A Relaxed Sefton Park Liverpool Wedding Story
Natalie and Tom’s Liverpool destination wedding photography.
“We don’t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason.” Natalie and Tom’s Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography story is a testament to this statement.
It’s not often you get to photograph a destination wedding in your own city, but after Natalie and Tom reached out to me, that’s kind of what happened!
Natalie is a Dominican-American bride from New York. Tom is a Wiltshire-born Englishman whose family lives in Wales. They met in South Korea and got marrying in Liverpool.
The day began with bridal preparations in the city. Natalie’s mother arranged a vintage wedding car as a surprise. Natalie’s grateful attitude was priceless.
The wedding ceremony took place at St Clare’s Church, and there were lovely speeches as well as tender moments of love and laughter.
Liverpool’s iconic Palm House provided the perfect backdrop for some natural and relaxed portraits, adding to the couple’s Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography story.
In keeping with a global theme, the wedding reception was held at Fazenda, a Brazilian restaurant in Liverpool. Photos of the speeches and in-impromptu dancing are some of the most heartwarming moments I’ve had the pleasure of capturing.
Here is their Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography story…
A New York girl, an English guy and a South Korean proposal
Hi! We’re Tom and Natalie and this is our Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography story.
Tom is a secondary school science teacher from Salisbury in Wiltshire and Natalie is a school office clerk from New York, USA.
We met 8 years ago in Cheongju, South Korea where we were both teaching English. We’d known each other through a mutual friend but it was at a Halloween party that we got together.
Natalie was the singer in a covers band who was performing at the party that night; Tom was entranced by their Dragula cover and ended up being Natalie’s groupie.
We spent several years living abroad, not always in the same country. In April of 2019 we were back living in South Korea and one night after dinner, between Queer Eye episodes on Netflix, Tom proposed.
We hadn’t decided on a ring, so Tom pulled out two silver hoop earrings, Natalie’s go-to accessories, from behind the couch pillows.
One month later, we celebrated our first wedding by signing our official paperwork at the city hall in Seoul.
Separated for a year!
The plan was to quickly follow up our civil wedding with a proper family wedding celebration back in the UK or US…
Little did we know, shortly after leaving Korea the pandemic hit and we would be separated for over a year whilst waiting for Natalie’s spousal visa to be processed for the UK.
Wedding plans were put on hold. Natalie finally got to the UK at the end of 2020 and joined Tom who was doing his teacher training at a university in Liverpool.
Not knowing when international travel and large groups would be less restrictive, we decided to tone down our wedding plans and have a small religious ceremony in the summer.
Tom’s mum and dad had retired to rural Wales by this point and had the space to be able to host Natalie’s parents and siblings for the 10 days of quarantine they would need. Flights were booked and tentative plans were made.
Our luck started to change the month before the wedding and so did travel restrictions. Natalie’s family was able to spend 3 weeks in the UK and meet Tom’s parents for the first time.
Despite a few cultural differences here and there, Natalie’s Dominican American family and Tom’s English (but living in Wales) family got on great!
A Catholic Church Wedding Sefton Park Liverpool
For the wedding, it was important for Natalie to be married in the Catholic Church. We chose St. Clare’s, a beautiful church between our Wirral home and Sefton Park, Liverpool, where we’d spent most of our time during the lockdown.
The wedding was beautiful and intimate with Tom and Natalie’s immediate family, Natalie’s best friend Danielle, and Tom’s aunt, uncle and cousins in attendance.
Natalie had found her dress at a family friend’s bridal shop just before the pandemic and had it sent over from the States. She wore her beloved cousin’s wedding shoes and emerald earrings, Tom’s birthstone.
Natalie walked down the aisle with photos of her grandparents and uncle attached to her bouquet. Tom wore a beautiful blue wool suit that matched the jewel tones featured throughout the wedding.
Natural and Relaxed Sefton Park Wedding Photos
After the ceremony at St Clare’s, we wanted to spend some alone time together as man and wife. Just to let everything sink in and have a little bit of quality time together.
So Natalie popped on a pair of her favourite Converse shoes and we went with our photographer Wes to Sefton Park, Liverpool for a little walk around.
We love the photos, they are so natural and relaxed, but they also tell a story and Wes captured genuine warmth and personality.
The Sefton Park Palm House is such a beautiful and unique building and it made for the perfect backdrop to our wedding photography portrait session. We were lucky with the weather too!
After the wedding, Wes provided an online gallery with all our photos; this meant that we could easily share the day with family and friends all over the world.
The feedback for our Sefton Park Liverpool wedding has been fantastic!
Destination Wedding Photographer Liverpool
While searching for Wedding Photographers in Liverpool on the internet. We came across Wes’s website and immediately fell in love with his work and approach to wedding photography.
We discovered that Wes was a Liverpool and destination wedding photographer; even though we now live in Wirral, my heritage and visiting family all meant that this would be a destination wedding!
As a result, hiring an experienced Liverpool destination wedding photographer to document our special day was a no-brainer.
We didn’t budget for a wedding album, but after seeing the pictures we knew they were too good to sit on a hard drive.
After the wedding, Wes designed a beautiful storybook album, we loved it so much that we upgraded to Wes’s signature album collection and added parent books. It really is a very special book.
Sefton Park Palm House
Sefton Park was where we spent a lot of time when we first arrived in Liverpool, it holds a special place in our hearts. We wanted to include some iconic Liverpool landmarks in our wedding photography, so the Palm House was a no brainer.
The Palm House itself has that lovely Victorian design aesthetic – in fact, I read that it’s entirely made of iron and glass, which is why it looks so beautiful.
When they see our beautiful Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photos, my New York family and friends always ask about the Palm House.
If the beauty of the Palm House wasn’t enough, it also has an intriguing history. The statues at each corner depict inspiring cultural figures from the time period, and they fit in perfectly with the overall feel of the gardens.
Research shows The Palm House sustained significant damage during the war – thanks to a number of charitable works and many dedicated volunteers, we still have the Palm House to enjoy!
We loved having a little walk around Sefton Park on our wedding day and including the famous Palm House in our Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography.
Are you thinking about getting married at Palm House in Sefton Park, Liverpool? Get in touch if you want relaxed and creative wedding photography at Palm House or anywhere else in Europe. It will be an honour to do the same for you!
Liverpool Wedding Reception at Fazenda
After the ceremony, both families went into the city for cocktails and dinner at our favourite Brazilian restaurant, Fazenda in Liverpool.
Fazenda Liverpool exudes elegance in a setting rich in history and culture, located in the lovely surroundings of Exchange Flags in the heart of the Business District.
The wedding party enjoyed continuous table-side service of the finest grilled meats, controlled by a fun double-sided card. The green side instructs (meat chefs) to bring out skewers of freshly prepared meats one at a time, whereas the red side indicates a resting point.
A delectable selection of Argentinian and Brazilian hot side dishes, as well as an array of fresh salads and vegetables, were served directly to our table upon request to complement our Fazenda experience.
Everyone had nothing but rave reviews for the staff and the meal at Fazenda. We were well taken care of and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. It was a great addition to our Sefton Park Liverpool wedding celebration.
A highlight of the night at the restaurant was our cake, baked by the talented duo at Catherine Brady Cake Parlour in Aigburth. The cake was vanilla with a guava filling (a nod to Natalie’s heritage) and it had a gold map of South Korea on the front. The cake was a hit!
Surrounding the cake were woollen heart-shaped favours handmade by Tom’s mom, Liz. She made them with wool from his dad’s sheep! What a lovely addition to the day!
Though we didn’t have a typical reception, it was still a perfect evening. Natalie even got to sneak in Latin dance with her dad in a corner of the restaurant. We had such an enjoyable day.
Looking at our Sefton Park Liverpool wedding pictures now, we’re reminded of how lucky we are to have had the wedding that we did, with our closest family supporting us.
The day looked very different from what we had originally imagined when living in Korea, but we did it. And had beautiful Liverpool sunshine all day long!
Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography slideshow
Natalie and Tom’s Sefton Park Liverpool wedding photography highlights slideshow. 30 natural and relaxed wedding photos from their wedding in Liverpool by photographer Wes Simpson.
Sit back, press play and enjoy.
Liverpool Wedding Photographer
Natalie and Tom’s “destination wedding in Liverpool” was a lot of fun to photograph. This may not have been the day they had envisioned while in Koria, but what a fantastic story they have to tell.
Weddings, for me, are about our hearts and who they beat for. I’m thrilled that their family and friends were able to join them in Liverpool, and that I was able to capture their special day.
“We don’t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason.” Natalie and Tom’s Sefton Park wedding photography story is a testament to this.
If you’re looking for a Liverpool wedding photographer to capture the magic of your day or planning a wedding elsewhere and require a destination wedding photographer, please feel free to contact me, I’d love to hear from you.
