Alex & Tom
Not every wedding needs to be a massive production.
Huge bridal parties, elaborate schedules, spending six hours being marched around for photographs.
Sometimes its about having the people you actually want there, somewhere you genuinely like, some good food and a Dalmatian called Daisy.
Alex and Tom's wedding was exactly that.
The morning started at Alex and Tom's home in Dalton, near Skelmersdale.
There wasn't a huge crowd getting ready. Just Alex, her mum, her sister and her sister-in-law.
And I love that.
There's something about photographing someone getting ready at home that makes the whole thing feel loads more personal.
It's familiar, comfortable and there's none of the frantic feeling you can sometimes get when you've got a room full of bridesmaids, suppliers and relatives all trying to find somewhere to stand.
Just family, a few nerves and the excitement of knowing that you're about to head off and get married.
From there, it was over to Southport Town Hall for the ceremony.
Around 40 guests joined Alex and Tom for a beautiful ceremony.
No need for a massive spectacle. Just the two of them, their closest friends and family and the small matter of getting married.
Which, when you strip away all the wedding industry nonsense, is sort of the whole point.
After the ceremony we headed outside for some photographs around the Town Hall.
We took some time for photographs of the two of them together, but without turning it into a full-on photoshoot.
A few portraits, a bit of wandering around and then back to the people who'd actually come to celebrate with them.
We zipped over to The Wayfarer in Parbold for the reception.
The whole afternoon carried on in exactly the same relaxed way as the rest of the day.
There was a buffet, plenty of time for everyone to catch up and some very good-looking cakes from a local baker.
No complicated formalities.
Just people eating, drinking, chatting and generally having a good time.
That's the stuff I want to photograph.
The bits that happen between the big moments are usually where the personality of a wedding really lives.
Obviously, we couldn't get through the day without a bit of confetti!
Once everyone had a drink and settled in, we got outside for some confetti photographs before taking Alex and Tom away for a few more photographs together.
The light started doing its thing; golden hour gave us some lovely warm light, so we got some shots of the two of them while the sun was dropping.
And then there was Daisy!
I'm a big fan of dogs appearing in wedding photographs, & Daisy definitely added a bit of her own personality to the photographs.
I loved Alex and Tom's day, I'd photographed Alex's sister's wedding a few years previous - so it was brill to be with old pals again! That definitely added to the relaxed feel of the day from my point of view!
The day moved naturally from getting ready at home, to the ceremony at Southport Town Hall, to food and drinks at The Wayfarer, with a bit of confetti, some golden hour photographs and a Dalmatian thrown in for good measure.
That's a bloody good wedding day in my book.
Looking for a Southport wedding photographer?
If you're getting married at Southport Town Hall, The Wayfarer in Parbold, or somewhere else around Southport, Lancashire and the North West, I'd love to hear what you're planning.
I'm a Lancashire wedding photographer and I photograph weddings in a relaxed, documentary style — basically, I want to photograph you actually having your wedding rather than spending the whole day making you pose for it.
The important stuff will happen whether I'm pointing a camera at it or not.
I'm just there to make sure you remember it.
Take a look at my wedding photography packages, or get in touch and tell me what you've got planned.