Mercure Haydock
The Mercure Haydock is a four star Hotel in Merseyside. They have won a few awards as a wedding venue in the North West. The staff are really helpful and friendly, which helps when you are trying to plan or work at a wedding.
Bridal Prep
I arrived early at the Mercure Haydock in order to film the bridal preparations. The make up artist and hair stylist were already there and had done some of the bridesmaids’ makeup and hair. I filmed the bride getting her make up done and before the hair and finally, putting no the dress. The bridal prep always starts off quite calm and tends to get a bit more hectic as it gets closer to the ceremony with the final preparations. I left with plenty of time to get to the church, set up and film some of the guest arrivals at the church.
Ceremony
The groom, Ste, was waiting at the church with his ushers. All of the guests were milling about outside before they had to go into the church just as the bride was about to arrive. The wedding car was a stunning Rolls Royce.
I filmed the bride as she walked down the aisle with her mum and bridesmaids following her. The groom looked so pleased to see her as she reached the altar.
The ceremony was a bit different to usual, as the vicar did a magic trick! I’ve never seen that before but it entertained the children. The couple said their vows and exchanged rings before being declared man and wife. They walked back up the aisle together and were congratulated by their guests outside the church. Afterwards, there were some photos taken in the church grounds before they headed back to the hotel.
Reception
Nicola and Steven had their wedding reception in the large marquee in the courtyard of the hotel. This space was perfect to accommodate all of their guests. The tables were decorated with pink cherry blossoms. Rose coloured bows were tied to all of the chairs, which looked really pretty. After the wedding breakfast, the mother of the bride, the bride, groom and best man all did speeches. It’s nice to see the women of the family giving a speech at a wedding. The brides speech was heartfelt and also very funny. It’s great to capture all of the speeches on camera to watch over again. I positioned the camera to the side slightly so that they weren’t looking directly into the camera and didn’t feel too on edge in front of the camera. By doing this, they soon forget that the camera is there.
I filmed some guest messages for the newlyweds, as they had requested these. Some couples like to have their guests leave messages, as it’s nice to watch these back on the wedding video after the day. Some of the guests were quite emotional when doing their guest messages, which was nice.
The evening reception started with more guests arriving to celebrate with the new man and wife. I filmed the cutting of the cake followed by the first dance. The guests didn’t hesitate to get onto the dance floor so I got lots of shots of this before leaving everyone to carry on with the cerebrations without being on camera. I tend to stay at a wedding until a few songs after the first dance. By then, I have everything that I need to edit together a great wedding video.
Highlights videos
You can watch some of the highlights of the day below. All of the wedding video packages include the teaser trailer, highlights video and full feature film edit. Music is used over the edited highlights video. Some of the natural sound still remains for the wedding vows for example. The full feature film edit is split into sections – bridal prep, ceremony, photoshoot, speeches and reception. These sections include the natural sound so that you can hear the full vows and speeches, as well as the conversations and laughter. Some music is used in these parts in the background over the photoshoot and establishing shots of the venue and bridal prep.
It was great to film at the Mercure Haydock Hotel and I hope to film more weddings there in the future! Get in touch if you’re planning your wedding at the Mercure Haydock.
