Oh Me Oh My Wedding Photography, Liverpool

I have a gem of a wedding to share with you today, Lucy and Mike’s amazing city centre Liverpool wedding, at the Liverpool Town Hall and Oh Me Oh My, I have so much love for this couple, over the last year I have gotten to know Lucy and Mike, Lucy has helped me with my wedding planning and been there for general wedding chats <3 It was such a honour and so incredible to be apart of their day and captured their wedding memories. One of my favourite parts of their day was being treated to beautiful golden light on the OMOM roof terrace, it was a little moment of calm and magic, during their fantastic action packed day. Now over to Lucy who has kindly written all about their wedding day.

Where did we meet?
We have actually known each other for years, probably around 11 now! We met through intertwining friendships; I was in a band with some of the lads Michael was friends with, and then my closest friend from this group of lads got a girlfriend who happened to be Michael’s best friend – the maid of honour at our wedding! It’s slightly confusing because we all knew each other both independently and mutually, but the lovely thing is that we have some amazing friendships as a couple and independently with our friends. We ended up getting together when I asked on Facebook if anybody could recommend a good DSLR camera, and Michael private messaged me to offer me his discount as he works for Sony. We got chatting on Facebook, then over work emails, then found ourselves WhatsApping until late into the night… we decided to go for a drink to test the waters as we had been friends for so long we weren’t sure exactly what this was, and the rest is history! Michael claims he’d always fancied me from afar because he loves “a quirky girl with a fringe” and his offer of a discount was to get chatting to me, but I’m never sure if he just tells me this to butter me up when he wants something!

The Proposal

Michael double bluffed me here because he always said he would never ever propose in a public place, least of all a restaurant. So when he said he wanted to take me for a posh meal to celebrate my first term as a fully qualified music teacher, I thought nothing of it. He took me to Panoramic 34, Liverpool’s poshest restaurant with panoramic views of the river and surrounding areas. I remember him pointing out the fact that we could see The Wirral (where I grew up), Anfield (where he grew up) and Woolton (where we live now). Towards the end of the night when all the tables around us had vacated, he said “I’ve got you an early Christmas present, you can open it now” and produced a very ring box-shaped present from his jacket pocket. He got down on one knee and I just sort of went “WAAAAAH” and didn’t even say yes! Lots of free champagne and cocktails ensued, apparently I just sat there crying down the phone and asking people to be bridesmaid whilst he had to finish off all the expensive alcohol! He said he had really wanted to do it on the docks in Liverpool because he wanted me to be able to see over to my much loved homeland, but in reality I would have just moaned loads about being cold and the weather was terrible that week!

Most Memorable Part of the Wedding Day

There’s a few! The doors opening to the Small Ballroom in Liverpool Town Hall as the swell of One Day Like This by Elbow started to play… it was the first time the emotion of the day started to hit me and I said “Dad, I’m filling up, oh no, my make up!” and he chattered jibberish and sang silly songs to me as we walked down the aisle to stop me from crying.

One was when I got up with my ukulele to sing a song with our band as a big surprise for everyone. Michael knew about it, but the guests didn’t! We hired an awesome vintage style vocal harmony band, and they helped me to arrange You and I by Ingrid Michaelson with some beautiful harmonies, which I got up and performed. Everyone was really taken by surprise and I absolutely love that I got to play my ukulele in my wedding dress!

The other one was at the end of the night when All You Need is Love by The Beatles came on. Everyone got into a big circle, then Michael pulled me into the middle and we danced really stupidly and crazily as everyone smiled and sang around us, and I sang “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!” at him. Then, at our request, the final song of the night was Set You Free by NTrance as it used to always be the last song of the night at a dirty indie clubnight we all used to go to, so the segue from The Beatles into NTrance and seeing all of our friends throw their hands up in the air with delight, plus mums and nans and aunties all having a rave, shoes off and dresses held up… this moment was just absolutely joyous!

Outfits

I chose my wedding dress really early on, about 18 months before the wedding. At my first appointment at The White Closet in Didsbury, I had an amazing appointment with the ladies there who helped me envisage the things I could have changed and added to dresses to make them exactly what I wanted. I had on Lillie Mae by Charlotte Balbier, which they then informed me was going into the sample sale the next day… so after a swift glass of wine with my mum I snaffled it for a much cheaper price! It was in perfect condition and meant I could have more changed on it to make it my dream dress. The ridiculously talented seamstress there made elbow length sleeves, a big bow sash and added more buttons to it for me

My accessories came from a website called Vintage Styler. My friends from school set up this accessories brand a few years ago specialising in vintage style bridal accessories, but they have since branched out and do daytime bags and accessories too. Super beautiful stuff, plus I wanted to support my friends.

Michael had always said he wanted a Savile Row suit, but decided along the way he would prefer to have Ted Baker suit tailored to him. We took an awesome trip to London to buy the wedding ring to match my engagement ring, and to go to the Ted Baker flagship store in Covent Garden. Michael really enjoyed his afternoon trying on suits and he got so excited when he chose his ensemble; a navy suit with tweed waistcoat. We thought it was really great that he got to have a fun day choosing his suit – why should the bride be the only one to get pampered! We both adored our wedding outfits and we are so glad we allowed ourselves to spend a bit of money on them.

I wanted my bridesmaids to be mismatched but in the same colour family, and their dresses came from different places. Two of my maids were pregnant, so their dresses were ASOS maternity (with a few tweaks on one of them), and the other two came from a dressmaker in America on Etsy. I loved the way each bridesmaid had a dress that suited her and that she liked rather than forcing them all to wear one style that might not suit everyone.

Wedding Planning/Venues/Advice for other couples

We were amongst the last of our friends to get engaged, which we think has been a fantastic bonus because it’s given us the opportunity to go to lots of weddings and pinch everyone’s ideas! We had a very good idea of what works and what doesn’t, what matters and what doesn’t. We both knew we wanted a very relaxed and informal day, as neither of us are very formal people and like to have a laugh, so the idea of something stuffy and very official wasn’t ‘us’ at all. We talked about it a lot before we even got engaged as we ended up at 8 weddings a year some years! So when we got engaged, a lot of our decisions had already been made so it was just a case of picking up the phone to the venues and suppliers we had already decided on. I got a bit of ribbing from friends at times for being almost too eager and organised and doing things early, but as someone with a tendency to get anxious and stressed when under pressure I can recommend this approach 100%! We went with Oh Me Oh My because their approach to hosting weddings is very chilled and relaxed, plus I am have a bit of a vintage style and like to pretend I am in the 1960s most of the time, so it fitted our vibe perfectly. We chose Liverpool Town Hall as our marriage venue as we went to a wedding there and loved the grandeur of it, but also its rich Liverpool history as we both absolutely love Liverpool. It also fitted our want for a cool city centre wedding.

We had a modest budget; not small but definitely not large by today’s standards. We kept the reality of ‘it’s just one day’ in our heads, but also allowed ourselves to splurge on the things we thought mattered. We had always said photography was our top priority, as those pictures last forever and we put that at the top of our budget lists. We also said that it was our one day to feel amazing and not have to buy cheap clothes like we usually do, and that I would get a designer dress and Michael would have a bespoke Savile Row suit. Everything else we wanted to do as DIY as possible, not only to save money but also to put our own touch on everything. I also am not a particularly groomed or put-together sort of person; I like it when things are a bit scruffy and shabby and don’t match, so we had a very mix and match un-themed approach to our day!

We started the process being very guest orientated and booking things ‘for the guests’ because we thought it would be important to keep everyone entertained, but towards the end of the planning we found that what we wanted as a couple had got slightly lost, so ended up cancelling a few extras such as the photo booth and the extra roof terrace at our venue. We don’t regret any of these changes!

Music was a huge part of our day. I am an ex musician and now a music teacher, and Michael is really into music too. As a couple we have shared music and been to hundreds of gigs throughout our relationship, and it’s never not playing in our house! We had our table names as bands we had either seen live or meant a lot to us, accompanied with a lyric we felt summed us and our relationship up. Our reception playlist and ceremony playlist were both carefully crafted with songs that meant something to us, too. These little touches were probably not noticed by anyone else, but they were really fun to plan; the nights we sat listening to our favourite albums and picking out lyrics over a bottle of wine were some of the best parts of the planning process.

We definitely learned to do things because they meant something to us, and not just for other people. People say a lot of the small details of the day go unnoticed, which they might do, but if you got great pleasure doing or choosing them that’s what matters!

We had a lot of fun creating things ourselves. We designed all of our stationery ourselves on Photoshop, and my Mum helped me make all our favour boxes and decorate 120 jam jars for flowers. I got ideas off Pinterest and friends, and when I saw it all come together I felt so proud of us because it was created totally by us and from the heart – an amazing first achievement as husband and wife! Luckily I have great holidays as a teacher, and had some really nice half term crafternoons in the year before the wedding.

Suppliers

I felt like we touched so lucky with suppliers; every single one was awesome. We used a lot of local and small businesses as it’s something we are passionate about. We found our cake maker at our local farmer’s market – I am gluten free, and originally we weren’t going to have a cake because I wouldn’t have been able to eat any! We found Claire, an awesome baker who believes nobody should have to forego cake, and makes beautiful cakes for people with dietary requirements that you would never guess were missing something! She made us the most beautiful gluten free gin & tonic naked cake with a vanilla sponge layer decorated with flowers, and worked with us to get the price down as we struggled with budget at times. The great thing is we can go and see her at the farmer’s market whenever we like to buy a slice or two of her cake and instantly get to eat our wedding cake all over again! Her business is called Cake Liverpool and I would definitely recommend her.

Music was really important to us, and finding a DJ that wasn’t going to play the same old bad wedding party songs or rubbish pop music was a priority! We found Tom at a wedding fair at our venue, and when I asked him “can you make our wedding sound like a mix between The Cavern in the 60s and a dirty indie basement club in the mid-2000s, mixed in with some guilty 90s dance and Britpop?” he grinned and said “of course!” We knew then he’d be perfect, and he did an awesome job – the dancefloor wasn’t empty once. Tom is from Bear Hug Events and also does photobooths.

I got my dress from The White Closet in Didsbury. I was apprehensive about wedding shopping as I’m not a very glamorous girl; I like my vintage and I’m also a bit scruffy! I imagined me being in wedding dress shops to be a bit like scenes from Pretty Woman, but when I found The White Closet I knew I’d be OK! They have dresses for brides who don’t want to necessarily look really ‘bridal’ in the traditional sense, and have loads of artistic styling expertise to help you tailor your look. I felt really at home there and it was really to find a ‘me’ dress. I knew I wanted Charlotte Balbier because of her beautiful lace work, and she did not disappoint!

Michael’s cousin and godmother Julie did our flowers. She isn’t a practicing florist anymore and was incredibly nervous about our flowers as she didn’t want to get them wrong, but she actually made our wedding look like the wedding of our dreams and even better than we could have envisaged! She totally got my mismatched, wild, just-picked-from-the-garden vision. It was also lovely to work with a member of the family too rather than a big shop.

I used small businesses on Etsy for a lot of the craft and accessories. I found an ace lady who makes beautiful bespoke stamps, and got all of our stamps for our invitations from her at Noolibird.

My hair and make up were done by my own hairdresser, Phill at Electric Hair (who also does Michael’s hair) and Lucy of Lucy Mc Make Up. Lucy did my make up years ago when I was in my band and I knew she’d understand my 60s flicks and red lipstick vision, which she did amazingly. Phill has been cutting my hair for years and laughs at me for constantly bringing in the same photo of Zooey Deschanel; but he was awesome throughout the process doing things like sourcing hair extensions, sewing the clips on them and giving me lots of fringe trims in the run up to the wedding! They were both great on the day too, running around fixing other people’s hair and make up, cutting tags out of dresses and pouring drinks for bridesmaids.

And of course, the lovely Lucy! Having Lucy photograph our wedding was like having another bridesmaid or a friend in the room with us. We never felt awkward, we laughed constantly and she was fantastic at getting people together for shots. She even risked her life by backing into busy rush hour Liverpool traffic to get the perfect angle! We are overjoyed with our sneak peek and cannot wait to see the rest of our photos – thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

All Content copyrighted to Lucy G Photography – Oh Me Oh My, Liverpool Wedding Photography