Emma Hillier Photography

07/06/2026

My last wedding of May was this absolute stunner! 🤩

Jack & Matt chose for their ceremony and celebrations. They walked down the aisle together and then chose to do their personal vows in private. The idea was to do them under the wisteria arch but unfortunately, due to the hot weather the week before, all the flowers had perished 😔
It was still really lovely though and of course I managed to find a colourful alternative! As always with an outdoor wedding, we were praying the rain would stay off, which it did, and the day was beautiful! 🌞

Always lovely to work with Jen and the team at Ness and I got to work with the lovely again too!

Here are some of J&M's sneak peeks!

07/06/2026

https://emmahillierphotography.com/a-colourful-chester-zoo-wedding-sara-george/

This Chester Zoo wedding was a dream to photograph! Full of colour, creativity and cute animals! Fun Chester Zoo wedding photography.

03/06/2026

Here are my top 3 tips for enjoyable and entertaining speeches!

1 - ANYONE can give a speech!

Traditionally it would be the father of the bride, the groom and the best man giving a speech. But as we all know, weddings in the 21st century are wonderful and varied and many don’t include a bride and/or a groom. I think the important thing to focus on is who will actually give a great speech and enjoy it? Why put pressure on your dad if you know he’s incredibly nervous about public speaking but your mum is really good at it? Change things up, do what works for you! I absolutely love seeing brides doing speeches, as well as maids of honour, the best person, mother of the bride or groom, even the couple’s children!

2 – TIMING is important!

There are pros and cons to having your speeches before or after your meal. The main thing to consider is how hungry will everyone be? If you’ve had a long drinks reception and your guests haven’t eaten for hours speeches after food might be best. On the other hand, if you’re feeling a bit nervous about giving a speech you might prefer to do them first so you can totally relax and enjoy your food! One thing I will say though, and I’m sure a lot of other photographers will agree with me, having speeches between courses might seem like a nice idea but it’s actually a bit of a nightmare for us! We usually take a break ourselves during the meal to grab some food, check our equipment etc so to be in constant standby mode is stressful as we don’t want to miss anything but we do REALLY need to have a little rest too!

3 – You can get CREATIVE!

If you pick the right people then the speeches can be incredibly entertaining which photographers love as we can get some great candids of all your guests laughing and/or crying. You can also add in some games like a quiz about the couple, a slideshow or even bingo! Get creative, have fun with it and enjoy!

Lastly, as a firm believer in doing what YOU want on YOUR big day, you can scrap the speeches completely if they're causing you stress. Same for the cake cutting and first dance, it’s your big day, nobody else’s!! 🧡🧡🧡

02/06/2026

🤍 Sam & Paul 🤍

May was my busiest month of the year and one of my last weddings for the month was this lovely little wedding at St George's Hall in Liverpool.
This was a special one for me as Sam's grandparents lived next door to my mum so I grew up seeing Sam's family all the time and playing Manhunt and Kick the Can with her sister Lisa (also a bride of mine!) and her brothers. Thinking about it, I've actually known Sam since she was born! 😅

Any-hoo, back to the wedding! It was an intimate, midweek affair with their loved ones and I spent a couple of hours with them watching them tying the knot, moaning about how hot it was (last Wednesday) but mostly laughing a lot!
The couples' sons were an important part of the day as they were both ringbearers and looked absolutely adorable in their little tuxedos. The heat did get to them in the end though, swipe through these sneak peeks to see! 😆

Liverpool wedding
Liverpool wedding photographer
St George's Hall

23/05/2026

Everyone seems to be obsessed with Sara's dress, and rightly so, it's beautiful! 😍

It's by and was perfect for Sara & George's wedding last week! 🐒

I absolutely love a colourful wedding dress and the range is stunning! Check them out if you're looking for a colourful/floral/40's style dress! 🤩

Chester zoo wedding
Colourful wedding photography
Colourful wedding dress

21/05/2026

This Chester Zoo wedding was an absolute dream to photograph. Full of colour, creativity and cute animals as well as the nicest couple & guests! 😍

I knew it was going to be a brilliant day after we met last autumn for their pre-wedding shoot and got on really well. I also knew it was going to be really colourful and have lots of creative touches as S&G are both artists 🌈

This was my first wedding at Chester Zoo and I wasn’t disappointed! The couple had their ceremony in The Oakfield mansion house which was formerly the home of the zoo's founder, George Mottershead. It was a lovely ceremony with their closest friends and family and a few tears were shed, mostly from Sara! 😂

There was plenty of time for everyone to mingle after the ceremony, enjoying the fizz and canapes before we headed outside for some group photos and then an epic bubble (instead of confetti) tunnel! 🫧

Part of the wedding package at Chester Zoo is entry to the zoo itself and plenty of time to explore. The couple and I went for a stroll checking out the monkeys, penguins, flamingos and a very lazy Komodo dragon! 🐒🐧🦩🦎

We finished our time together with hilarious speeches (which included Sara’s mum sharing some of her early works of art) and the cutting of the cake, check out the animal cake toppers! 😊

Thank you Sara & George, it was a brilliant day to be part of! ❤️

Chester Zoo wedding
Chester Zoo wedding photography
Colourful wedding photography

08/05/2026

🌸 Rachel & Andy 🌸

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of shooting this gorgeous wedding at on the Wirral! 💚

The venue looked stunning, as did the happy couple and every single one of their guests. Andy's reaction as Rachel walked down the aisle with her dad was incredible, so much joy (and a few tears!) and the ceremony itself was really sweet 😍
Afterwards we all gathered on the lawn in the sunshine to throw confetti and mingle, this was the perfect opportunity for me to get some relaxed candids of everyone before the more formal family pics 🎉
I then took R&A off for a little alone time, literally 15mins to get portraits and go to see the horses (one of them was a bit nibbly!) 🐎
After the meal and speeches we were all treated to ice cream and magic tricks from before the real party started! 🍦🪄💃🏼🕺🏼

Thank you so much for booking me Rach & Andy, it was a fab day to be part of! ❤️

06/05/2026

🧡 Emily & Huw 🧡

From our first phone call I knew I was going to love these two. They told me they didn't want their wedding to be perfect, they just wanted everyone to have a good time! 🥳
Their wedding may not have been perfect (no wedding is!) but it was perfectly them! Colourful, fun, full of laughter and just a sprinkling of chaos! (They had told me at their pre-wedding shoot that they were expecting some things to go wrong as chaos seems to follow them around) 😂
I wouldn't describe their day as totally chaotic, there were a few pleasant surprises, but on the whole it was just a great big party, don't think I stopped laughing all day!  😆

Thank you so much for booking me E&H, I absolutely loved spending the day with you all! 💜🧡💙💛💚❤️

22/04/2026

⚡ New on the blog! ⚡

Lucy & Nick at Hope Street Hotel 😍

This wedding last summer was a joy to capture and hopefully it's not difficult to see why!

L&N wanted lots of colour for their big day and lots of photos of their guests having fun. They asked their guests to wear colourful outfits and Lucy's bridesmaids picked their own dresses rather than going for a set colour scheme 🌈
The light and airy ceremony room was decorated beautifully with stunning flowers from . We had the use of the balcony with the cathedral in the background for confetti and group photos. And as L&N didn't want to spend ages having photos of themselves taken, a short walk around Hope Street did the trick for their portraits!
Their guests were also great fun and the dancefloor was packed all night which made it really easy for me to get the shots they'd requested! 💃🏼🕺🏼
We also got a gorgeous sunset to top off a brilliant day ♥️

https://emmahillierphotography.com/a-relaxed-and-colourful-hope-street-hotel-wedding/

Venue
Dress
MUA
Hair
Cake

Liverpool wedding photographer
Hope Street Hotel wedding
Colourful wedding photography
Liverpool wedding venues

15/02/2026

I'm not the best photographer in the world, and I'm OK with that because I have a really important skill that makes me a pretty good wedding photographer! As I meet most of my couples for the first time on the day of their wedding it comes in REALLY useful! 😜

Swipe to see what it is. Here's a clue;

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".

- Maya Angelou.