Tom & Maria - An intimate, emotional Hillbark Hotel Wedding - Wirral Wedding Photography
I will love you forever; whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I’ll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I find you again… I’ll be looking for you, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me.
(Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass)
What makes a wedding? At it’s very core, it is simply: two people in love, exchanging vows that profess this love and commitment led by an officient and witnessed by those entrusted with the task. Expanded to a modern age, a wedding is where you dress to the nines, you eat and drink and dance and make merry - the vows are exulted with a dazzling celebration that months, yes even years, are spent planning and plotting and agonising over the details that will be immortalised by a professional team up to the task of transforming your vision into tangible memories. A wedding is florals and scents and meticulous choices - it is a veritable theatrical production with many many cogs and spinning plates that are coordinated and adorned to the very hilt. It’s being in the middle of a mob of your favourite people, arms thrown around each other, shouting Bruno Mars lyrics at the top of your lungs past the point of caring how dirty your dress is or that your makeup has been kissed or sweated off because it’s your favourite day with your favourite people and at this moment you are INFINITE.
What is a wedding in the midst of a global pandemic? Start again at the beginning.
Weddings in the time of COVID are something new - they are stripped of their finery, carrying a touch more brevity than merriment. A wedding now, as I’m slowly learning, is filled with no less joy than before but now that joy is concentrated - nay crystallised - into it’s very essence. A wedding now is simply two people and I forget the rest.
Maria and Tom should have got married at The Holford Estate in April…but we remember what happened. Maria and Tom then were maybe going to get married in September but family circumstances aside from pandemics meant that there was no more perfect time than the present to say those vows. Perhaps not the big jolly day initially envisioned, yesterday’s very intimate Hillbark Hotel ceremony and backyard ‘covid-kosher’ mini-celebration was no less joyous…if anything the joy and love were palpable, wrapping our lovers in a snug cloak of happiness as they said their vows before a pared-back guest list of only dearest friends and relatives (less than thirty, I promise). Readings, rather than chair-covers, were meticulously chosen and curated to suit the size and solemnity of the day. Aside from the appropriate signage, hand sanitiser and gentle reminders to keep safe distance, this was hardly the sterile environment I had been apprehensive of. There were happy tears and a few a bit more bittersweet remembering challenges and loss from earlier in the year, some of which will remain for the forseeable future. The newlyweds are both doctors and their pragmatism at the many changes to plan was breathtaking.
I’ve always been quite candid here about how much I love my job, how I understand the duty of care to the couple who so wonderfully include me in the proceedings and entrust their memories to me.
What is a wedding in the time of COVID-19? If you’re brave, a wedding can still be the day of your dreams.
Please take a sneak peek at Tom & Maria’s beautiful wedding day featuring florals by Sasha at Sassflower, bridal hair (and makeup guidance!) by Lisa Simms, a caped wedding gown of dreams by Ronald Joyce (alterations by Button & Bride), lad swag by Lloyd Hall Bespoke and fabulous wedding coordination by Lisa & Craig at The Hillbark Hotel on the Wirral.
