I absolutely adore the first feature of the day today – forget an engagement shoot – proposal shoots are where it’s at in May 2014! Even better, Brides Up North played a role in the action too…
Who knew that boys read these pretty pages too!? *Hello boys!*
Photographer and Brides Up North Featured Supplier James Tracey Photography told me: Brides Up North played a pretty important part in Tom & Nicola’s proposal story!
I was contacted by Tom Baker from Manchester, who was planning on proposing to his girlfriend in Liverpool on Good Friday. They met at Uni in Liverpoool and when they moved to Manchester they left a love lock at Albert Docks. Every year they go back for a weekend and walk to their lock. Tom was looking for a photographer to capture the proposal and was told to look on Bride Up North, where he found me.
We planned the shoot in a covert meeting and I took Mrs T to Liverpool to be my stooge so Nicola wouldn’t think it was odd there was a chap with a huge camera. We managed to shoot the proposal and then a few staged shots afterwards before Tom and Nicola headed off to celebrate.
Both their families loved the proposal photo (as I got it over to them within a few hours), as most parents and family never get to see the actual moment.
Nicola says: Tom asked me to marry him on Good Friday at Pier Head, Liverpool Waterfront (by the Liver Building). I was a total surprise! We went to Uni in Liverpool and on our first anniversary put a padlock at Pier Head with our names on it. Every year on our anniversary we go back, so walking to the padlock was the norm at that time of year. We had been together 5 years the following day but even then I didn’t suspect anything despite requesting years ago for it to be on a Friday. Tom went above and beyond though, arranging for me to have my nails done the day before under the premise of winning a competition (the nail salon were in on it) and most thoughtfully arranged for James to be there to capture the moment with these beautiful photos.
Tom says: We always travel back to Liverpool every year to celebrate our anniversary so this was my ruse of getting Nic there without suspicion. We have travelled the world together after finishing our post-grads and couldn’t think of anywhere else in the world I would rather have proposed to her. Liverpool is so important to both of us. Nic’s Dad was born and grew up there before they moved to Shropshire and she still has family there. It was also where we met and has played such a big part in our lives. I just wanted it to be perfect. Nic sent me picture about 6 months before I proposed. She was being cheeky I think with a list of must do’s should I propose. Little did she know I had everything planned already and covered every base. When we left Liverpool we put a lock on the docs so planned to re-visit the lock to make sure it was there.
Nicola says: We’ll get married in August 2016 at a location to be decided. I am from Shropshire and Tom is from Leigh in Wigan so we are trying to work out the logistics!
Tom says: We want a long engagement to enjoy this time and take our time to plan the wedding. I think our friend’s have big ideas for what we are going to do. Nic is really creative and I know she has everything planned and it will be amazing.
Nicola says: We met when we were both studying Law in Liverpool. On the first night we met I was dressed as a sheep and Tom stole my ears, shortly before telling me that he played rugby for England (a lie!). That was in September 2007 but we remained friends for a while until getting together in 2009.
Nicola says: The first time we spent together was probably in lectures but that’s not much of a first date. Officially, we went to a restaurant at the Albert Docks so I guess that makes the location that Tom proposed even more special. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was love from the start, but I think that we both knew that we were going to be special in each others lives.
Tom says: As a poor student I was able to spoil her like I wanted to but hopefully I am making up for it now.
Tom says: We were friends for a while before we officially got together but the more time we spent together I just couldn’t see myself without being with her. She grew from my friend to my fiancée so easily. I love looking back at the time we spent at University and seeing our relationship materialise. I think all our friends at Uni could see it happening as well.
Nicola says: I love the way he puts up with the mess I make when I bake, I love that he holds my hand when we are out, I love that my friends and family love him nearly as much as I do and I love that he looks out for me and loves me as much as he does.
Tom says: My god she is messy! But I suppose that is one of the reasons why I love her, and I get cake… She has a way of winning me round as well, you would have thought I would have realised she is good at persuading people being a barrister. I am the same as Nic – I love spending time with her, people often say they are glad for a few days away from the other half but I just want to spend more time with her. I also love how she has such an amazing relationship with my family. They almost love her too much and she knows it. I love the relationship she has with my brother as well. They get on so well and that is really important for me as he is my best friend.
Tom says: I hope she still find me funny in 40 years time. I like to think of myself as a bit of a comedian and I just hope I continue to make her laugh. Unfortunately I think she has grown tired of some of my cheesy jokes already.
Nicola says: I could not have been happier when Tom pointed out James the photographer to me after I had said yes(I had no idea he was there beforehand).
T m says: When we were travelling together we visited Sydney in Australia. We saw a couple in the park and the guy had arranged for a busker to play their song. We saw the guy proposing and took a photograph of it happening. We later went over to them and got their email to send them the picture. I knew from then that I wanted someone to capture our moment. Photography is so important to us, we have a wall in our flat that is covered with photographs for all our memories. We love when people give us gifts at Christmas with a picture to be added to the wall. So we have a big space on the wall for our proposal pictures which is just perfect.
Tom says: The whole process with James was amazing. I met him once before the shoot to finalise plans and he was great. From the start he was so enthusiastic about it and that is one of the reasons I asked him to help. It felt like we had a friend, an extremely talented friend, taking the photographs for us. It just made everything so easy for me and all I has to think about was not fluffing my lines.
Nicola says: James was brilliant with us, he gave us some time to let it sink in before he took us along the docks to take some more photographs. We are planning on having a little engagement party so we will use the photos for the invitations.
Tom says: We’d love to come back and share our wedding photographs with Brides Up North – we hope James will be available for the wedding as well. Wouldn’t be right not to have him there I think!
Congratulations Nicola & Tom… come back to tell us all about your wedding!
If you’d like to share your proposal, engagement news, love story of Real Wedding on Brides Up North, get in touch!
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2014 James Tracey Photography
James Tracey Photography is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier, but this is not a sponsored post
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