“Thank you sooo much for your amazing work, Alice. We can’t imagine a lovelier photographer!”
I had an absolutely fabulous day joining Shura and Kevin as their Victoria Hall wedding photographer.
Shura and Kevin met in Russia! They both worked as journalists and met through work. They got engaged last August in St. Petersburg, while they were living in Moscow. Kevin proposed and dropped the ring, which they felt was sort of classic Shura-and-Kevin. From the moment I spoke to them and heard about their plans I knew I could look forward to photographing a fabulously fun and creative wedding day. As they had lived in various places they wanted to have a big party for all their friends and family and formalise their relationship after moving back to Yorkshire at the end of last year.
The wedding locations
The wedding ceremony and reception locations were both in the unique UNESCO world heritage village of Saltaire. The village was built by Sir Titus Salt to house the workers of his mill, which is now Salts Mill. A big supply of wool used for the mill came from alpacas which lead to the vintage, alpaca theme that was present throughout the wedding day.
The church wedding ceremony took place at the very impressive United Reformed Church in Saltaire. They had a very meaningful church blessing, including two readings and accompanied by the churches own organ music. The grand architecture made for a great wedding picture backdrop. The signing of the register was accompanied by absolutely beautiful flute playing by a friend of the couple. How special!
The reception took place at a graded II listed building, the Victoria Hall. It is such a beautiful and unique venue and as a result I enjoyed myself so much as their Victoria Hall wedding photographer. The hall was built in 1871 by Sir Titus Salt for his villagers as a centre for recreation, culture and learning. The hall is now a charitable trust and a very popular Yorkshire wedding venue. All the proceeds from the hire go directly back into managing and maintaining the building. There was no end to creative wedding photography within Victoria Hall as every room had a different feel and colour scheme.
The couple wedding portraits
It had been raining all day and I was prepared to have only indoor space for the couple pictures. I knew that we had plenty of opportunity to do so at the beautiful wedding venue, Victoria Hall. As it turned out, we got very lucky and the rain held back for us after the ceremony. The couple was relieved that it was not as hot as the days before and we found some brilliant backdrops for some lovely and creative wedding photos, walking through the village of Saltaire. A white umbrella was all we needed and the rain drops made for a stunning last wedding evening shot in front of Victoria Hall.
Especially the confetti picture brings a real smile to my face now. Everyone started throwing before we were ready and I can still hear me shouting within a mist of petals “Noooooooo, we are not ready. Stoooop”. I knew that Shura’s mum had been drying the petals on their AGA for a whole year. I was so relieved that we still had plenty of confetti left to get everyone into place and it is now one of my favourite wedding pictures of the day.
The reception
Whilst we strolled through the village for some wedding couple photos, the guests enjoyed canapés and drinks at Victoria Hall where we joined them once we were finished. A big surprise was waiting for everyone when it came to the announcement of the bride and groom. Instead of just walking in, the couple where raised out of the stage floor together with the Wurlitzer organ in Victoria Hall which Shura’s parents’ friend Keith was playing. What a fantastic entrance which made everyone laugh so much!
The wedding breakfast was a Kashmiri wedding curry. So delicious! Especially the frozen mango lassi ice cream was to die for. I sat amongst wedding guests which is always nice as it gave me the chance for a little interesting chat with some lovely journalist friends of theirs.
After the meal, we had another chance for some couple portraits incorporating some wonderful walls and features of the venue. Working as a Victoria Hall wedding photographer was certainly fun and a spark for creativity. The DJ set up and we returned to the hall for the cake cutting and first dance. The cake was beautifully made by Shura’s mum’s cousin, Judith, and had a little Russian musical box on the top, which played whilst the couple cut their cake. The first dance was accompanied by “Etta James – At last” after which everyone joined in for a boogie on the dance floor.
Thank you so much, Shura and Kevin, for letting me join your special day! It was such a pleasure and I enjoyed every minute of it.
If you are looking for your own Victoria Hall wedding photographer, have a look at my portfolio and get in touch here.
Other awesome wedding suppliers:
Victoria Hall, Saltaire
Louise Fawcett hair and make-up artist
Sophie’s flowers and events
Aggrah event catering
Hi-life entertainment