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Chetham’s Wedding Photography – Pari & Alan

Bride walking down stairs at Chethams Library in Manchester

It rains in Manchester. Fact. Especially in the Autumn.

So when you are organising a wedding the sensible thing to do is not to rely on using any outside space as part of your day. This was a great plan from Pari and Alan when putting together their Chetham’s Library wedding day. It was a late afternoon wedding and once in the venue we could all remain inside and enjoy the amazing 15th century building that houses the one of the oldest free public libraries in the UK.

As a venue it’s probably not the first choice for wedding photographers as there is not really any natural light and the sandstone walls don’t really bounce around what light there is. But I think that wedding photography should reflect the day and I never want to ‘fight the light’, I want to use it. The 15th century building creates a great atmosphere and that’s what I wanted to capture in the photography – dark corridors, vaulted rooms, textured walls – and it obviously was a place that Pari & Alan chose, so celebrate it.

Weddings are about people and Pari and Alan’s wedding was also about a marriage of cultures. British and Greek. (Plus about 14 other nations that were also represented on the guest list.)

I met up with Pari in the afternoon for her wedding preparations at The Principal Hotel on Oxford Street in the heart of Manchester City Centre. It was an amazing high ceiling room that was a present from her thoughtful sister Koko.

It was then a dash across the city to Chetham’s Library for the wedding ceremony and the rest of the day.

Alan and Pari wanted a relaxed, stress free wedding and I think they really achieved this. Organising the day in a short amount of time they’d managed to concentrate on the important things that support a marriage. Family and friends and good food(!). There was no ‘sit down’ meal but a constant stream of wonderful canapés and bowls of tasty Greek salads kept appearing and being devoured by guests.

I’ve seldom seen a wedding with a constantly full dance floor but from the time the Jazz Band struck up at 8pm till I left at 10.30pm (just as everyone was enjoying some Greek dancing) I don’t think there was less than 50% of the guests on their feet. It was a cracking day.

Here’s a little preview of Pari and Alan’s Chetham’s wedding photography – I’m looking forward to editing the rest of the wedding in the coming weeks.