A D Photography blog: Wedding Photography Leeds

Wedding photography All Saints' Church, Sherburn in Elmet and Steeton Hall, South Milford - Helen and Paul - 25 September 2010

Today there was a much hoped for improvement in the weather for the wedding celebrations of Helen and Paul and our first stop of the day was at the couple's home for a few pictures of Paul and the boys before we left to join Helen and the girls at her mum, Alison and step-dad, Chris's beautiful home in South Milford. As wedding photographers in West Yorkshire, we've often driven past the gatehouse of Steeton Hall and wondered what was behind it. Now we know! Steeton Hall - affectionately known by the family has Hassle Castle - is a gorgeous English Heritage property which has been converted into these amazing homes and this is where Helen was being pampered by her make-up artist when we arrived. Shortly after our arrival, Alan Macmillan of MacMillan Films arrived to begin capturing the day on video. We always enjoy working with Alan. After documenting the girls' preparations, we left for the church to meet up with the boys. Now we know from having been the wedding photographers at this beautiful church several times before that Rev Chris Wilton has very strict rules regarding ceremony photography but as always, we respect the wishes of whoever is conducting the marriage service and he kindly allowed us to photograph the wedding from the rear of the church. Helen, looking amazing, arrived with her proud grandad Edward in a classic Rolls Royce. Following the wedding ceremony, Mr and Mrs Airey mingled for a while, had a few group photographs taken, were showered with confetti at the church gate and then enjoyed champagne before leaving for Steeton Hall, which allowed us to drive to the wedding reception and wait for the couple's arrival. Steeton Hall has the most beautiful backdrops for wedding photographs and the fact that this is Helen's mum and step-dad's home made it all the more personal and very special indeed. We knew that Helen and Paul wanted a photograph of the marquee all set up and this proved a challenge as by the time we got there, the majority of the guests were inside it! However, the big group shot provided a way around this, involving keeping everyone outside for just a big longer until we'd got the shots the couple wanted. Leaving everyone to enjoy the wedding breakfast, we returned later to cover the speeches. We've noticed how much the nights are drawing in now but this does have an advantage - we can get some spectacular evening shots much earlier. When we had met up with Helen and Paul a few weeks before their wedding, we'd planned for some evening photographs around the gatehouse and we were hoping that everything would come together to enable us to do this - dry weather and the couple being available at just the perfect time when the sky goes a dark blue. We timed it so that we could set up a few minutes early and we have Alan to thank for helping us to make it happen, including running back to the marquee at just the right time to ask Helen and Paul to come and join us. We're really happy with the result and we hope you guys are too! A brilliant day - thank you Mr and Mrs Airey!