Untraditional, over 100 baby Guinnesses and one of the best funky brass bands around. Couldn’t have asked for a better wedding to photograph at The Chapter Hall in Leeds.
I first met Rebecca and Andy at a wedding fayre at the Armories in Leeds. They loved my chilled and relaxed wedding photography style that fit perfectly for them. Little did I know how chilled their wedding would be and how untraditional it would be too. Their wedding at Northern Monk Refectory in Leeds would be one of my wedding photography highlights of the year.
The morning started off with Rebecca and Andy getting ready together in Leeds, not far from their wedding venue. They’d already had a small intimate wedding in Ireland, with just close family and friends. So this was just a big party really for the bride and groom.
They both rocked up at Northern Monk Refectory just around the corner where they got ready. Now usually a ceremony would happen, but Rebecca and Andy did things differently. They went straight into speeches with photos from their Ireland wedding being shown to everyone.
Northern Monk Refectory in Leeds is a working brewery. Located in The Old Flax Store, our Grade II listed mill. The Refectory is the original home of Northern Monk, located directly above our first brewing site. I do love Grade Listed buildings to photograph weddings in. Usually because they’re fairly cold and on a mini heat wave like this wedding, it was nice to get out of the heat. Secondly, they’re just different and gives you the nice industrial vibe with the bare brick walls like Nothern Monk Refectory had.
One cool thing about wedding speeches is I get to find out more about the bride and groom and their family and friends. It turns out Rebecca and Andy are massive foodies, so when it came down to choosing which food supplier they’d have for their wedding breakfast at Northern Monk Refectory, it had to be good. Luckily they chose The Outside Kitchen and they did not disappoint. Another cool thing about photographing weddings too, is that I usually get fed at weddings too because my couples are amazing and the food was amazing!
Another thing I learnt about the bride and groom and their friends and family, is that they all love baby Guinnesses. As toasts they all gave the wedding guest a shot of baby Guiness. All 80 of them. I’ve never seen so many baby Guinnesses before in my life! Pretty sure they drank Northern Monk Refectory’s whole supply of Kahula and Bailey’s.
As the evening drew to a close, Rebecca and Andy had a last surprise for their wedding party. For their first dance, they booked the amazing Back Chat Brass Band to surprise everyone as they started their first dance. I’ve been following Back Chat for a while now and have wanted to photograph a wedding with them and boy did they not disappoint. They had everyone dancing from the start and it was hard to actually leave the wedding I was loving it that much. As I drove off from Northern Monk Refectory, I could still hear the brass band blaring out from the windows.
