Friday 27 June 2014

Heaton Mount, Bradford Wedding Photography | Angela and Cerith

Angela and Cerith booked us to be their St Paul's Church, Birkenshaw wedding photographers and it was our third time photographing a wedding at this church, but our very first time providing the wedding photography at Heaton Mount, Bradford.  This year's wedding season has seen us working at several new venues and although we enjoy working at familiar ones, we're always excited when couples offer us the chance to photograph somewhere new.   

First stop was with Angela at her mum and dad's home not far from the church.  We were given a  very warm welcome and spent an enjoyable hour or so capturing bridal preparations and pretty accessories, including three necklaces, as Angela hadn't yet decided which one she would be wearing!  We left the girls to their finishing touches and arrived at the church just as Cerith did, giving us plenty of time to get the groom's portraits before Angela arrived with her dad.     

Each time we've photographed a wedding at St Paul's there has been a different vicar and you never know whether the rules regarding photographing the ceremony will have changed when someone new takes over.  Happily, the current vicar had the same relaxed and accommodating attitude and Alex was allowed to take photographs from the front, with Janet capturing the long shots and atmosphere of the service from the back.

The couple came out to congratulations, hugs and confetti before the journey to the reception venue and the start of their Heaton Mount wedding photography.  With good weather, we stayed outside to capture the family groups, some fun shots with the bridal party, and a short couple photo session before the wedding breakfast started.

After the wedding breakfast and speeches, the four of us welcomed the chance to get outside again.  It was a bit cooler and the sun had gone down making the early evening light much softer.  We noticed that Angela never stopped smiling all day, which shows in the photographs.  In fact, when we tried for romantic expressions, she often burst out laughing!

A singer provided live entertainment during the evening party and the new Mr and Mrs Roberts danced their first dance together as husband and wife.  Thank you for the privilege of being your Heaton Mount wedding photographers, for making us laugh and for being so complimentary about our work and our service before you've even seen any of your photographs.  We hope you love them!

Please enjoy the images which are copyright protected, so please respect this and do not crop out our details.  If you are looking for a wedding photographer, we'd love to hear from you so please call us on 01977 730159 and if you'd like to follow us on Facebook, our page is www.facebook.com/YorkshireWeddingPhotographer.






































































Tuesday 17 June 2014

Carlton Towers Wedding Photographer - Laura and Martin

This was our second wedding of the last weekend in May and again we were so lucky to have perfect weather for Laura and Martin's Carlton Towers wedding photography.  In fact, everything came together to make the most enjoyable day, not only for the couple and their guests, but for us too.  We first met them when they were guests at Amelia and Ali's wedding almost two years ago and we were over the moon when Laura and Martin booked us for theirs.  

Our artistic, stylised portraits are based on us and our clients having bags of enthusiasm to work together to get something special, and having enough time.  Laura and Martin were a joy to work with and more than happy to give us plenty of time to get some beautiful images.  Laura had stressed the importance of some romantic couple and arty bridal portraits and she did everything she could to make sure there was time for us to get them. Great weather helped, as did the long daylight hours you have at this time of year.

It was brilliant to be back as Carlton Towers wedding photographers and we hiked up the stairs to the bedrooms where Laura were getting ready with her mum and bridesmaids. Our bride had said that she would be in her dress and ready well before we had to leave for the church but we know from experience that even with the best of intentions, this often doesn't happen.  Laura was in her stunning Ian Stuart dress with time to spare, ready for the walk downstairs to meet her dad, Nick, who had been asked to sit on the couch with his back to the staircase until she told him he could turn round.  It's so wonderful and very moving to be able to capture images as a proud father sees his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time but sadly it's often impossible due to things like hair styling and make-up running late.  We managed a few minutes on the steps at Carlton Towers photographing Laura with her parents and her niece, Mia, before we headed off to meet the boys and begin the St Mary's RC Church, Carlton wedding photography.  This was our first visit to this pretty church and we weren't disappointed, especially as the priest was so accommodating and such a nice man with a great sense of humour.  We had some fun during the wait for Laura, photographing the boys together, Martin with the couple's very cute little boy, Silvano, and the bridesmaids.

This was a wedding full of emotion, ranging from happy tears to hysterical laughter, and a wonderful fusion of Italian and Scottish.  Laura's family are Italian and run a restaurant, La Anchor, in Hensall, and Martin's family are from Scotland.  The priest made everyone laugh during the ceremony when he mentioned that Laura had adjusted Martin's buttonhole three times and yes, this was captured by Alex who was photographing from the front.  The new Mr and Mrs Houliston emerged to the most spectacular shower of confetti and rice we have ever seen and enjoyed congratulations and hugs before leaving for Carlton Towers.  I can tell you that it isn't easy picking grains of rice out of a bride's hair!

We managed to capture the group photos that Laura and Martin wanted, have some fun with the bridal party, photograph the guests enjoying the Class Laser Clay shooting, and capture the room beautifully dressed for the wedding breakfast.  The cake was absolutely spectacular, so much so that it had its own room!  La Anchor's chef provided the eight course wedding breakfast and towards the end the couple speeded things up by having dessert served as the speeches started, which were both touching and hilarious.

It was quite late by the time we got outside but the light was lovely and soft and the couple had so much enthusiasm that we got some of our favourite photographs of the day during that time and when we went back inside, Martin stayed with us and watched as we photographed his beautiful bride on the staircase.  Some of those will look amazing as large images in the couple's Italian storybook album.

We captured Mr and Mrs Houliston's first dance together and Laura's dance with her dad, which was somewhat different and much more energetic than most father and daughter dances!  Laura said that she was so happy that she could have us photograph her and Martin's special day and we were so happy that we had the pleasure of capturing it.  Thank you so much to you both for the privilege.

If you were lucky enough to be a guest at this wedding, please leave a comment.  If you are looking for a Carlton Towers wedding photographer, we love working at this spectacular venue, so please give us a call on 01977 730159 and follow us on Facebook.  Enjoy the images which are copyright Alex & Janet Durasow.


















































































Thursday 12 June 2014

Wedding Photographer Waterton Park Hotel - Kirsty and David

Kirsty and David booked us for their Waterton Park Hotel wedding photography a long time ago, following a recommendation by the owners of Rolls Hire.  There is no better form of advertising than recommendation and it's really nice when this comes from fellow wedding professionals as well as  from brides and grooms and their families and friends.

We'd been looking forward to this wedding a lot, as Kirsty and David really do love photos, they understand the value of good photography, and their wedding images were a high priority.  They were enthusiastic and more than happy to give us the time we needed to get a wide variety of beautiful pictures for their storybook album.

We didn't have far to travel for Kirsty's bridal prep, as she got ready at her parents'  house and they live pretty much just around the corner from us.  The boys met us for the start of the photography at St Helen's Church, Sandal, exactly on time, and we quickly completed their photographs before waiting for Kirsty at the gate.  She arrived in a spectacular two-tone Rolls Royce, a few minutes early, and this meant we could document what is an important part of the wedding story, the bride's arrival, and mix documentary wedding photography with timeless classical images.  

After the shower dodging of the previous weekend's two weddings, we thought it would be too much to hope for that the umbrellas could stay in the boot of the car for the whole day, but sometimes you strike lucky!  As every wedding photographer knows, there is a check list of what is the perfect weather that we would love to have for every single wedding but it's rare that we get it!  Not sunny, not windy, not raining, not too hot, but comfortably warm, dry, cloudy and still.  And this is what we got for Kirsty and David's big day, making us very happy photographers!

As recommended Waterton Park wedding photographers it was great to be back and lovely to work alongside Pauline Charlton.  She and Amy, the wedding co-ordinators, really go beyond the call of duty when it comes to looking after the wedding party and us.  Pauline did everything from shifting traffic cones out of shot to ushering all the guests out onto the lawn for the big group photo, meaning we rattled quickly through the formal groups, leaving time for the new Mr and Mrs Savage to enjoy mingling with their guests and for us to get a great selection of images before the wedding breakfast.

Morning wedding ceremonies are great and although it means an early start for the bride (and for us), there are so many advantages - a longer wedding day to enjoy after all the months and sometimes years of planning and all the money invested, time for the newly married couple to to relax and chat with their guests, and the opportunity for two bride and groom photo sessions which keeps it interesting for the four of us and allows us to make the most of the variety of locations for Walton Hall wedding photography.  With a venue like this which has so many "must have" places to use as backdrops for photographs, it would have been impossible to get everything that Kirsty and David wanted during one short session before the wedding breakfast and it was brilliant to get together again once everyone had enjoyed the meal and speeches.  After capturing some romantic images in the archway and at the front of venue, we released David to the bar and played with Kirsty inside Walton Hall to get some gorgeous portraits of a stunning bride in an amazing dress.

This was the first wedding we've photographed since the impressive refurbishment of the room which is now known as The Boathouse.  What a transformation they've made to what was once a very dark room.  It's now light, bright and spacious and allows access to the lakeside patio.  The guests partied and Mr and Mrs Savage danced their first dance together.  We know that Kirsty and David are really looking forward to seeing some images from their special day so we hope you both love these.  Thank you so much for booking us to share your wonderful and fun wedding day.

If you'd like to leave a comment, we really enjoy reading them, and we would love a Like on our Facebook page.  Please call us on 01977 730159 if you are are looking for a wedding photographer for Waterton Park.  We are privileged to be recommended by this fabulous venue.