finally secured his dream job - long haul with British Airways. Sadly he was made redundant during covid, and something we’d taken for granted was pulled beneath our feet. I really regretted not ever getting on one of his flights. After covid BA asked him to return to short haul. And when he had a trip to Amman, the furthest he’d fly short haul, we both decided we would make the most out of it and I’d go with him. It was a treat for our 9 year anniversary. We spent night one in the crew hotel, woke up super early and met our driver that Tim had organised. He drove us 4 hours to Petra, stopping off for scenic views and traditional food, and we walked round the wonder of the world.
We met the driver a couple of hours later and he drove us onto the Dead Sea where we had planned our next hotel. It was dark by the time we got there. Tim had booked us in to a huge suite with a balcony overlooking the sea. I was really excited to wake up and look outside in the day light. We booked in for a massage in the morning at the hotel, and came back and sat on the balcony after it in our swim clothes, ready to go to the sea.

Tim got down on one knee and asked if I’d be his wife- I said WHAT about a million times. He said - you don’t have to? But of course I wanted to. I was just super shocked. We went down to the Dead Sea and floated. It was very surreal. We had some drinks at the pool bar, and headed back to the crew hotel. We flew home the next day. The captain did a little shout out on the way back to say that the first officer had proposed on the trip. It was super lovely.

What is special about your venue?: Getting engaged in December, and then married two months later is typical us. We don’t do much planning, we just crack on with life.
We wanted to keep things super simple, super easy and really local. We thought Stockport Town Hall would be a great no nonsense place to get married. Neither of us are religious, and our first house which we live in now is in Stockport.
Wine & Wallop just seemed to fit also. It was the first wine bar we had discovered moving into the area, although we haven’t been there an awful lot. The venue is pretty, doesn’t need much dressing, the staff are lovely and relaxed, and the venue should feel full even though we aren’t inviting a huge amount of people.”

Venue: Wine and Wallop Didsbury

Hair : Doing my own hair with friend Zoe Philippa

Makeup : Friend, Lucy Woody

Cake: Tims sister Creativipea, topper is from Rosewed

Flowers: Flower Lounge for bridal bouquet and buttonholes