On Friday I joined Lucy & Rowan to photograph their cracking wedding at The Mansion in Roundhay Park, Leeds!
This was always gonna be a fun wedding for me, as I went to school with these kids and have been good pals with Lucy for years. Â For a bit more of the backstory, check out their pre-wedding practice shoot in Roundhay park here.
I hope you enjoy my story of their lovely day!
As I was dropped off pretty early in central Leeds, I had a bit of time to set the scene round City Square.
[LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS!]
Lucy was getting ready at The Grade II listed Quebec’s Hotel
I’ve wandered past it many times and it’s super grand inside.  Originally the headquarters of the Leeds & county Liberal Club, it has some mint two-storey-high stained glass windows displaying the coats of arms of the principal towns of Yorkshire. Apparently regular guests include Coldplay, Joan Rivers, Vic Reeves & Russell Brand!  No messin about for Lucy!
The Bridesmaids & Lucy had a beautiful suite to get ready in.
The beautiful wedding dress! Bridesmaid Tessa enjoyed herself, practicing her ceremony speech.
Lucy’s mum Brenda, is a legend and it was so nice to join them for the morning’s preps.
The colours were fab, with Cadbury purple at the centre.
Love this one.Bubbles!
Over with the chaps, Clare caught this one of Rowan fixing his bouf.
The wicked flash of purple ran through the chaps attire too…
with some cheeky stripes courtesy of Paul Smith cufflinksLucy’s Dad Steve seemed to enjoy the morning’s events.The ringsThe boy’s bubbles!Enjoyed out on the balcony
After a dutch pint in the Fox, the chaps headed for a stroll round Roundhay Park for a bit of photoshoot fun!
Rock those catalogue poses boys
The ceremony & reception was held at the recently restored, imposing Mansion, overlooking Roundhay Park.
We all knew this place well from the days when it was an old man pub in the park.  Now, under the hands of Dine Catering, it’s a fab boutique venue, striking that perfect balance of smart, fun & chilled out.
The ceremony room was full of Lucy’s creative touches.
How cool does this little flower girl look!
Back at the hotel, slightly behind schedule, the girls helped Lucy into her dress.
Love this one.
And one proud father, laying eyes on his beautiful daughter ready to get married!
It’s hard to forget how significant this day is is for a dad who’s seen his daughter grow all the way up to the day she gets married.
Steve’s pal Dave took chauffering duties in his Bentley, proudly donning a hat and everything!
I love this one of Lucy & Dad on route.
Guests found their seats as Rowan nervously waited!
Arriving at the mansion Lucy first saw her entourage of flower girls and page boys.About half an hour late, I loved how as soon as they caught each others eye down the aisle, Lucy pretty much squealed out an apology for being late!Tessa read Edward Monkton’s “A Lovely Love Story”.
It’s the cutest tale about two dinosaurs falling in love, beautifully delivered by Tessa. Check it out here.
I take you…Man & Wife!
This shot wasn’t set up at all, it was a lucky snatch through the door as they stepped out into the sunshine!
After a bit of mingling, we got everyone together for a big groupshot
Followed by a blast of confetti! Â I love how Lucy even thought about the colour of the confetti cones!
Not messing about.
We then rattled through the family groups.Ending with a few casual wedding party snapsLoving the flowers & colour scheming!Guys too!
Quite unusually, Rowan’s outfit differentiated from the boys by him wearing a waistcoat.
Nice call.After a great practice shoot round Roundhay Park Italian Gardens (check the images here), we headed back in wedding threads for another round.I love this one.
50mm @ f1.2 has a magic way of throwing out the background focus. Â The Bokeh behind them looks magic.Â
Lucy’s heels made walking slow going, so Ro did some gentlemanly carrying!The fountains there make for an ace background.As do some rushes we found.The gardens are full of fun.But at the end of the day it’s all about the shoes.Back at the mansion, the wedding breakfast was set & good to go.
There were creative little touches everywhere.  Every setting had it’s own cupcake and the wedding cake (made of hearts!) were both made by family members.
Love this one of them being announced into the room!Speeches were ace; delivered not only by the Father of the bride, Groom & best man, but also by the Mother of the bride, both best men & the chief bridesmaid!
After dinner they had a wicked 6-piece band play called the ‘I ♥ New York Brass Band‘! Â
After a little impromtu boogie upstairs, they decided to take it outside
and everyone had a little shuffle, before going on a walk down to one of Roundhay Park’s bandstands for a bit of a dance there too!
While the room was being turned around for the evening reception, we ran our Photobooth for guests to play in front of!
[Click the slideshow to begin, or use the arrows to navigate through!]
Before first dance we cut the cake…
before throwing a few shapes to Jack Johnson’s ‘Better Together’Then everyone piled in & got down.As dusk set over the Mansion……guests piled outside for a bit of Chinese Lantern fun!
Mixing booze & fire could be considered unwise, especially when Michael (who expertly co-ordinated the day with James) had a blowtorch to speed things along (!), but it really is quite special setting these guys off into the night sky.The last snap we caught, before dropping the cameras, I got them to draw a sparkly heart!
It was such a grand day all round & it was really great to be able to capture to the story of my old school pals tying the knot!
For their honeymoon they’re taking a year out travelling together! Â So here’s to an amazing adventure together!
B&C x