An historic, Medieval venue in the centre of Manchester

Chetham’s Library is one of the most amazing wedding venues I’ve ever seen in the middle of Manchester. I know it’s a bit of a cliché but it really is a hidden gem in the centre of Manchester, like something straight out of Harry Potter. Chetham’s Library was founded in 1653 and is the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. The building itself is simply incredible. With Medieval stone corridors and epicly beautiful windows, there is no shortage of niches to get amazing portraits.

The first time that I heard of Chetham’s was way back in 2016, when I was invited to their opening as a wedding venue by the quite frankly amazing Vanilla In Allseasons who would be running weddings and events there. Since then I have been lucky enough to photograph a portrait shoot and two incredible weddings there. I absolutely love the stunning stonework and architecture of the building that makes it look like you have just arrived in the 15th century rather than modern day Manchester city centre.

Wedding Preparations

When I arrived at Chetham’s in the morning of Rebecca and Aaron’s wedding, I left my car there and made the short walk towards Shudehill to the apartment where Rebecca was getting ready with her parents, bridesmaids and flower girls. After spending a little time taking relaxed shots it was time to load up my camera and head back over to the wedding venue to meet Aaron who was greeting the guests as they arrived.

Wedding ceremony in the main hall At Chetham’s Library

As the guests waited in the incredible hall of Chetham’s, Rebecca and the bridesmaids arrived and waited in yet another incredibly historic room. I was very happy to see that the ceremony was to be officiated by one of Manchester’s most amazing registrars, Stephen Poole, who I am lucky enough to have worked with quite a few times over the years.

Portraits around Chetham’s

When I take any portrait photographs of a couple, I like to work in a mega relaxed and natural way. There are so many beautiful places around Chetham’s that it was so easy to get beautiful, relaxed photos of Rebecca and Aaron. We spent a tiny amount of time getting shots of the two of them a few times throughout the day so that they could spend the majority of their day with family and friends. We were even allowed up into the library itself where I had set up a video light to capture some wonderfully atmospheric images by including the library’s ambient light.

The evening reception

After the wedding speeches, The Long Players played Rebecca and Aaron’s first dance before rocking out for the wedding guests all night. Thank you for having me along to capture your day. It was such a privilege to be able to photograph at such a stunning Manchester venue again.

Here are a few of my favourite shots from Rebecca and Aaron’s Chetham’s Library Wedding Photography:

[pp_gallery id=”21448″ style-id=”__full-size-images__”]Chetham’s Library Wedding Photography by Manchester Wedding Photographer, Kyle Hassall