Walking through York this morning and the city is literally buzzing with so much going on today. Firstly, it’s Gay Pride so trying to get through town past the Minster was a job in itself. Then there were the mystery plays actually in the Minster itself so that was all getting set up with loads of people loading and unloading equipment around the Minster. A bustling start to this sunny Saturday morning. Luckily when I arrived at the townhouse Zoe had hired and atmosphere was quite the opposite, relaxed and calm. It was a lovely spacious townhouse adjacent to The Merchant Taylor’s Hall and perfectly located for their wedding. Downstairs to the kitchen and all Zoe’s bridesmaids, friends and family were busily making all the flowers for the wedding day. Zoe’s brother, Grandad and uncle opted for a more relaxed approach with tv and beer!

Zoe soon appeared looking sensational in a white dress with sweetheart neckline and embroidered flowing lace. Her jewellery included a lovely vintage looking hair piece with mother of pearl encrusted detail that really complimented and completed the style. I remember her dad mentioning that he’d only ever seen her in a dress twice before in her entire life! I think she definitely made up for it with how she looked today. Once the finishing touches were complete this left a little time to capture some informal shots in the rear garden of the house and then it was a short 100 yard dash across to the venue for coverage of the guests arriving and getting ready for the bride and bridesmaids arrival.

The Merchant Taylor’s Hall has a lovely old dark wood panelled great hall which I’ve photographed plenty of ceremonies in before but I love the smaller little hall that was being used for the ceremony today as it has an intimate feel and lots of generous light. With everyone in their seats Zoe arrived, the sun was shining and Steve looked a very happy man seeing his bride walk down the aisle towards him. Zoe’s dad gave her away and looked really proud even shedding a tear or two. Steve’s sister, a professional musician played music for them during the signing of the register which really set a lovely mood to the proceedings and which everyone wanted to hear more of once she’d finished.

With most of York shut down with the various events going on in the city we opted for a little explore of the the quaint little side streets for photographs of the bride and groom. We still managed to get some of the land marks into the pictures at the same time as avoiding the crowds. We captured lots of lovely informal wedding photographs away from the wedding party using all the little quirky doors, walls and windows that came our way, if it had potential it was in the photographs!

With the speeches underway if you’d blinked you would of missed them. Steve warned us his speech was a short one and got more than few laughs as he pulled a tiny pink post it from his pocket to read from!

Top day, lovely couple!

Congratulations to Zoe and Steve.