MEOLS HALL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY: RUSTIC SHABBY CHIC WEDDING

Meols Hall Shabby Chic Wedding Photography

If you like shabby chic you’ll love Ellie and Paul’s rustic Tithe Barn Meols Hall wedding Churchtown Southport.

Liverpool couple Ellie and Paul met whilst working together at the Lloyds Bar in Concert Square. They planned a rustic themed wedding and even travelled in a vintage VW camper-van when they got married at the beautiful Meols Hall, Tithe Barn in Southport.

The newlyweds were looking for natural-looking wedding photography with a touch of creativity and chose Wes Simpson Weddings because that is exactly my speciality.

By choosing me to photograph their day, the couple wasn’t away from their family and friends for too long. Nothing was too staged or over posed and every photo is a true insight into their wedding and a timeless reminder of the best day of their life.

Here is their story…

 

About the couple

Hi, we are Ellie and Paul Borrows from Knotty Ash and West Derby, Liverpool. Paul and I met when we both worked at The Lime Kiln Lloyds Bar in Liverpool city centre.

We had been together for nearly 9 years when we got married at Meols Hall Southport. It was a rustic barn style wedding with exposed brick, oak beams, pastel highlights and baby’s breath flowers.

How did he propose?

Paul proposed whilst we were on holiday in Gran Canaria. We had just come back to our apartment from a lovely meal on the beach. Paul walked out onto the balcony to look at the stars (he’s a science geek). He then called me out onto the balcony to look at the stars as it was a clear night, when I looked up at the sky, he bent down on one knee and asked would I marry him.

Bridal preparations at the Vincent Hotel Southport

We got ready at the Penthouse Suite in the Vincent Hotel, Southport. The atmosphere was really laid back. Being with Paul for so long, I have become extremely laid back. This was definitely a good thing because on the day of our wedding, the elevator had broke and I had to go down the service elevator.

There was also a small mix up with my maid of honour’s bouquet. This was sorted by the time we reached the wedding venue. My hairstylist actually said she couldn’t believe how laid back I was.

The day was just so easy and stress-free which was really bizarre. In fact, the VW Campervan driver thought that Paul was a wedding guest instead of the groom because of how laid back and at ease he was.

Anna Sorrano wedding gown

I am quite a tomboy so when it came to getting my gown, I wanted a nice dress but I saw more value in my photos than spending thousands on the dress. That being said, I went to Wed2B at the Pier Head and instantly fell in love with a nude lace mermaid style dress by Anna Sorrano.

Again, being a tomboy, I struggle with walking in heels so knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on designer shoes as I would want to change into flats as soon as possible. I bought my heels from ASOS and flip flops from Accessorise.

Bridesmaid dresses and Grooms wear

I wanted to keep with the rustic theme of my Meols Hall wedding with the bridesmaid colours so I opted for a dusky pink with a rose gold accent. Paul opted for a burgundy suit (minus the suit jacket) and a dusky pink shirt.
The best man wore a very pale dirty yellow shirt with a navy blue suit. 

Southport wedding venue

The ceremony took place at the Tithe Barn Meols Hall, a historical manor house in Churchtown, Merseyside, on the edge of Southport. We chose this wedding venue as we love anything rustic and it fitted in perfectly with our décor and taste.

On the day Meols Hall was beautifully decorated with baby’s breath flowers. Paul even added his own unique personal touch with Deer Antlers on the top table!

Tithe Barn wedding ceremony Meols Hall

I really loved that our daughter was so involved in the ceremony, she handed us our vows and walked down the aisle with us as we left as man and wife.

One of the stand out moments for me during the ceremony was caught on camera by Wes our photographer – a moment which he calls “an in-between moment” and something we didn’t even see ourselves or knew had happened.

The photo which is one of our favourites is of my uncle and nephew holding hands during the ceremony. My uncle is like a father to me and stands as a grandad on my side of the family.

You can see the love between grandad and grandson in this photo. The emotion is so pure and I’m so happy we have this photo. It just sums their relationship up completely.

What really made us well up was how much it affected Wes too. Wes shared with us that he had to take a step back for a couple of moments before taking more photos because it reminded him of his relationship with his own grandad.

That just shows you the power that a photograph can have. To have someone who is essentially a stranger feel emotion towards a moment of your story captured in an image is truly beautiful.

 

Meols Hall wedding reception

After the ceremony, the guests headed to the cobbled courtyard within the grounds of Tithe Barn at Meols Hall for a drinks reception of Prosecco. The sun was shining perfectly as guests enjoyed vintage ice cream being served from an old fashioned bicycle.

The food was provided by Carringtons Catering. For our starters, we had goats cheese and caramelised onion tart. Our Main was roast stuffed chicken with dauphinoise potatoes, seasonal veg and white wine and tarragon sauce. For our dessert we had a duo of creme brulee with shortbread and apple crumble with custard.

Paul took pride in creating the classical music soundtrack of our favourite songs to be used for background music which was played during the wedding breakfast.

We had speeches from my sister, Mandy, who gave me away and my maid of honour, Kira. Both speeches were just lovely. My sister insisted on embarrassing me by revealing my love for Leo Sayer when I was young.

We also had a speech from Pauls best man, Gareth… let’s just say he was nervous and leave it at that. Ha! Paul also said a speech which was so sweet and he thanked all of our guests for coming.

In the night time, we had a disco. Our DJ was Colin at Reality Disco, based in Southport. We absolutely loved him because he played all of our favourite music like Bruce Springsteen and Prince.

 

Meols Hall wedding photography

After the ceremony, we made time for some relaxed but beautiful wedding photographs taken on the stunning grounds of Meols Hall.

Wes’s approach to wedding photography is about 75% documentary, (creatively and discreetly capturing the day as it unfolds, producing images that are not just beautiful with nice lighting and blurry backgrounds but are soulful and meaningful as well).

Of course, we included some posed formals and family group shots, but this took no more than 20 minutes. Meols Hall offered plenty of photographic opportunities from simple portraits in the Courtyard to sunset strolls around the picturesque grounds.

We chose Wes Simpson Weddings to photograph our Meols Hall wedding because we wanted a wedding photographer who would allow us to be true to ourselves and capture us at our best… And without too much posing or time away from family and friends.

We found Wes through recommendation, we viewed his website and fell in love with his portfolio of work. He made the process of booking him easy.

On the wedding day, he photographed things we didn’t even know had happened! We now have a beautiful storybook wedding album of our day. The album is printed on ‘fine art paper’ which has a slight texture to it, this perfectly complements the feel of the album and our rustic Meoals Hall wedding theme.

What I love most about our photos from Meols Hall is that they capture genuine emotion. Of course, we had the standard group shots but it was the photos that Wes took whilst people weren’t expecting them that we love the most.

Wes just has this talent of being able to capture pure emotion in one split second. As another bride had said about Wes, he seems to capture “the moments between the moments.” There couldn’t be a truer statement about his work.

I would 100% recommend Wes to photography your wedding. You can tell he absolutely loves his job and it shows in every photo he took.

It’s so difficult to pick just one photo as our favourite as we have quite a few; but the one of Paul and I belly laughing in the field, I have absolutely no idea what Paul had said to me at that moment, but this is how Paul has me on a daily basis. Our lives are full of laughter and I adore the photo!

Meols Hall rustic shabby chic wedding

We chose Meols Hall because we wanted a nice laid back setting. Paul and I love anything rustic and this fitted perfectly with our taste. We also loved that it was out the way from the hustle and bustle of the city.

We planned a simple day, we didn’t want anything rushed and didn’t want to feel any stress on the day, which obviously is a huge ask for a wedding day but I definitely feel like we achieved this.

My favourite wedding details were pretty much everything that I had hand made myself. I had found an old painters ladder which I sanded and painted with chalk paint. This was one particular item I was really proud of.

Another detail that I loved was our Unplugged Wedding posterboard. I had been to quite a few weddings in the lead up to ours and was really annoyed at the sea of blue screens I saw during the ceremony, it ruined the vibe and I guess a lot of shots for the official wedding photographers.

You pay a lot of money for a really great quality photographer, like Wes, and I knew I personally would have been so annoyed if the majority of my photos were ruined by people stuck behind the screen of their phone and not enjoying the moments with us.

Having an “unplugged wedding” was a really good touch and everyone followed our wishes and I am so grateful for that.

Meols Hall wedding vendors

Wedding vendors that helped make our dream Meols Hall wedding come true include:

The Vincent Hotel in Southport. Makeup by Jeanette Flynne MUA, hair by Kathleen, Wedding Car: Fun Campers. Wedding Venue – Meols Hall (obviously) Ice cream trike was Rainbow Treats Trike Catering and we had Carringtons Hog Roast and Church Town Florist.

 

Wedding planning tip’s

If you’re planning a wedding at Meols Hall or elsewhere, my advice would be to try and take everything in your stride. Don’t get bogged down and stressed with the little details.

Of course, we all have this idea of the perfect day but you have to remember why you are doing this in the first place, to marry the love of your life. Everything else is essentially padding.

It’s nice if everything runs smoothly but so long as the main event has happened that’s all that mattered. Our day ran so smooth, without any major hiccups and was completely stress-free and I genuinely believe that it went so smoothly because we weren’t stressing about timings, schedules and the small stuff.

Since our Meols Hall wedding, we have had our wedding baby! who was born on 26th May and we have named her Mina. We are enjoying being parents of two amazing little girls and look forward to our future adventures together.

Meols Hall wedding photographer Southport

Most couples worry about wedding photography, awkward poses and it eating into their day. I photograph you at your best and the moments that matter so that you have meaningful pictures and a wedding you love.

Take a look at my portfolio for examples of work, the blog for the latest weddings and my approach page to photographing your wedding. 

If you’re planning a wedding in Southport and looking for a wedding photographer. Contact me today with any questions, to schedule an appointment or to book me to be your Meols Hall wedding photographer.