Yesterday I joined the lovely Amanda & Mark to photograph their wedding at The Harrogate Masonic Hall
We all had a wicked day and instead of the gloomy forecast promised by the Beeb, it turned out to be a glorious sun & fun filled day.
Amanda’s an events planner and you could see it in the logistics! They both got ready in different wings of the excellent Cedar Court Hotel, and their ceremony & reception were all at the Masonic Hall, literally 2 minutes walk down the road.
I like this one of Amanda being made up under her flowergirl’s supervision!
Radiant much? There was a great vibe during the morning.
Amanda & Mark both read personal vows during the ceremony & I caught this one of her vows on the table by a brew and a butty
Their flowers were beautiful eh? There was a great hot pink & cream theme throughout the wedding wear.
You can only just make it out in the blur, but Amanda’s ‘Old’ (of the old, new, borrowed & blue) was a necklace of her grans woven into her bouquet stems.
Amanda’s resplendent dress.
I love the light voyeurism of shooting through doors, as though your looking in on something a bit secret & hidden.
For the shutterbugs out there, the way I got this one was by hiding my flashgun round the corner inside the room, to bounce off the roof (flash spot metered off the midtoned wallpaper), then dialed in a dark ambient exposure to darken the door frame.
I love catching quiet reflective moments, like this one of Amanda.
Is she thinking about the gloomy BBC forecast? Getting her vows right? Whether she should have another glass of bubbles?
It’s great when an image lets you stop and revisit a fleeting moment like this.
A cool touch of theirs was that all the bridesmaids had hot pink shoes, but they were all different styles.
Amanda & Mark sent gifts & cards to one other in the morning. Amanda received a beautiful necklace & a card addressed to ‘Panda’
Meanwhile, over with the dudes…
Mark received this badboy from Panda! Mr Bonds very own Omega Seamaster!
Pimpin!
I like Clare’s catch of Mark & his best man chilling out together…
…and fixing each other up
Here they are outside with their groomsmen
Plus a nice detail of the sharp colours & flora.
Here they are strolling down to The Harrogate Masonic Hall where they hosted their ceremony & reception.
Their ceremony was in the Masonic hall itself.
I’ve done a few weddings in Masonic buildings before and it’s always fascinating noseying around these mysterious historic buildings.
We’d met here for their pre-wedding practice shoot (post here). Amanda & Mark have no Masonic links, so sadly they couldn’t teach me any secret handshake.
Meanwhile, as the pressure built, a sea of amazing bridesmaids maided.
I say amazing, because just at the moment Amanda was meant to get into her dress, it turned out the dress shop hadn’t packed her underskirt hoop! So bridesmaids leapt into action and bombed to the shop to get it! Somehow we all still managed to keep to time!
The girls and flower girls colours looked fantastic eh?
And here’s Dad, first laying eyes on his beautiful daughter on her wedding day.
It’s always a special moment.
I liked this frame of the girls about to head in
And this is probably my fave of the day, of Amanda heading up the stairs
Aww.
The first look…
…the kiss…
…and dancing down the aisle as man & wife to a spot of Paulo Nuttini!
A quick snap of everyone
and an ace blast of confetti
Having seen the poster for Bridesmaids, Amanda asked if we could have a bash at a sassy copy of the movie poster.
As I was setting up a shot of the chaps, I like this relaxed catch of Gordon (AKA: ‘G-MAN’) on the left making the chaps laugh
Then as if on cue, the sun put his hat on and we had a quick skip through a few casual portraits
I particularly like this one.
They’d used dad’s family car for a whole bunch of weddings before, and it was a fun surprise to Amanda when dad ribboned it up for their big day
One of the most unique touches of the day was a Fawlty Towers comedy tribute act who hoseted the afternoon reception!
Bringing the Fawlty Towers trademark anarchy, Basil’s short-fused and eccentric hotelier screamed away at his incompetent team. Manuel’s constant confusion led munchos innuendo and accidents (including dropping a dummy wedding cake, to the surprise of the guests!). Meanwhile Penny flapped around as Basil’s long suffering wife Sybil got progressively more ‘drunk’ on Gin, and started chatting up the guests!
I was seriously impressed by the professional actors from Laughlines, who provided a hilarious dining experience indeed!
From a photographer’s point of view, lineup’s often don’t lead to many stunning images, bit I like this one of Amanda & Mark laughing with a guest
The room looked amazing
And there was a gret sweet table for the kids. Though I did sample a white chocolate mouse, for a bit of quality control.
Speeches were great fun all round.
And it was cool seeing Amanda & Mark boogie into the night to the aptly titled ‘Greatest Day’ by Take That.
It was so much fun & a massive thank you to Amanda, Mark & their amazing guests for making us feel so at home!
Here’s to an amazing honeymoon in Antigua!
B x