Wedding Photography Leeds | Wedding Photographers Hatfeild Hall | Julie and Lee

We hadn't worked at the beautiful church of St John the Evangelist, Oulton for ages and then we photographed weddings there twice in less than a week!  We were recommended to Julie and Lee by Julie's cousin whose wedding we photographed six years ago and there were a quite a few familiar faces amongst Julie and Lee's guests.  It was so nice to catch up with Sue and Mike, Julie's auntie and uncle and her cousin, Nicola again.  At lunch time, we arrived at Julie's mum and dad, Sandra and Len's house in Rothwell where we were made very welcome.  It was surprisingly quiet for a wedding day, probably because there were no bridesmaids getting ready there and Julie and Lee's daughter, Georgia was being looked after by bridesmaid Karen, along with Karen's little boy, Max.  Karen must have had her hands full but it was all quiet and peaceful for the bridal preparations!  It was great that Julie was in her dress well before we had to leave for the church and this meant that we could take some pictures of her and dad in the garden.  We'd just arrived at St John's church when a Beauford pulled up outside and we were able to get some shots of a very smart Lee with the car before it left to collect Julie.  As Leeds wedding photographers, St John's is a favourite wedding venue of ours because it's light and bright and has beautiful architecture and a lovely vicar - Andrew Pearson.  A happy and smiling Julie arrived nice and early with her proud dad and following the 4 pm ceremony, Julie joined us for a couple of arty bridal portraits before the guests showered the couple with confetti and everyone left for Hatfeild Hall.  Having got the big group shot of around 120 people in the can at the church, we knew we could relax a bit with Julie and Lee, get some photographs of the two of them together and once everyone had arrived, photograph the groups they had asked for.  Naturally, one special group shot request was the couple with their gorgeous daughter, Georgia.  As is usual with children her age, she had much better things to do than stand around for this, but there are other ways of getting these important pictures!  As this was a late wedding, we'd kept our fingers crossed that it wouldn't stay dry all morning only to rain during the afternoon and early evening.  As it was, the weather stayed warm and dry, if a bit on the breezy side.  As wedding photographers at Hatfeild Hall, we know that there is a lovely backdrop of ruins behind the carpark and this was where we asked the chauffeur to park the car for the first of Julie and Lee's photographs when they arrived at Normanton Golf Club.  The couple had decided on an informal reception followed by an evening buffet with the speeches in between.  The brief we'd had was that they are a fun couple and wanted some fun shots and in particular, some piggy back shots, so for all those guests who thought the photographers were nuts and had lost the plot, we were only doing what Julie and Lee had asked for!  The couple "persuaded" a lot of their guests to take part but we know that some of you stayed firmly glued to your chairs!  We had such a great time capturing this.  We also knew that the couple had arranged for a very talented young lady called Gemma to sing during the evening party.  At only fifteen years old, she has such an incredible voice.  The new Mr and Mrs Blackburn were invited onto the dance floor where Gemma sang their first dance song for them.  During the speeches, Lee had announced to a delighted Julie that he had a surprise honeymoon in the Lake District booked for them and we hope they are having a great time.  Thank you for inviting us to capture your fabulous, fun filled day. 

If you were a guest at Julie and Lee's wedding, please leave a comment below - thank you.

        

Wedding Photography Wentbridge House | Wedding Photographer Leeds | Emily and Gavin

            

Emily and Gavin chose a Sunday for their wedding at the beautiful St John's church in Oulton.  The weather was typical of a weekend in June - raining!  Arriving at Emily's mum, Elaine's house, where the girls were getting ready, we were greeted by Emily who was more than a bit sad that the weather was a let down and she told us that it had been throwing it down since 4 am!  Well, we weren't up quite that early!  A bit of reassurance that she would still get great pictures regardless of the weather and she did cheer up.  We all cheered up a lot more when the rain stopped shortly before we left for church and it didn't appear again for the rest of the day.  Emily had apparently bought her wedding dress two and a half years ago and what a stunner it was!  She had chosen a very striking hot pink colour scheme and the bridesmaids looked gorgeous in their dresses.  What a bonus that they were all dressed before we had to leave so the pictures of them fastening Emily's dress were made all the more special - much nicer than pjs and dressing gowns!  We met a slightly nervous Gavin for his photographs before Emily's arrival and as we've known Gavin's family for a long time, it was so nice to catch up with his brother and best man, Ryan, and their mum and dad, Ann and Paul.  Emily arrived on time with her proud mum who had the privilege of giving her beautiful daughter away.  We love working at St John's church, not just because it's lovely and light inside and makes for great photographs but because the vicar is really accommodating when it comes to allowing us both the photograph the ceremony and we appreciate this a lot as it allows us to do the best job we can for the couple.  Following Emily and Gavin's marriage, we completed the group shots really quickly at the church before the couple headed off down the long pathway into a shower of confetti, jumped into their car and set off for Wentbridge House for the reception.  As wedding photographers at Wentbridge House we know that it has a beautifully kept lawn but we were concerned that following the heavy rain, it would be soaking wet.  Not ideal for ladies wearing high heeled shoes!  However, the sun came out as everyone arrived and the guests were able to enjoy a Bucks Fizz drinks reception on the lawn whilst we photographed Emily and Gavin with their car.  Returning to the guests, some fun shots with the bridal party were captured along with a handful of photographs of the new Mr and Mrs Ellis before the wedding breakfast and speeches, which included a lovely slideshow of pictures of Emily growing up, put together by her mum who described the day as "Perfect!"  Emily and Gavin, we are so happy that the sun came out for you.  You really deserve a perfect wedding day.  Thank you for choosing us to capture it for you and we hope you like the pictures! 

If you were a guest at Emily and Gavin's wedding, please feel free to leave a comment below - thank you.

Baby Photography West Yorkshire | Lexie

Lexie's mum and dad, Emily and Nick, booked us in the spring to photograph their wedding next summer in Leeds.  At the time, Emily was expecting Lexie and we made plans to welcome them for a new baby portrait session as soon as possible after she was born.  For some strange reason, this particular day I'd mentioned to Alex that I thought that Emily and Nick's baby should have arrived by now and so I sent the couple a message to ask them if they were proud parents yet.  Nick replied very quickly to say that their daughter had arrived the very same day, six days late, mum and baby were doing well, and could he make arrangements to bring her in for her new baby photographs.  Usually, babies of a few days old are sleepy and as such, can be molded into some very cute shapes which look fabulous on photographs and for this reason, we recommend them being photographed before ten days old whilst they still have the new baby look.  As it was, Lexie, at just six days old, had other ideas and only napped for a couple of minutes at a time!  We are really looking forward to capturing her mum and dad's wedding day and to seeing her grow from a tiny baby into a pretty little girl.

  

Wedding Photography The Priory, Syningthwaite | Wedding Photographer York | Amanda and Matthew

Saturday, 11 June and two new venues for us - St Mary's church, Great Ouseburn, York and The Priory, Syningthwaite, Wetherby.  As York wedding photographers, it was such a pleasure to capture the celebrations as Amanda married Matthew in this pretty village church.  The couple actually live in a cottage at The Priory, Syningthwaite which is in an idyllic location surrounded by open countryside and it was when they were looking for a new home that they found not only that, but the perfect venue for their wedding reception.  We arrived at the couple's cottage to begin taking photographs of Amanda's dress and accessories whilst Amanda was still at the hairdresser.  Having just enough time left before we had to leave for St Mary's to meet Matthew, we got some shots as Amanda's mum, Sue, laced the back of her daughter's dress.  Matthew and his best man, Clive were nice and early and after taking their photographs and some of Matthew with his mum, Sandra and sister, Emma, we waited for Amanda's arrival with her dad, Andrew and she too was early, travelling to the church in Matthew's parents' car, chauffeured by his dad, Paul.  Following the marriage ceremony, the new Mr and Mrs Webster were greeted by a guard of honour and at almost exactly the moment they exited the church, it started to rain.  Amanda had been worried by the weather forecast during the week and admittedly, it hadn't looked good and on the day, it did give us the run around a bit! We decided to start the group photographs with parents inside the church and had just got set up when Andrew reported that the rain had stopped.  Back outside on the lovely lawn between the church and the vicarage and we had hopes of getting all the group photographs done there as it is such a pretty location, but with just one group shot in the can, the rain started again.  We suggested that everyone travel to Syningthwaite Priory and we hoped that in the meantime, the rain would clear.  It did - about a minute later allowing us to get some fab confetti shots before we left for the reception venue and although it was windy all day, the rain didn't make another appearance and Amanda's beautiful smile never left her face.  Once Amanda and Matthew arrived, we flew through the group photographs they'd asked for, leaving plenty of time to get some beautiful bridal portraits, couple shots and fun pictures with the girls before dinner.  Amanda and Matthew had decided that a first dance wasn't for them, so they enjoyed a bit of relaxed time out after the wedding breakfast having some romantic photographs taken.  They were a joy to work with and what fantastic families and friends they have.  It was a privilege to share their special day and wedding days like this, surrounded by such great people, remind us why we love our job so much.    

If you were a guest at Amanda and Matthew's wedding, please feel free to leave a comment below - thank you.

New Baby Photographer West Yorkshire | Daisy

It's only a few short weeks since we welcomed Kate and Lee to the studio for Kate's maternity photo shoot and it was fantastic when we got a message from Lee to tell us that he was now the proud dad of a beautiful baby daughter named Daisy.  Kate and Lee are having a magazine style bump to baby book designed by us, but this will be after the third portrait session when Daisy is around six months old and sitting.  As professional baby photographers in West Yorkshire, we know the time will fly by!  It was lovely to see how proud Kate and Lee are of their daughter and what amazing parents they are.  For this, the new baby portrait session, it's vital that it's done as early as possible and ideally before the baby is ten days' old, after which time they are beginning to lose the new baby look and they don't tend to sleep quite as much.  Kate and Lee knew the timing was important and brought their baby along when she was just six days' old.  Daisy's new baby photography session was perfect and we got as close to a perfect new baby portrait as you could possibly wish for.  It takes a long time, a lot of patience, frequent breaks for feeds, being changed, lots of cuddles and rocking to sleep and a very warm studio.  The reward for this is an image like the one below.  Simply stunning.  You wouldn't get this in a high street department store! 

A new baby portrait session with no time limit costs justs £35 - an absolute bargain!  And if we were your wedding photographers, you get the session with our compliments or we will deduct £100 from the usual price of our bump to baby album package.  Call us on 01977 730159 for more information.

Horse Photography Yorkshire | Bridal Photo Shoot West Yorkshire | Helen and Henry

As professional photographers in Yorkshire, we love having the opportunity to photograph something different and we recently had a really enjoyable and interesting photo shoot with Helen, whose wedding to Paul we photographed last September.  The couple married in Sherburn in Elmet before celebrating at Steeton Hall, the beautiful home of Helen's mum and step-dad.  For this shoot, Paul was excluded and Helen was, instead, accompanied by a tall, dark and handsome guy called Henry.  We'd had the shoot planned for some time and as is often the case when you do this, the weather decided to give us a run for our money with persistant rain forecast for most of the day, so we had no choice but to play things by ear and keep arrangements for the shoot on standby until the last minute.  Helen, to her credit, decided that she really wanted the shoot to go ahead and wasn't going to let the rain spoil things, so we set off for Steeton Hall, were warmly welcomed by Alison and Chris, had a cuppa whilst Helen got into her wedding dress and then braved the rain to go and meet Henry.  Now we'd heard about Henry and his temperament previously and knew that he is sharp, doesn't miss a trick and is quite easily startled, so we made friends with him and tested our off camera flash to see what his reaction would be.  He also hates being cold and this particular day wasn't exactly warm!  No problems and no objections, however, so we were good to go.  Helen and her mum are both experienced horsewomen and Alison's assistance in handling Henry during the shoot  was invaluable.  When Henry had decided that enough was enough, Alison returned him to his stable and brought out Bugsy, so called because he has big ears!  Bugsy belongs to a friend of Helen's and is being stabled at Steeton Hall so he also had his turn in front of the camera.  We are delighted with the results in spite of the rain and here are a few images from the session including some which made Helen and her mum's final selection.  A stunning horse, a beautiful bride and a lovely location.   

Wedding Photographer Castleford | Zoe and Rob's Wedding Photography St Andrew's Church, Ferrybridge & The Kyte Hotel

One of the most popular days of the year for weddings - the Saturday of the spring bank holiday weekend - and the weather you tend to expect on bank holidays!  However, the drizzle we woke up to and drove through to Zoe's parents' house had stopped well before we left to meet the guys so we were very happy.  Zoe was being pampered when we arrived so we started capturing the detail shots of flowers, dress, shoes and perfume.  Her dress was an absolute stunner - red because Zoe said that white and ivory weren't her colours.  We met up with Rob and his attendants at Ferrybridge WMC for some relaxed pictures featuring pints of lager before leaving for St Andrew's church.  As Castleford wedding photographers,we like working at St Andrew's because the resident vicar is a pleasure to work with. He has a great sense of humour, makes sure everyone enjoys the ceremony, allows photographs to be taken without a problem and he even went as far as helping us organise a big group shot of everyone inside the church.  What a lovely man he is.  After Zoe and Rob tied the knot, we took a few group pictures at the church door and the confetti throwing at the gate before everyone left for the Kyte Hotel in Darrington.  We were glad it had stopped raining but it was windy, so after getting some pictures of Zoe and Rob with their car, we got them tucked under a big tree in the grounds to give them a bit of shelter and to be able get Zoe's beautiful dress arranged as it should be without the wind blowing the train everywhere.  Between wedding breakfast courses, we did borrow Zoe for a couple of minutes to get a photograph she wanted in front of the huge mirror in the Kyte Hotel reception.  After dinner, to took the bridal party out for some fun shots on the road (we did watch out for the traffic!) and afterwards spent a few minutes with the new Mr and Mrs Jeffery in a nearby wheat field, getting some relaxed, romantic pictures.  Zoe and Rob had been having dance lessons so everyone was treated to an impressive first dance routine from them before the guests let their hair down on the dance floor.  We really appreciate Zoe and Rob choosing us to capture their special day.