Oulton Hall wedding, Leeds West Yorkshire

Rachel and Sean’s wedding took place at the amazing Oulton Hall, Leeds, West Yorkshire back in August. I’ve known Rachel for ages from a business perspective and I was delighted when she asked if I would photograph her wedding. I’d also met Sean a few times at other weddings and he’s a real gent so I was super chuffed to be asked.  Before the wedding, I went round to see Rachel and Sean to chat about their wedding and it was then that I realised that Sean loves fun stuff! When they told me that they were having a Lego-themed wedding I got so excited. When I was a kid I absolutely loved Lego and was even in the Lego Club, I even used to get my “Bricks n Pieces” magazine (whoops, I digress) but to say I was excited would be a massive understatement.

On the day of the wedding, I headed over for bridal preparations, there was a lovely atmosphere of excitement, I always like morning bridal preparation as it’s a perfect way to start the story. I get to meet the main people and more importantly, they get used to me.  The ceremony was quite early at 11:30 am so after I had photographed Rachel getting into her gorgeous gown I headed over to the St Johns Baptist church at Coley, Halifax to meet Sean and the chaps.

Sean was in good spirits and excited for the day ahead, I always like to get to a church early so I can have a conversation with the vicar dude about their rules. Some of them can be a bit strict but this guy was brilliant so I knew we were in for a good ceremony.  The ceremony was absolutely fabulous, it was the perfect mix of serious, humour and wedding stuff (very technical that) there was actually a few classic moments during the ceremony.  My personal favourite was where the vicar actually had a brain freeze and forgot which hand he put the rings on which was hilarious. The other lovely moment was where the vicar somehow related to speech to Lego and the flower girls handed out Lego control panels to all of the guests. My job would be a lot easier if every vicar/registrar was so accommodating.

After the ceremony and confetti, the bride and groom jumped in the wedding car and made their way to Oulton Hall, Leeds for the rest of their day.  Oulton Hall is a stunning location and I’ve shot quite a few weddings there so I was certainly looking forward to the rest of the day.  On my arrival I was so pleased to see that the Lego theme was in full swing, everywhere I looked there were bits of Lego. One of the best things I’ve ever seen is that every single guest had a Lego figure that represented who they were, for example, there were people who liked fishing so their little Lego dude had a fishing rod and fish, I was so happy that I had one with a camera. I always tell my couples that anything they can do to put personality into the wedding is the best way to make it great! I’m so happy with my little Lego chap and he’s actually on top of my monitor looking down on me now. The Lego cake was also amazing but my favourite Lego creation were the amazing bride and groom portraits that Sean had made (the guys got skills)

During the afternoon we did the usual wedding things, I took lots of pictures of people drinking, laughing and enjoying themselves, there was a string quartet playing and we took some group shots. After everyone had sat down to eat the bride and groom was announced into the room and Rachel and Sean had planned this in advance where they entered but the wrong music was being played then Rachel stamps her foot has a strop and then walked out. It was very funny as no one knew what was happening, then all of a sudden the correct music was played and everyone applauded.  Everyone ate food, the speeches were good and then it was time for the evening.

In the evening after the first dance, the videographers arranged for a dance-off (I guess they wanted to go home) it was highly amusing and I’m pretty sure that the girls annihilated the chaps, although my favourite dance move came from one of the guys who adapted a going bowling dance technique. The dancefloor filled up and everyone was having a fabulous time. One of the highlights of the evening was when one of the drunk guests insisted that people could only dance on the black squares of the black and white chequered dancefloor, it’s little things like this that I love about weddings. The day was fabulous, everyone had a fab time and I loved being there.

Congratulations Rachel and Sean