Dave & Hayley’s Chester Zoo Wedding.

Chester Zoo has got to be one of the most interesting and unique wedding venues in Cheshire. Recently Chester Zoo has been well documented in Chanel 4’s series ” The Secret Life of the Zoo”. My clients that have tied the knot here have been crazy about wildlife and animals. Chester Zoo was a perfect wedding venue for them. Other clients that have got married at Chester Zoo have either been members of the zoo or just wanted a venue with a difference.

Hayley and Dave featured in this Chester Zoo Wedding are both big Lion fans and have both worked at Lion Sanctuary’s in Africa, so they have a huge personal interest in Wildlife.

The Oakfield

The Wedding Ceremony’s at Chester zoo take place in THE OAKFIELD, which is pictured below. The House is very stylish and has lots of unique character. Inside there is plenty of room for The Ceremony, The Wedding Breakfast and the Evening reception. The house is surrounded by beautiful gardens. There is the The Zen rock garden which can be seen from one side of The Oakfield. The Roman gardens are to the back of the building. Both gardens are featured in photographs below

Hayley & Dave’s wedding ceremony

Below are photographs taken of the ceremony, which took place inside The Oakfield.

Group Photographs

After the ceremony I took some group photographs of the guests and family. At weddings I usually take a few different styles of group photography to mix it up. Formal photographs are an option, but usually I shoot relaxed, natural documentary style photographs of people mingling and having fun.

Zoo Theme

The photographs featured below have a zoo theme. The photo I took below of the big group photograph was inspired by the “Hey Hey its the monkeys” song. This was Hayley and Dave’s idea. I am very happy to go along with your ideas.  I asked the guests to link and do the Monkey walk . The next photograph was the guests doing an elephant chain. And finally in the last big group photo the guests were instructed to do a penguin walk. The guests at this wedding loved have lots of fun and enjoyed having fun group shots.

Chester Zoo Wedding Packages

What I liked about the wedding packages at Chester Zoo is that between the ceremony and reception your guests can be given access to the zoo. There is no need to worry about how you will entertain your friends and family during this time. There is enough for them to see and do already there. I can imagine your guests will be thrilled about this. Children won’t get bored. Parents will be able to enjoy the day as the children will be entertained. The elderly of your guests will be thrilled about being taken back in time to when they went to the zoo as a child. 

Photo shoot around Chester Zoo

After I have taken the group photos and the guests have had chance to relax and mingle, we would start our walk around the zoo. You can either have just yourselves photographed at this point or documentary photos of you and your guests. Hayley and Dave chose to start with their guests and then wonder off on their own.

Natural, Relaxed, Fun Wedding Photography

Here I capture some natural, fun shots of Hayley and Dave enjoying themselves. I am spoilt for choice for backdrops.  As well as plenty of amazing animals to see, the zoo has many beautiful gardens to walk around or to just sit in and take in the sounds and view. Chester zoo is forever expanding and changing the layout of the zoo and the gardens, so the photographs you see here may not show the zoo as it is now, or when you visit the zoo.

For the wedding breakfast the couple chose to have afternoon tea, and in the evening a BBQ outside. This was a lovely idea as it was a hot summers day. The breakfast room had lots of natural window light and you can see out onto the gardens while having a bite to eat. The favours were a donation to the Zoo and Animal chocolate bars. The tables were almost canteen style on long tables, so the couple didn’t have to worry to much about seating arrangements.

BOOK ME FOR YOUR CHESTER ZOO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER.

https://www.freespiritphotography.co.uk/chester-zoo-wedding-venue