The Pines Hotel in Chorley, Lancashire was the venue for our wedding on Saturday. Yet another wedding photography booking that came from a referral from previous clients.
Our day started early with us arriving at the bride's mothers house at 10am to photograph the bride and her 7 (yes 7!) bridesmaids as they prepared for the wedding ceremony.
The wedding itself took place at St Joseph's Church in Darwen and we saw a situation unfold that emphasises how important it is to be professional when it comes to wedding photography/videography. I have mentioned many times on this blog that churches are often very 'careful' what they allow photographers to do in the church building as many priests/vicars have had bad experiences in dealing with wedding photographers/videographers in the past. As we always do, we introduced ourselves to the priest BEFORE the wedding ceremony and put his mind at rest about our discreet style and professionalism. As a result of showing this courtesy we were allowed to photograph from wherever we wanted during the wedding and so were able to get some great shots. The videographers however, didn't do this and started to set up their equipment in the church immediately prior to the ceremony without first speaking with the priest. As a result they were told to stay in just one place at the side of the church and were greatly hampered as a result. The moral of the story is – Always show courtesy to the person running the ceremony and ask permission to photograph during the ceremony!
The weather prior to the wedding was truly awful – it wasn't rain, it was a monsoon! but just before the bride arrived the rain stopped and so she was able to walk into the church in comfort.
After the ceremony we all headed to The Pines Hotel, near Chorley in Lancashire. The Pines Hotel is a strange venue. If you were to drive past it, you wouldn't think it was a place where you would want to get married. But ……. drive around the back of the hotel and there is a beautiful function room and manicured gardens, perfect for us wedding photographers. The weather had improved so much that drink were served outdoors. We made good use of the gardens at The Pines, to photograph the formal family pictures (the bride and groom had requested quite a few – which is unusual as our usual style is 'reportage' and not formal), but there was plenty of time between arriving at the Hotel and sitting down to eat, so were able to photograph them all and still leave the happy couple with an hour to relax with their guests and family.
I stayed until quite late, only leaving after the first dance and then headed back to Cheshire to start processing the pictures. We took over 4,000 during the day and so it took us a little longer than usual to get the pictures online. (We usually post the wedding to the internet the day after the ceremony, but with this wedding it was 48 hours – sorry !)
A few pictures from the wedding and of The Pines Hotel can be seen below along with our usual video montage.
Website : The Pines Hotel Wedding Venue in Lancashire
Contact The Pines Hotel
Preston Road
Clayton-le-Woods
Chorley
Lancashire
PR6 7ED
Email: mail@thepineshotel.co.uk
Tel: 01772 338551
Fax: 01772 629002
by Mike McCann
no comments