Colourful Vintage Manchester Couple Shoot
Gamma & Mike's gorgeous shoot in Manchester's Northern Quarter
I’m so excited to share Gemma & Mike’s absolutely gorgeous couple shoot that we did in Manchester’s lovely Northern Quarter. Gemma wore a vintage 50’s inspired wedding dress from ebay and a hat made by herself!
Gemma & Mike have been together for over 10 years and married for over 7. They didn’t have a photographer for the wedding and wanted some photographs that reflected them now.
Gemma & Mike’s Story
Our numbers: 10 years together, 8 years of marriage, 2 university degrees, 2 cars, 2 houses, 1 miscarriage, 5 years trying for a baby followed by 2 children, 1 vow renewal, 1 business and a million “brilliant ideas” in between.
12/05/2007 – The day we met. In a rock club: I was highly Emo, Mike a heavy metal geek. Pure gentleman. He looked after me, just like my dad does – and he put up with me singing all drunken to him on the bus whilst he was seeing me home. Then we realised that he only lived over the bridge at the end of my road & had walked past my house every day for years!
1 week: the amount of time it took us to confess our love for each other
9 months: until we were engaged. I had word vomit on a night out & asked him to marry me. He turned me down, much to the amusement of the taxi driver. 2 days later he took me to the Trafford Centre, proposed to me & told me to choose a ring. Turns out he’d been planning it & I’d ruined his big gesture so he’d had to improvise.
Our Wedding
23 – The age we both were when we got married. I had just finished my first year of university, Mike had just graduated & we had spent most of our money on our first house. Somehow we managed to get married at Stockport Town Hall for a mere £10,000, including our honeymoon to St Lucia! Nothing by today’s standards. The most important thing to me was my dress, that I felt like a million dollars & that everyone had a good knees up. I was dubbed “the skanking bride” as we bopped about to punk classics alongside the usual party tunes – it was a real mix & everyone was on the dancefloor.
Scoot forward 5 years, almost to the day, we had just had our first child: Oscar James, & we had been through so much to get to that point that it felt right to renew our wedding vows in church whilst at his christening. Nobody knew about this apart from us & the priest, so it was a surprise to the attendants! It was much more stressful though, as I had organised a vintage garden party reception. With the marquee, festoon lights, bunting, all mixed with raw baby hormones – I did get a bit bridezilla! Haha
15 months – the age gap between Oscar & his sister, Elsie Veronica.
Two peas in a pod, they make life worth living. They have so many characteristics of both of us, both families, which is wonderful to see. It really anchors your heritage, which is what I’m all about.
After having Elsie, I crashed & lost sight of who I was as a person. Being a mum had wholly consumed me for so long, that now I was, I didn’t know how to be Gemma again. It was Mike who guided me through this, & in a nutshell; Elsie Vee Vintage was the outcome.
While he may not be the only reason I now get up in the morning, he’s the one giving me a push. He knows me better than I know myself & my heart still skips a beat when he walks into the room. The best part is, that I’m almost certain that his still does the same for me. At least I was, until we had the photo shoot with Matthew. Now I am 100% sure it still does. The way he gazed into my eyes that day, it was no wonder why passers by were asking if we we were newlyweds. He completes me & it’s for keeps. There’s no nicer feeling than that.
These two are absolute naturals in front of the camera and we had so much fun wandering round the streets of the super cool and quirky Northern Quarter area in Manchester city centre. Gemma’s 1950’s inspired wedding dress worked so well with the colourful streets filled with grafitti and awesome looking indipendant shops dotted around.
If you are interested in having a couples shoot of your own then please get in touch and we can discuss ideas!