Wedding photography at The Faversham, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Amy and Chris’s wedding at The Faversham

In November I finally managed to photograph Amy and Chris’s fabulous wedding at the amazing Faversham in Leeds. I say finally as their wedding had been postponed a couple of times due to the world being a little bit broken, but all I can say is it was certainly worth the wait as the day was fantastic.

Documentary wedding photography

As a documentary wedding photographer, the pictures that I show in my marketing and social media are mainly natural moments and nothing posed. Because of this, I attract bride’s and grooms who want the same. Chris and Amy were certainly no different, they don’t particularly like having their pictures taken but they wanted the story of their wedding captured which is exactly what I do.

Wedding Morning

I do love starting a wedding day with Team Bride. I headed over to The Marriott Hotel in Leeds City Centre early doors and when I got there I noticed loads of people queuing which was a little strange. I then realised that there was a Comic-Con going on which I thought may lead to some interesting pictures later. I headed into the room to see Amy and there were loads going on, people having hair and makeup done, folk chatting and generally feeling excited. I could tell there were a few nerves but everyone was pretty happy.

Photographing a bride in the morning is a great warmup to the day. I get to know everyone and they get to know me. I look for specific ways to tell the story but it’s a great time to build up trust for the day. I was made to feel right at home and was offered a brew as soon as I walked in the door so the rest of the morning I spent capturing the story of the day.

Time flies

Every wedding that I photograph I hear the words “plenty of time” which is a bit of a myth. But, this wedding morning seemed pretty chilled. There is a point of the morning when all of a sudden it’s all systems go. I tend to get kicked out of the room and everyone gets dressed. I’ve said it so many times that I love a reveal (unposed) so when Amy walked through the door her bridesmaids burst into tears as they hadn’t seen the dress and Amy looked like a princess. Her dad walked in to see her and had a small reaction but there were no tears as he was worried about putting his tie and cufflinks on. I took a few shots of Amy dressed and then I suggested a walk around the hotel to see some of the sights of Comic-Con. This was a fab idea, however, I did forget that a lot of the people who get involved in cosplay are a little bit on the introverted side so my idea of a bride being surrounded by Wolverine, Spiderman, Ironman etc didn’t work as well as I had pictured it but it was worth a try.

The Faversham

I then headed over to The Faversham a short car journey away to see Chris and the boys. I do love the Faversham as a wedding venue so I was definitely looking forward to being there. I walked in and was really happy to see that the bride and groom had hired some arcade games, so with a car racing game, some bashing game and a dance game I knew it was going to be a fun wedding.

Chris the groom had just arrived and someone was helping him put his tie on (this often happens at weddings) so I just got on with capturing the day and watching the story unfold in front of me. I captured some details and Chris had made most of it himself which is something I love as a wedding with personal touches is always the best. More guests arrived and I awaited the bride.

Brides arrival

The bride was running a little behind schedule due to a City Centre wedding but nothing to worry about. The wedding car/van was an amazing looking yellow camper van so it was easy to spot when it started coming down the street. A couple of shots with Amy and her dad and it was time to get married. The Faversham is such a lovely place to have a wedding as the conservatory looks stunning when it’s fully set up. Everything was going great and then my favourite registrar came in so I knew there would be no rules on photographing the ceremony.

Photographing ceremonies

When I walk into a room and stand at the front, it’s the first time that I have seen every guest. At this point, I am taking a visual note of who the main family and friends are. Chris looked a little nervous but I could tell he was excited. Everyone was sat down and then Amy the bride walked in with her dad and all eyes were on her and she looked amazing and happy. The ceremony went without a hitch which is always good.

Afternoon

As soon as the wedding had finished everyone was ushered out so they could chuck confetti on the bride and groom. I was very impressed as despite it being late November not many people actually complained how cold they were (they’re hard in Leeds). I quickly photographed the group photos which had been requested and had a few minutes to shoot some portraits with the bride and groom.

At a lot of weddings there sometimes is a little bit of a gap during the ceremony and wedding breakfast (tea in Leeds speak) and sometimes people don’t know what to do. However, this wasn’t the case at Chris and Amy’s wedding, they had catered for everything. They had hired loads of arcade games which got a lot of use and Sam, Amy’s brother had also booked Mark Waddington, a Leeds magician, who did a fantastic job entertaining the crowds.

No speeches

As I have mentioned in this post Amy and Chris didn’t want a typical wedding, they were happy to do what they wanted and not to conform which is absolutely brilliant. They didn’t want a formal sit down dinner so had a buffet type meal which was lovely (I was fortunate enough to be fed) and they didn’t want to do speeches. Lots of people dread the idea of public speaking so if you don’t want to do it, then don’t! Why worry on your wedding day?

Party time

There was a real fun atmosphere about the whole day, people were chatting, smiling and generally enjoying themselves and I just spent the day capturing this. The arcade machines were constantly busy so there was always some time to do for everyone. It was now time for the party! I saw the DJ from Johnny Ross Music wheel in the biggest set of speakers I had ever seen at a wedding, in fact, they wouldn’t have looked out of place in Ibiza, so I knew it was going to be a loud evening and I wasn’t wrong.

The first dance, after the cake cutting it was time for the first dance. I knew that Chris certainly wasn’t looking forward to the first dance and in his words “look like he’s kicking a wardrobe about” so I knew it was going to be cut short. However, what I didn’t know was that Sam would be dusting off his saxophone and playing along to the song for the first dance which was a lovely touch.

Talking about saxophones, Amy and Chris had booked a saxophonist to come along and play alongside the DJ which created a great buzz. There was some crazy dancing and I must mention a guest called Julie who let’s say had, had a little bit to drink and I thought for sure that she was going to fall over but she kept going all night and I have no idea how.

The day was absolutely fabulous, the bride and groom had thought of everything and everyone had an amazing day.
Congratulations Amy and Chris.