Wedding Photos at The Corn Exchange, Leeds: Helen + Joby

Yesterday I joined Helen & Joby to photograph their wedding at St Chad’s Church, in Headingley and at Anthony’s Piazza in The Corn Exchange! It was a cracking day all round, bursting with cool details and fun ideas (as well as possibly the best bouquet I’ve seen this year!).

I hope you enjoy my story of their lovely day!

I met Helen & her girls at a hairdressers on Burley Road (literally opposite a house Clare rented as a student!)

There was a great excitable atmosphere of fun in the air.

The finished looks, complete with bacon butties from next door!

Back at the ranch, Helen’s special wedding gown was hanging next to a metal map of New Zealand.

Helen had a change of heart on her original dress choice when she found a fabulous Chandrika Thomas dress in London.  Last minute tweaks and changes paid off and Helen was super pleased with her dress.

The wedding was full of amazing flashes of vibrant colours, such as Helens ace shoes……and the absolutely amazing Daisy Chain bouquets.

The colours and range of crazy flora were just amazing. I’ve never seen feathers in bouquets before.Meanwhile, Helen & the girls did their own makeup

Helen, Joby & their bridesmaids recently ran the London Royal Parks Half Marathon (an excellent way to get that wedding figure!), and Helen was most amused by how camp Joby looked in the official photo!Helen’s a dentist who keeps (and happily converses with) chickens.  When I first met them, they gave me a box of fresh eggs!  I loves me eggs.

I like this pic of Helen brushing her teeth while putting her chicks away before getting into her wedding dress!One of their neighbours gave them some handmade egg warmers as a wedding gift!Over at with the chaps, Joby (so named I believe because his grandfather was called Joseph B Clark, which was abbreviated to ‘Joe-B’) checked the family Bentley (fresh from the menders!), was ready for it’s wedding duties!Then he and groomsmen had a cheeky breakfastBefore slipping into their threads.Helen’s card & gift to JobyEven Joby’s corsage was amazing.  Those curved round white & blue feathers are killer.The chaps walked to the church to check things were ship shape.The church was St Chad’s on Otley Road in Far HeadingleyIt’s recently had a makeover and is looking absolutely stunning inside.

Helen did a screen-printing course & made the order of services herself!

Joby’s Brother in Law, Phil, took chauffeuring duties; hat & all!

There’s a special story behind the big blue Bentley.  It belonged to to Joby’s father, who sadly passed away, and now it’s lovingly looked after by Joby.   So Dad was there in spirit.
It’s a beautiful ol’thing; albeit apparently ‘handles like a boat’.I like this one of Helen being helped into her lovely dress by her girlsLoving the colours eh?!

One Bride! Ready to goAnd one proud dad!

Once the majority of the gang had gone in the first Bentley run, Helen had a moment admiring the flowers by the beautiful window light.

I think there’s something a bit Diana-esque about this one.AwwHelen met her crew of wonderful flower girls at the churchI like catching that first glance from the front.

[All credit to the minister (& Helen & Joby’s former neighbour) Tom, who let us do what we wanted in this vast & beautiful church!]“If any of you have any reason why these two cannot be wed…”!The kissThe signThe new Mr & Mrs!A bit of a mingle outside.  Thank goodness we didn’t have the weather of earlier in the week!A quick blast of colourful confetti!Check out the bride & Bridesmaid show / dress combos!

That’s my kinda bride right there…Non-Family guests climbed aboard the vintage bus (to witness possibly the worst 20-point turn ever); destination, The Corn Exchange, armed with Chupa Chups lollies!

While the bus ferried, we did a few family snaps

And a few of the wedding party

Once done, family shuffled over to Woodies for a quick pint while we did a quick portrait shoot round the church.We even got a cheeky blast of evening sunshineAwwwLove it!Then the bus returned for the family run, again armed with chupa chups!Joby apparently won Helen’s heart with a chupa chup!

The next day she rang her mum and told her family she’d met the man she was going to marry.

Aww.The corn exchange is such a cool building.  Once upon a time I used to sell my travel prints there at the craft fairs, and that’s essentially what turned me into a professional photographer.  (Check out this post for more on my backstory if you’re interested!)

It’s an amazing building inside, designed by the Cuthbert Broderick (the same chap who designed Leeds Town Hall), to trade corn.  One of the major requirements of exchanging corn was being able to evaluate it’s quality by natural light, so it’s got giant windows in the roof to flood the place with light.  Win.  Especially ideal as an indoor contingency if it’s chucking it down outside!

We’d done Helen & Joby’s pre-wedding practice shoot here to get them used to being snapped (check out the post here).

It’s such a wicked place to photographLike

So after a final quick spin of portraits, they headed down to join their guests mingling over purple champagne in Anthony’s Piazza bar downstairsThough not everyone was downstairs!Apparently, the large hole in the floor area was created because it had rotted away in the 80s, so it was turned into a feature!

I loved how they’d put up funky vibrant lanterns to complement their scheme.

Clever details didn’t just end there!  We had Clarke’s Dairy Milk…

And a table bursting with homemade cupcakes, Helen & her crew had spent the last couple of days baking & decorating!

Once guests were seated, Helen & Joby were announced in, down the grand staircase!

After sharing a sea of delicious Yorkshire Tapas, guests were given specially made aprons for the main course. 

And out came a delicious sirloin of beef for them to carve, and serve with all the trimmings!

Interactive food is good!Anthony Flynn even came out himself to serve the top table.
While we set about making our sideshow, I popped outside to catch a shot as night set over The Corn Exchange.

Evening speeches were set in almost complete darkness, and I had my fingers crossed firing flash two-stories into a void in the hope that it’d bounce back, but praise-be it worked!The official cake cuttingThen into first dance!

They’d taken dance lessons & did a cracking performance to The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition”

In the evening we ran our photobooth, with a few props supplied by Helen & Joby!  Click the slideshow above to view a few highlights & use the left & right arrows on your keyboard to see the next/last ones).

Evening entertainment came in the shape of the amazing Cherie Gear’s Wedding Band!  I’ve seen them play loads and am always blown away by them and how they bring the party vibe.

So!  What a great wedding!  Big thanks to Helen & Joby asking us on board to visually document their wedding story!  Here’s to a great honeymoon!

x B&C x