Rogerthorpe Manor Hotel Wedding Photographers | Laura and Lee

As Rogerthorpe Manor wedding photographers, it's always a huge pleasure to work at this lovely venue and even better when you get to spend the day documenting the celebrations of such a great couple.  It's hard to imagine a more happy and radiant bride than Laura.  She was a star to work with and her happiness at marrying Lee and her enthusiasm for her photographs was obvious throughout the day. 

We arrived at Rogerthorpe Manor well ahead of the civil ceremony in the Lawrence Suite to play around with Laura's dress, shoes, jewellery and flowers and also to capture some make-up photos before we made the short trip downstairs to find Lee, who was feeling a bit nervous.  We kept him and his boys occupied for a while and it was nice to see Dom again, one of Lee's best men, whose wedding to his lovely Laura we photographed a while back and who recommended us to Laura and Lee.  We are very grateful for this.

When Lee was stolen by the registrars, we made our way back upstairs to Laura and her proud dad to capture the final preparations and a few portraits before the ceremony, which was quite emotional.  The couple were presented with champagne by Karen, our friend and one of Rogerthorpe Manor Hotel's dedicated wedding co-ordinators, and it was evident in Lee's face that he was relieved that the formalities were over!  He and his bride stepped out into the glorious summer sunshine and we gathered everyone together on the lawn for the group photos and confetti followed by a short couple portrait session before we left them to have some mingling time whilst we photographed the Lawrence Suite and the table details, from which there was more than a hint that Laura and Lee are fans of the TV series 24!

Once everyone had enjoyed a fabulous wedding breakfast, the speeches were over and gifts had been presented, we headed outside into the sunshine again.  Now it does seem wrong to complain about the sun when we'd much rather have that than rain.  However, professional wedding photographers know that blazing sunshine sometimes stops you from taking photographs in specific places as you can have one area of brightness and another in deep shadow.  As we had certain ideas in mind for Laura and Lee's photographs after dinner, we had to wait it out until the sun went down and the light was much softer, so as soon as we could, we spent some time with a very enthusiastic Laura around the grounds whilst Lee enjoyed a beer.

We'd already planned on some shots in a nearby wheat field, weather permitting, so we ran the idea by them.  With a fun couple, a field of golden wheat, a gin clear blue sky and a hot pink umbrella to play with, we had an amazing time and got some stunning images which we hope Laura and Lee will love as much as we do.

The new Mr and Mrs Russell were welcomed back by their guests and shortly afterwards they took to the floor for their first dance.  We think Lee was relieved when this was over and he was happy to let Laura's dad take over for a father and daughter dance.  The final images before we said goodnight were some twilight photographs, which involved setting up in advance, ready to call the couple out at exactly the right time, but this turned out not to be necessary as Laura was outside already, very excited and raring to go!

A huge thank you guys for booking us and for being amazing to work with!  Couples like you are the reason we love our job so much!

If you were a guest at this wedding, why not leave a comment?  If you are looking for a Rogerthorpe Manor wedding photographer, we'd love to hear from you and we would be delighted if you would follow us on Facebook.

All images are copyright Alex & Janet Durasow, A D Photography.

Oulton Hall Wedding Photographer | Helen and Matthew

This was our second time as Oulton Hall wedding photographers on two consecutive days and we had the pleasure of sharing Helen and Matt's special day at this beautiful Leeds wedding venue which is fairly local to us.  It was an early start at Helen's parents' home which was where our bride got ready and, in keeping with tradition, was where she left from to travel to the church.

It was our first time as wedding photographers at Halifax Minster, a spectacular church a few minutes drive from Helen's mum and dad's house and as we'd visited a few weeks before to introduce ourselves to the vicar, we already knew that he would allow us to capture the ceremony from two different perspectives.  

We met up with Matt, his dad Steve and brother Ben, in good time to get some portraits before the guests started to arrive.  The couple had hired the services of a professional toastmaster, Michael Wall, who introduced himself to us before the ceremony and promised to do everything he could to support not only Helen and Matt, but us as well. We were really grateful to Michael and he proved to be worth his weight in gold later in the day when we had a lot of groups to cover in a very short time.  

Helen arrived with her mum Linda and was given away by her brother Andrew.  Following the ceremony and a few minutes of hugs and congratulations outside the church, we dashed off to start the wedding photography at Oulton Hall where Amy, one of the wedding co-ordinators, was waiting at the front door to greet the couple as they arrived in a classic Rolls Royce.

Not only had Helen and Matt planned for confetti photographs after the big group shot, they also gave each of their guests a balloon to release and Michael's assistance in helping co-ordinate these events helped enormously.  Our thanks and appreciation to him and we can highly recommend his services.  It was great to have someone to rely on when it came to helping to gather guests together for group photographs and his loud voice, professional but firm manner and funny sense of humour meant we managed to finish them and still have a few precious minutes to quickly capture the table details and the Oulton Suite set up for the wedding breakfast and dressed in a beautiful teal colour scheme. 

We knew that the two pretty little flower girls would make for some cute photos, so we grabbed the opportunity to get these when the girls came outside to play between courses, before we caught up with Helen and Matt after dinner.  The weather was looking very much like it might let us down and the light was fading but the couple were brilliant and worked with us so that we could get some lovely images for them.  Helen looked radiant and has such a beautiful smile.  We just had to show off that gorgeous dress before we lost the light altogether.  Once it had faded, we went inside to photograph the new Mr and Mrs Fleming on the staircase before it was first dance time.

Congratulations guys and thank you for choosing us for your Oulton Hall wedding photography.  If you were lucky enough to be a guest at Helen and Matt's wedding, you are welcome to leave a comment.  

If you are looking for a Leeds wedding photographer, you can find our website here and we would be delighted if you would follow us on Facebook here. 

Wedding Photographer Oulton Hall | Samantha and Robert

As Oulton Hall weddings photographers, this was our first of two visits to this beautiful venue in two consecutive days and it's a fabulous place to photograph weddings.  Sam and Rob's photographs were really important to them and we were looking forward to getting them some really special images.  

First stop of the day was with the girls as they got ready at Sam's parents' house with Sam's dad keeping out of the way as much as possible!  Sam took on board what we'd suggested about timings and about when it would be good to have hair and make-up done.  She was in her dress well before we had to leave for church and consequently, this meant more photographs and more special memories of this part of the day.

When we met Rob at the church, he suggested the boys have a "quick one" in the pub over the road before the formalities started.  We knew that Rob was keeping his weather eye open, glancing up at the grey clouds every now and then and we knew he was thinking exactly the same as us - please don't rain!!!!  Sam's car pulled up a few minutes early, allowing us to document her arrival with one very proud dad and get some traditional photos at the church door before the start of the service.  

It was great to be wedding photographers at St John the Baptist Church, Oulton again.  It's been a while since we last photographed a wedding there and we were really excited about returning, especially as this stunning church has lots of natural light and is brilliant to photograph in.  What made it even more special and really personal was the fact that Sam's uncle David had the privilege of conducting the marriage ceremony.

Sam and Rob had factored in plenty of time to enjoy their wedding day, including having a few minutes outside the church for congratulations and mingling with their guests, before a send off at the gate under a shower of confetti and the very short trip next door to Oulton Hall for the reception.  What none of us had planned for was that the Emmerdale film crew had pretty much taken over the venue for two days and we did spot a couple of famous faces.  However, filming meant that some of the most popular locations for Oulton Hall wedding photographs were out of bounds to us until the early evening but as we stay all day, this wasn't too much of an issue.

The couple were fantastic to work with and Rob was a brilliant organiser.  Even on his own wedding day he left nothing to chance and along with his best man Will, he helped to gather people together for groups, both of them saving us valuable time, which made a huge difference to the smooth running of the group photo session.

We were really happy that the couple showed such enthusiasm for their photographs, working with us and trying out anything we suggested.  We did have a sneaky suspicion though that Rob was more interested in watching his new wife being photographed and after a few images on the staircase and gallery, we popped into the bridal suite for a few more portraits of Sam to show off a beautiful bride in a beautiful dress, before we returned to the evening party in the Oulton Suite, which had some pretty fabulous lighting and added so much atmosphere to the new Mr and Mrs Herd's first dance photos.

Thank you for allowing us to provide your wedding photography at Oulton Hall and we were as delighted as you were that the rain stayed away!

If you were a guest at the wedding, please leave a comment.  If you like our images and are looking for an Oulton Hall wedding photographer, please get in touch.  You can follow us on Facebook here or please visit our West Yorkshire wedding photographer website.

All images are the copyright of Alex & Janet Durasow, A D Photography.