Outdoor dog friendly wedding photography in Rivington

Nicole and Alex got married at Spring Cottage in Rivington on the Summer Solstice.  Spring Cottage is a cafe in rural Lancashire which doubles as a wedding venue.  It offers a relaxed, woodland setting for weddings and plenty of opportunities for couples to personalise it for themselves and their friends and families.

This creative couple really thought through the details of their big day – and then pretty much made them all themselves!  From the metallic moon bunting, the copper archway and copper tables for an altar to the fabric bunting along the approach to the cottage, the bridesmaid dresses and the giant games in the garden, they’d made them all. They’d etched the wooden magnetic moons that were sent out with the save the date notes themselves and Nicole’s Mum had grown the flowers in her allotment for the bouquets and tables (which were for decoration but also wedding favours) ensuring they reached their peak of loveliness for the big day.

Although the law may be changing when it comes to getting married outside, at the moment you can only get married outdoors in England as long as it takes place under a fixed, licensed structure. This meant Nicole and Alex couldn’t officially get married at Spring Cottage so they tied the knot the week before at the registry office in Manchester.  Friends of the couple Ellie and Dave led the humanist wedding ceremony based around telling personal stories about the couple – if you didn’t like these guys already, the stories of them, their kindness and love of music and travel would have surely won you over.

Some more traditional wedding elements were very much incorporated into the day.  The bride and groom didn’t see each other the morning of the wedding and the bride’s dad walked her down the aisle.  Nicole and Alex exchanged rings and kisses and confetti was thrown.  And although there was no wedding breakfast, first dance or cake cutting, they introduced the irish tradition with ring warming into their ceremony.  This involved each guest holding the rings in their hands for a moment, warming them and blessing or making a wish for the couple.

Two of my favourite guests during the day were Bowie and Blake.  Bowie is Nicole and Alex’s golden retriever and Blake was Nicole’s sisters happy little Staffordshire Bull Terrier.  I love dogs at weddings but I had to tell Blake at one point to stop being so cute with his bow tie and tuxedo harness as I needed to take pictures of Nicole while she was getting ready and not just of him.  It was funny seeing the best man Chris with his accessory lint brush – Chris was looking after Bowie during the service and the lint brush was to combat Bowie’s blonde hair!

Food wise, there was a grazing table put together by the staff at Spring Cottage.  I can certainly vouch for the carrot cake being divine but it all looked amazing.  Later on, Woodstock Pizzas arrived and made pizza on site to order.  That smelled and tasted yummy.

Music wise, there were three band performances.  New Power Soul Club were super entertaining after the ceremony.   Alex and his friend Dave and Chris played a Radiohead song for Nicole a little later on – Alex was on the drums.  Their band is called Lotus Sleep and they are just about to release a new album which is rather exciting.  The Brian Ward Orchestra which is Nicole’s Dad’s swing band very competently entertained us into the evening.

Fi from Makeup by Fi Farrelly did an excellent, natural looking job of the ladies makeup in the morning.

And big thank-you to Gabby who is one half of LLG photos for shooting with me on the day.