Planning a Mirco Wedding During COVID / Liza O'Malley Photography

“Oh my gosh Liza, the photos are amazing. We’ve just grabbed some time to sit down and look through them. We couldn’t stop smiling! Thank you so much x”. (Helen & Ollie)

2020 is going to go down as a year many of us would rather forget. But for this amazing, fearless and determined couple – Ollie and Helen, 2020 is going to be one to remember. The year they faced the topsy turbie rollercoaster ride of planning a micro wedding during COVID.

The couple got married in Summer 2020. This year, for them, I am sure, will be remembered as a time of great love and togetherness. I’ve heard many of my friends and family describe 2020 as “absolutely nuts”, “crazy times” “unbelievable”…. But not Helen and Ollie. For them it was a year they will never forget – but for all the right reasons! Helen and Ollie were determined to be married in 2020 and have a beautiful wedding day where chat of a pandemic was almost forgotten.

I had already met Ollie and Helen a couple of times before their big day. Once when we got together when they were researching potential wedding photographers and once for their gorgeous engagement shoot in Arundel. By this time I felt like we knew each other really well, so I was super excited for their actual wedding day.

Check some photos from the couples gorgeous Arundel engagement shoot here!

Planning a micro wedding during COVID? Who would do it?

Helen and Ollie are a super chilled, fun-loving, outdoorsy kind of couple. (Just my cup of tea!). Their favourite things they told me when we met for the first time were laughing and living in the moment. They are both lovers of the countryside and love anything outdoors especially walking their dogs. Ollie is an estate manager and Helen works with horses. So it didn’t seem to phase them at all having to rethink all of their wedding day plans to incorporate an outdoor wedding in their back garden.

Helen and Ollie turned out to be one of thousands of determined UK couples in 2020 who were planning a micro wedding during COVID. And, against all the odds – they absolutely nailed it!

With the pandemic raging and so much uncertainty and worry swirling around. Helen and Ollie were calm and determined and so driven to have their micro wedding. What a gorgeous day it was.

Change of Plans

Helen got in touch with me in June saying that they had to cancel their original wedding day plans in Bolney. They had booked the Alton Registry Office and were planning a micro wedding celebration in their countryside garden.

After the ceremony, they were planning to have a small number of friends to help them celebrate outside in their massive Colemore garden. There was a large barn just incase it tipped it down. Everything was to be held outside. There would be a stretch tent, a vintage car, a bucking bronco, sunflower fields, BBQ and dancing in the breeze!

Start of the day

I joined Helen and her bridesmaids as they all got ready. There were laughs, bubbles and a little bit of the “wedding” episode from friends to help them keep nerves at bay! Helen looked absolutely stunning in her Jasmine Couture dress from Sass & Grace in Winchester. The tears freely flowing when she made her entrance down the stairs.

Alton Registry Office

Soon it was time to jump in my car and drive to the Alton Registry Office. Helen arrived in style in the gorgeous vintage car driven by a friend. Helen and Ollie had to meet (together) before the ceremony with the registrar to go over “social distancing” arrangments and the ceremony details. Other than the fact there were a couple of big perspex screens (which to be honest I hardly even noticed) and there were only 4 guests attending …the ceremony was exactly the same. I especially love the photo of Ollie and Helen with their kiss and the awesome expressions of the bridesmaids and the registrar in the background!

Beautiful location for their couple portraits

Ollie and Helen were spoilt for choice for locations for their couple portraits. They lived and worked in some of the most beautiful English countryside. Fields, meadows, old barns, old churches and of course the most stunning sunflower fields I have ever seen. And that includes France and Italy! Luckily Ollie knew all the best spots for us to wander around chatting and taking photos. Awesome videographers Naomi and James came to get some footage with their drone.

Soon it was time to whiz back to their house and garden where friends were waiting with the confetti. Helen and Ollie’s garden made for a gorgeous setting where their guests could spread out with picnic rugs. There was an amazing stretch tent and plenty of trees to shelter from the threatening spots of rain and the sun.

Bucking bronco, cake and dancing outside

Helen and Ollie had planned loads of activities for their friends and family. There was a bucking bronco that just about everyone at the wedding had a go on – (including the couple). A photo booth, a caricaturist, a delish BBQ, and live music kept everyone entertained.

Gorgeous golden hour pix in the sunflower field

We were so lucky with the weather, it was such a beautiful day and I could see a stunning sunset shaping up. So after the cake cutting, I nabbed Ollie and Helen and we headed just across the road to a sunflower field and took a few more gorgeous sunset portraits.