Media City Photographer // Damson Restaurant Wedding // Kate & Simon – Manchester Wedding Photographer

media city photographer damson restaurant

Media City is a new venue for me as a wedding photographer. Damson Restaurant is one of the new eateries which has popped up in this fast growing area of Manchester and this was their first wedding reception. I also work as a freelance TV editor at Media City so to be a photographer there was really cool and made me look at the area in a totally different way.

The day began at Kate’s mum’s house in the South of the city and I was working along side the amazingly talented Philip White who was shooting the video for Kate and Simon. Kate was getting ready for the wedding with her bridesmaids, mum, dad and grandmother. It was a great atmosphere in the house, very relaxed with no signs of stress or tension which can quite often happen on the morning of a wedding.

Simon was waiting for Kate at Chorlton Methodist Church which is just around the corner from Kate’s mum’s house. This is an area of Manchester that I used to live in so today’s wedding was really like working from home! Chorlton is a leafy suburb in South Manchester with plenty of cool bars and restaurants, it’s also one of the most expensive parts of Manchester to live in! That’s why I’ve moved to Stretford, much more reasonable house prices.

The forecast was for rain all day so we did really well to avoid it until Kate and Simon got in the car after their matrimonial ceremony and then the heavens opened and it threw it down, like proper torrential rain which stopped as soon as we got to Media City! Perfect timing! We managed to do a few outside portraits and a couple of groups but Kate and Simon wanted a very natural set of photos so we kept these to the bare minimum and I spent the vast majority of the day shooting purely documentary photography which I really love and enjoy. It is quite a dark venue in places so my cameras had to be at their best and I shot most of the day with my prime lenses wide open to get as much of the available light as possible. For the evening dancefloor shots I set up two speedlights on stands beside the DJ pointed at the dancefloor. With a small aperture of f18 I achieved the classic starburst dancefloor shots that are quite popular today and the dancefloor action was spot on for some great photographs. Have a look below at some of my favourites from the day.

the wedding dress hangs on the wardrobe the bride's amazing flowers a bridesmaid laughs heartily kate's mum talks to her in the kitchen a profile photograph of the bride kate's grandmother smiles for the camera a close up of kate's eyes kate's dad ties his tie in the mirror the bridesmaids put the dress up above kate's head the bride climbs through her wedding dress kates hands pop through her dress kate puts on her earrings simon greets his guests at church kate's mum looks excited before the start of the wedding ceremony simon smiles at his mum the best looks to the back of the church a close up shot of the bridemaids' colourful shoes kate arrives at church kate's dad walks her down the aisle a very wide shot of the church from the balcony at the back a balck and white photo of kate looking at simon as he says his wedding vows the bridesmaids watch the matrimonial ceremony simon puts the wedding ring on kate's third finger of her left hand kate looks lovingly at her new husband the happy couple share a kiss at the end of the ceremony simon and kate walk down the aisle the bride is hugged by a bridesmaid simon gives his mum a big hug a guest takes a photo of the bride the bride hugs one of her friends after the wedding a black and white shot of the groomsmen confetti is thrown at the couple after there sacrament of matrimony simon and kate outside chorlton methodist church a wide shot of media city the bridesmaids all together one of the groomsmen talks to the groom beautiful flowers held by the bride for her wedding a black and white shot of the couple walking dock 10 post production facility and studios can be seen in the background of this image a natural relaxed portrait of the couple walking through media city the M pose, some love it and some hate it but i dont mind it to be honest a perfect bride and groom portrait one of the guests has a good old laugh at someone one of the bridesmaids watches on during the speeches the bride's speech has everyone in fits of laughter the father of the bride gives his speech kate cries and simon hugs her a bridesmaid cries tears of joy simon pulls a huge expression during his speech simon's mother toasts the happy couple a couple look on and the girl cries simon gets very emotional and cries during his speech the bride and groom enjoy their first dance as a married couple lots of people dancing the groomsmen do an impression of a stag the bride hugs her friend a young man dances extravagantly two lads lark about on the dance floor with a bottle of vodka the bride dancing excitedly a couple dancing closely