Last weekend I joined Vickie + Ricky for their wedding photos at Wharfedale Grange, one of my top 10 Best Yorkshire Barn Wedding venues between Harewood and Harrogate!

Wharfedale Grange is one of Yorkshire’s leading luxury barn wedding venues, surrounded by wildflower meadows and rolling countryside.

I knew when I met these guys we were a match! Vickie has a wicked sense of humour, they have a cuuuuute pooch and as a pair they’re quick to laugh! All a win for me…

What they’re not quick at is getting married! They’ve been engaged for no less than 27 years! (after meeting at the infamous Leeds pub the Chained Bull – an old haunt of mine!)

But that relaxed vibe showed itself as a great flavour at the wedding, which was chilled and chock full of fun*

*Read: Booze!

I dipped between the action with the girls in the secret bridal prep room and Ricky, the boys and their Schnauzer Molly in Wharfedale’s Grade II listed farmhouse. 

After buttonholes and Vickie’s stunning dress were on (and a few dumbells had been curled!) we headed down to the ceremony in the North Barn. Out through a hail of confetti the newlyweds emerged for fizz, delicious canapés and a quick round of group pics in front of the rolling hills and meadows.

With a dedicated ceremony room, stylish bar and a huge dining party barn, as well an outdoor sun-trap terrace, it’s perfect for weddings.

After hilarious speeches (& a fun poem from Vickie’s mate Sarah), a delicious wedding breakfast was served in the South Barn, followed by surprise Singing Waiters! Once everyone had caught their breath from conga lines and waving napkins to That’s Amore, it was back out for cocktail hour! Pornstar or Espresso, that is the question?!

Before we knew it it was time to cut the cake, do a dancefloor groupshot have a boogie to ‘Walking on Sunshine’ with confetti cannons firing! 

Then ’cause it was such a glorious sunny evening, everyone headed straight back outside to enjoy ice creams and pizza! 

It was great to join this lovely pair (and Molly!) and fab to be back at Wharfedale Grange (props to Camilla & Emma for all their hard graft in the background).

All in all, you couldn’t have hoped for a nicer couple and a nicer day! The perfect Yorkshire Wedding, and I hope you enjoy my wedding story below from this ace wedding!

Now grab y’sen a steaming mug of Yorkshire tea and hit play on the slideshow below to check out their wedding highlights below…

The post Wharfedale Grange Wedding Photos, between Harrogate and Harewood in Yorkshire: Vickie + Ricky appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Last Saturday I joined Sophie & Sam for their EPIC wedding at Riverland Wedding Barns near Goole in East Yorkshire – arguably my new favourite venue in all of Yorkshire!

East Yorkshires finest renovated barn wedding venue… A photographer’s dream!

Not only was everything about the barns perfectly styled and planned for a relaxed, funky wedding, but this couple and their fam and friends were just a delight to be around. (I shot Sophie’s sister Pip’s wedding a few years back and it was so good to see everyone again!).

This creative, musical couple (and their army of planners and helpers) thought of everything; from Pip taking on the role of Celebrant (& brownie baker!), a best pal being ‘Mistress of Ceremonies’ (according to Dad’s description anyway!) and Sam’s brother and pro singer bridesmaid leading guests in singing Africa by Toto to end the blessing!

Details (& the epic BBQ food from Big D’s BBQ!) were a delight – from homemade lawn games to the epic mountain of brownies! Their little one year old Amelia was front and centre enjoying all the shenanigans, and the Kyler & Kate from Riverlands ran everything with a professional chilled precision. (They even got involved in ‘the peg game’ where guests secretly clipped clothes pegs on each other and I’m still finding them hanging off my camera bag!)

Surrounded by open fields and nature reserves, it is private and exclusive, but relaxed and easy to get to!

My wingman Paul Stott and I had a blast with this fab crowd. I love shooting wedding photography all across Yorkshire and love discovering new venues! Kyler & Kate at Riverlands Wedding Barns were such fun to work with and I hope to be back again soon!

Now grab y’sen a steaming mug of Yorkshire tea and hit play on the slideshow below to check out their wedding highlights below…

The post Riverlands Wedding Barns Photo near Goole, in East Yorkshire: Sophie + Sam appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Our Border ‘Terrorist’ Connie has been with us for 2 years now and this year and I pondered on what Star Wars fancy dress pet character to dress her up as…

I thought it was time for the biggest baddest schemer from the BARK SIDE…

I was torn between ‘Conperor Palpatine’ and ‘Emperor Pawpatine’, but preferred the latter!

(The only bit of photoshopping was ol’Palpy’s classic lightning!)

Big thanks to the wife for hiding behind holding Connie in position!

I always include previous efforts below too, so last year she was an Ewok! Bless her little fuzzy face

Big up my dad ‘GPJ’ (Grandpa John) for being on hand with ham and bread bribes!

Coincidentally, I was a ‘J themed’ fancy dress party yesterday (with my daughter Jasmine, as ‘Princess Jasmine’), so thought it rude not to go as Jedi Knight Anekin! (Or “Barn-akin”?!)

There were a few Jedi’s there, and I thought I had the high ground trying to despatch a youngling, but Palpatine turned up and I got Mauled!

A few years back, at only 10 weeks old, she had her baptism of fire as Chewbacca…

Being ‘Chewy’ has been a theme throughout her first turn around our local Star

(See my boys ‘Darth Mauled’ dinosaur collection for details)

Some of you may know I had a thing for annually dressing up my previous beloved pooch Kyra as Star Wars characters, as it was her birthday on May the 4th!

13 outfit variations and she sadly passed, after her final Star Wars humiliation – I mean ‘performance’ – as the ‘Dog Star’.

What a star she was too. An ambassador to the Staffy breed and I still miss her company.

This is where it started for ‘Darth Kyra’ back in 2011, strong with the force, not long after we ‘rescued’ her (though she might not have thought it was a rescue after these shoots…)

Over the years we attempted a host of Jedi, Chewbacca, Leia, an X-wing pilot. About 10 major characters later I started running thin on ideas and even attempted Han Solo in Carbonite and even a Tuscan Raider!

I thought it might also be fun to go back through Kyra’s punny hits… Including ‘Kyra-2D2’!

This official Lucasfilm licensed outfit looks like a victorian frilly blouse and b) comes with a skullcap she WAS NOT 100% IMPRESSED WITH!

She put up with my silly ways in exchange for sliced ham and biscuits!

My boy Len even helped with treat distribution and I only realised afterwards that I’d massively missed a trick not dressing him up as C3PO to complete the pairing!

Being born at the end of Feb 2020, Lenny also suffered at the hands of my Star Wars nerdery, and sat in a bin to play ‘The Child’ AKA ‘Grogu’ / ‘Baby Yoda’!

But back to Kyra…

Finding my snowboarding goggles in the drawer inspired me to do an X-Wing Pilot one year!

And as I strain at puns on her name ‘Kyra’, she joins Gold Leader, Blue Leader and Red Leader, as ‘Kyred Leader’!

This was an official outfit too. Lucasfilm are nothing if smart at covering all merch bases!

Anyone starting to see how impressed she is about all this?!

While she’s technically a Bantha, the rider is a Tuskan Raider and that makes an easier ‘Kyra/dog’ pun!

‘Kyrace Windu’! Samuel Jackson’s purple lightsaber weilding badass.

‘Kyrey’!

And she looks just as pleased about being dressed up in this ‘Rey’ toddler fancy dress costume and hanging out in a local golf course bunker as one might expect!

Kyra’s attempt at ‘Chewbarka’, in our local bluebell woods, made out of a hacked up a Chewbacca Rucksack!

The Force Awaken’s ‘Kyra Ren’ – from Han & Leia’s very naughty boy Kylo.

 ‘Kyran Solo’ was a labour of Blue Peter-style cardboard-and-PVA-glue love, to create a Han Solo in Carbonite box Kyra could climb into!

‘Princess Kyra’… cause she’s a little short to be a Storm Trooper!

This was Kyra’s effort as an Ewok (aka ‘Kyrawok’), made out of an old charity shop skirt & a teddy bear! Think she might have preferred Connie’s bib to be fair!

Jub jub

‘Kyrobi Wan Kenobi’ … Do those eyes also say to you ‘These aren’t the photoshoots I’m looking for’

And here are a few out-takes, cause eventually, even food bribes don’t make up for the shame…

I can’t see what her problem is; dressing up as Star Wars characters is great fun!

Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you enjoyed the latest instalment and reminiscing over Kyra’s greatest hits!

Barnaby

ps. If you’re also in the market for a wedding photographer, I also do that too

The post May The Fourth Be With You! Star Wars Dog Emperor Palpatine Pet Costume appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Yesterday I joined Olivia + James for their wedding photography at Bowcliffe Hall in Bramham, Yorkshires best kept secret country house hidden between Leeds and Wetherby!

Bowcliffe Hall is an exclusive country house wedding venue on the outskirts of Leeds with a funky automotive twist!

This lovely pair are legit high school sweethearts! They met when they were 12, started dating at 15 and over the past decade having gone through exams and driving tests and now live in Bramhope with their rescue lurcher pooch Pippa! (Sadly the combination of white dresses and jumpiness meant Pip didn’t join us though).

I joined Olivia & Team Bride in the Morning room for their relaxed preparations. My wingman Paul Stott joined James and Team Groom (to watch them iron & figure out how to tie Windsor knots) in the elegant Drivers Club. 

Once Olivia was in her stunning high-neck, long-sleeved Allure Couture gown we did an emotional dad reveal. According to mum it’s the first time she’s seen dad speechless!

After an elegant ceremony under a huge floral arch in Bowcliffe’s former dining room, we headed outside for congratulatory cuddles. Spitty Spring weather almost called play, but minutes later the sun was shining over our confetti tunnel! This was followed by my first blessing in Bowcliffe Hall’s tiny chapel, by their family friend Olivia from St Mark’s in Harrogate. 

A few portraits in the lovely gardens and we were back with guests at the Driver’s Club enjoying nibbles, fizz and Jenga with dear pals.

There’s no classier setting for a styish wedding reception than Bowcliffe Hall’s Driver’s Club and terrace!

After a delicious meal in the Art Deco Ballroom, ‘Silver Service’ singing waiters made a dramatic entrance and whipped the guests into chaotic conga lines, singling along with napkins whirling.

Once speeches were done, the sun had set and we headed to the impressive Blackburn Wing (shaped like an actual wing!). The cake (topped with an edible Pippa!) was cut and evening revelry kicked off! I wrapped up the night with a few fun evening flash portraits and left the newlyweds to party…

It was such a wonderful day in one of my top 15 Best Country House Wedding Venues in Yorkshire. It was great to work with Becky, Molly and the ace Bowcliffe team again!

My job as a Yorkshire wedding photographer doesn’t get better than this! Grab y’sen a steaming mug of Yorkshire tea and check it all out below… 

The post Bowcliffe Hall Wedding Photography, near Bramham in Yorkshire: Olivia + James appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Welcome to part 2 of my 2026 travel photography in Pakistan adventure!

If you’ve not seen part one – from Islamabad overland to Lahore, you can here.

To quickly bring you up to speed as to what a wedding photographer was doing in Pakistan: every year, my very understanding wife let’s me flap my creative wings and fly to a photographically interesting country for a few weeks. It re-charges my wanderlust, keeps me sharp as a wedding shooter and in a funny way helps me realise how much I love my family!

This year I went with Hamish Irvine and Kristian Leven (fellow wedding photographers and dear pals)! We booked flights to Islamabad and home from Lahore, and pretty much left what to do in between once we got there. The trip was almost cancelled after an Islamabad I.S. terror attack the week before we flew, but advice from people on the ground there was to go anyway (for many reasons, but mainly because attacks are very rare).

And we’re so glad we did!

We couldn’t have felt more safe and welcome, travelling and photographing these busy cities of Pakistan!

Across the entire trip I didn’t feel in danger once. I rely on spider senses tuned for danger from past trips, and weirdly Pakistan went the other way: I’ve never felt safer and the welcome we received was insane! Surreal almost. See my first post for some wild and generous examples.

To help with our initial safety concerns, we hired a driver to shuffle us around Rawalpindi and Islamabad and then overland to Lahore. We headed via Mirpur & Rohtas Fort, on the edge of Kashmir. It was great to take in the arid landscapes and towns on route, enjoying colourful ornate trucks in chaotic traffic with animals and produce hanging over the sides. After visiting into a tiny rural village for a real life ‘Pied Piper’ experience, we checked into our hotel in Lahore (noticing a full machine gun emplacement over the road, protecting a government building)

Travel photography in Pakistan around the Old Walled City of Lahore is incredible!

If Islamabad is the modern, green capital, Rawalpindi an endless labyrinthine market where there’s nothing you can’t buy, Lahore is the poetic heart of Pakistan. It’s a walled warren of an old town dotted with incredible Mughal forts, mosques and ancient havelis. To end the we trip flew to Karachi, the storm of energy on Pakistan’s South coast, for a different and altogether warmer experience.

Karachi, with apparently over 30million residents, is a Street Photographer’s delight!

This post is also a review of the all-in-one travel superzoom Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD lens I bought for the trip to test out! And the quick summary was WOW! Heavy, but brill.

Along with the standard mental traffic and wiring, the first thing I noticed about Lahore was it’s age, with ornate wooden balconies looking like they’re clinging on for dear life.

As in all my favourite countries: Life is colourful, and lived out on the streets.

An old man I met said “Whoever has not been to Lahore has not been born”

Most conversations in Pakistan run as follows: “Hello Sir, where are you from, what is your country?”

Times infinitum.

It’s charming, warm and sometimes overwhelming. It leads to handshakes, selfies and often altruistic gifts of chai and street food (with no strings attached).

Occasionally, we met people who spoke conversational English, such as the students above on the colourful Fort Road food street.

They ended up interviewing us on their phones and we had a fascinating conversation about why it’s difficult taking photos of women in Pakistan. Without permission, it appeared to be partly against the religion, partly for safety. It was a confusing, mixed message throughout the trip, and the easiest practice was to avoid doing it without express permission. The majority of men there were practically begging to have their portrait taken, and it was a shame that women were underrepresented in our photography.

Respecting and embracing a culture is part of the travel experience, and we had great conversations with women, in spite of often being denied a photo.

A highlight of Lahore was visiting the stunning Badshahi mosque, a masterpiece of Indo-Islamic architecture.

The pink sandstone facade and white marble domes make it the Taj Mahal of mosques.

As potentially the only man in the entire country wearing shorts, Hamish had to sarong up to gain entry.

Built in 1673 by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, it’s still one of the largest mosques in Pakistan.

Inside there’s a grand solitude to the space, offering a moment’s quiet reflection from the chaos outside its walls.

In it’s courtyard, it almost looks like it’s made by AI!

The pic of Hamish & K-man taking a breather below was one of my fave behind the scenes portraits.

I love that they’re at a special desk for Foreign Visitors.

Later we headed over to the Lahore Fort – a grand, impregnable citadel spanning 20 hectares – but my favourite view from the Sheesh Mahal (‘palace of mirrors’), overlooking the Badshahi Mosque surrounded by circling red kites.

The next day we entered Lahores old walled city through Delhi gate and after sharing live locations on our WhatsApp group, set off at random into the warren of markets and tiny side streets.

On every level it was just so industrious. Life upon life, with work being done in every nook and cranny, on every floor.

The sounds of frying or sewing machines, ringing out over the hubbub.

Occasionally you pop out into a spacious square and find an enormous ancient mosque (such as the huge Wazir Khan Mosque or Golden Majib above).

I’d ask if it’s ok to go in and take photos, and was rarely turned back.

Check out the mad eye position on these local goats in the pic below? They wouldn’t look amiss in the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine!

A little aside for the shutterbugs:

In the past I generally carry a Sony 24-105mm f4, a Sigma Art f1.4 35mm and 50mm as well as a lightweight Sony 85mm f1.8 to bolt onto my Sony A9 series DSLR.

This trip, I thought I’d try to replace the entire arsenal of lenses with a single lens: the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD. It’s claimed to be “a highly versatile, fast-aperture ‘all-in-one’ zoom lens for Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras. Offering an impressive f/2-2.8 aperture range, it combines popular focal lengths from 35mm wide-angle to 150mm telephoto, making it ideal for portraits, travel, and events, often replacing the need for multiple prime lenses”

Full-transparency: I took the tiny 85mm in case I didn’t get on with the Tamron, but didn’t use it once!

For all the hyperbole, the sales pitch was right! It’s a killer all-rounder. I shoot the majority of my photos at f2 – IMO the ideal blend of artistic depth-of-field and likelihood of landing what you’re aiming at in focus. This lens starts at f2 and as you zoom in, creeps up toward f2.8, which is still pretty good in low light. At the long end (which is longer than I’d usually have on a trip like this), I’m reminded of how nice the 70-200 f2.8 zoom range is.

So this chunky lens genuinely provides the prime feel of 35 and 50, as well as that fast aperture telephoto zoom vibe… without changing lenses or lumping about a load of glass!

However, there is a downside. THE WEIGHT. Oof.

I’d already aggravated my elbow digging soil into a skip over Xmas, and at the end of a long day’s shooting here with this on the arm, I felt like I had an RSI.

Was it worth it? You can be the judge!

I’ve also tried to get into the habit on these trips of providing the subjects I shoot with a pic there and then!

Using the Sony Imaging Edge app on my iPhone, I can transfer the high-res pic to my phone and send it HD via WhatsApp to the recipient!

It’s a fun way of not just ‘taking’ photos on these trips.

This was the first day of Ramadan, so prayer was a priority around the country. We weren’t sure how it was going to affect our trip, but thankfully our hotels were happy to give us a late breakfast, then through the day we’d not eat publicly (often taking a quick snack/drink in a tuktuk, then waiting for the breaking of the fast before eating out). It did lead to some amazing scenes of ‘Iftar’, as communities gathered for figs and biriani at sundown.

Ramadan affected market opening times, but on the whole it was business as normal around an interesting month long period of devotion.

The thing we noticed most was the lack of karak chai when we ran up against photo-exhaustion!

There’s nothing like that sugary ‘South Asian Espresso’ when you need a boost (pic by Hamish a few days prior).

After a fascinating explore around the old Walled City we dived in a tuktuk for another station fix, at Lahore Junction

Stations are photo gold mines in the Asian sub-continent.

As it was Ramadan, it was fascinating to see spots around the station with people getting mats out and having a pray.

When this chap had finished, he found me and said hello and asked what I was doing. Then he took me to the platform tuk shop he worked in and offered me a free bottle of pop.

I chose Fanta. He told me Fanta was a lady’s drink!

Yet again, the welcome kept reaching new levels.

Every window is a potential frame, with generations of life wondering what I’m up to just as much as I am them!

I’m not sure if this works entirely, but I like the idea that the milk is the POWER

These are possibly two of my fave Lahore pics: seeing a man trying to get his new tractor tyre home on the train and a station porter looking frankly brilliant in his red overalls.

I often go on about Steve McCurry’s epic environmental portraits, and love it when I get anywhere close to his level.

And this beauty was achieved on the all-in-one Tamron! The lens that keeps giving (arm ache)

A good test of the lens was at night. It’s usually not the ideal sitch for a zoom lens, that tries to do everything. I expected it to fall down focussing, or not be fast enough in aperture.

But you know what, wandering around the Gawalmandi Food Street (chasing the infamous Phajja Siri Paye meat soup) it was also great!

I love the street scenes, frying up night snack samosas under the arches

This is another of my fave pics, low and lucky, framing a little street scene perfectly.

Not long after this shot, I was about to head home and started chatting with some guys. One told me he’d married a Scottish lady and lived awhile in Aberdeen, but moved back to Lahore for business. He spun out his tale while feeding me mystery spiced ghee and potato based streetfood, and before I knew it I was on the back of his mates motorbike getting a night-time tour of Lahore and a lift home!

The welcome cherry on yet another mad day in Pakistan…

I’d heard about a spot called the Truck Adda, where they wash, repair and paint the colourful trucks, on Lahore’s GT Road, so the next morning we got a cab over.

Getting out we found ourself in an epic wholesale potato street market! So up I clambered on unstable stacks of spuds and got stuck in.

This is a hair style I aspire to!

I couldn’t see much of the truck painting, as there was so much going on

I’m pretty sure these were what I’d been fed the night before!

I found myself talking to a lovely truck driver called Ali, and he introduced me to his mates (below) in the driver quarters and bought me chaat, mystery yoghurty fruit and a bottle of Sprite!

I asked him if there was a truck repairers in the area and he became my personal guide for over an hour, paying for a tuk tuk ride to the mechanics yards.

There I met characters like this chap, the chief

And found charmingly simple scenes like this. I love the flag on the brick wall

I love how these drivers have cunningly engineered a hammock to the bottom of their trucks!

Ali explained to me that the kids work in the mechanics literally sucking the engine parts to check they’re sealed!

We stomped around for a while, he holding my hand as we crossed roads, saying “This is Pakistan” with a smile every time something crazy happened.

Before we split, this generous gent asked me back to his house to break fast with him. Sadly, it was our last day in Lahore and we had a reservation at Andaaz – the fanciest restaurant we ate at the entire trip overlooking the Badshahi Mosque – which while delicious gave us ALL the trots!

The most expensive meal of the trip broke my guts! After all the random street eats. Go figure…

An easy internal flight later and we were in Karachi on Pakistan’s South Coast!

It was Pakistan’s first capital (from 1947-59), chosen by the founder of the nation Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The first thing you notice is that it’s a tasty 10°C warmer than Lahore!

After a stroll on Clifton Beach, the first thing we tried to do was get into an amazing wholesale fish market, but sadly quickly got stopped by security.

The next thing I noticed was the old colonial influence, especially around Saddar town – with crumbling Raj-y buildings called Empress Market (after Queen Victoria)

A highlight of Karachi was visiting the amazing Lalukhait Sunday livestock market, famed for the sale of birds and goats.

Plenty of characterful faces were there to be found. This man on the left was from Bangladesh, and was entertained by my extremely rusty Bengali!

We wandered the crazy goat market, awash in gorgeous golden hour sunshine.

The Tamron handled it beautifully, locking onto subjects with AF precision with great contrast.

Hamish almost ended up going home with a couple of baby goats!

I love this wacky pic of the guy’s face blending in with the goats! The mouth and eye position. It fries my brain a bit.

(I wish I’d dialled up the f-stop a fraction to be fair, so the guy’s mouth and chin were sharp too, but hey)

I love this little scene too, but I’m not sure if it’s just cause it says Karachi and has the flag painted on the railings. There’s something in the tones.

That evening, we went out for a meal with a friend of my brother-in-law, Naj. He went to school in St Albans with my wife’s brother and has been living with his wife and newborn Arsia in Karachi for the past 7 months. It was mainly due to him that we ended up braving this trip. He settled our nerves when we got twitchy, helped us plan a driver and arrange visas, then topped it off by treating us to a delicious BBQ at Kolachi restaurant, right next to fishing boats trawling the sea. Food is a bargain in Pakistan, and Naj claimed it is THE best restaurant in the world, pound for pound.

The next day, we decided just to take a cab to a random district of Karachi, Lyari, to see what’s up!

Within minutes we were swarmed by kids!

Here’s a fun BTS pic Hamish shot (shorts are more acceptable in toasty Karachi, apparently) taking the pic below…

You either have to go with it or get away when it comes to kids going bananas!

I crossed a bridge over the river, and noticed horse and camels being cared for under a motorway underpass.

One thing I noticed in Karachi was a greater and more obvious discrepancy between the very rich and the very poor.

The guys I met here had dignity, but very little else.

The chap below right and I had a (slightly broken) chat using google translate, about his life situation. He wasn’t asking for money, but said his son was very ill, at deaths door. I gave him 500 rupees (£1.50), and he then took it on himself to be my guard and guide. He steered a few folk away (even giving them some of his own rupees to clear off) and warned me to watch my phone and camera as there are desperate people shooting up. Meanwhile, young kids in school uniforms passed by chattering merrily.

A short cab hop later (who again refused my money saying ‘you are our guest!’) we reunited at a stunning mosque Naj attends, called Masjid-e-Tooba.

It was a lovely peaceful space, under an expansive shallow dome. These teenagers caught my eye, reading the Quran in the sunshine…

And a bit of patient waiting later, this Imam came up to chat to them.

One of my faves of the trip, with all the shadows and sunspots at play.

Later we tuktuk’d through the madness to the Bolton Market district

We were all getting a bit frazzled by the onslaught of ‘what is your country’, so grabbed deep-fried street eats and sought staircases to higher-ground.

On the rooftop we were enjoying some delicious peace and this little chap popped his head out of the mosque next door!

We set our sights on another rooftop and somehow found our way to it, affording some fab sunset views of the traffic chaos below…

I love the way locals ride on the roof of the buses here. I’ve many fond memories of careening down raised roads on top of buses in Bangladesh back in 1999!

One of the main highlights of Karachi is Clifton Beach.

It might stink of the rancid effluent that’s flowing out onto it, and be covered in litter, but it’s got a magic charm.

I wandered a while, and sat with a homeless guy in front of the Emirates Towers and a McDonalds. We exchanged sweets (I had a load of Sherbert Lemons to give out) and he introduced me to his dog.

Earlier that day, Hamish and I had been at the Mariott hotel enjoying the rooftop pool and mocktails. The extremes are more pronounced in Karachi that’s for sure.

Apparently, Karachi brings in about 50% of the trade of the country.

There was a real charm watching this father repair his kids’ kites with litter from the beach.

As the light turned ever more golden, you can’t help but fall in love with this beach.

After an indulgent ride on Babu the camel, a family demanded I take their sons seat and eat with them!

Then I got lost in the golden light

Before the sun had fully set, all the camel/horse/dune buggy wallahs descended on one spot for another Ramadan Iftar breaking of the fast.

It was one of the nicest ones we saw. There was a real sense of community, and it’s a time where those with more provide for those with less.

Surprise surprise, they fed us too!

Somehow, that evening we found an appetite again to eat at the famous Lal Quila – a Mughul themed buffet overflowing with barbecue meat, national & streetfood specialities. I ate A LOT of gol gappay – Pakistan’s delicious response to Indian Pani Puri! We feasted, while watching England play Pakistan at cricket on the giant screens. England won and the manager brought us out an entire congratulatory chocolate cake!

It’s mad that over the entire trip we’d seen no more than a handful of tourists. The way the world thinks of Pakistan (and the media portray it) needs to change. At our last meal, we did have an honest chat about would we visit Pakistan if it weren’t for taking photos, and we weren’t sure. For me, there’s so much more to see – particularly in the dramatic, mountainous North when it’s not so snowed in.

As unusual travel destinations go; there aren’t many cultures this interesting, places still so untouched, with a welcoming this overwhelming, left to visit in the world!

Get there before everyone else does.

A man I ended up sat chatting with in Tooba Mosque said to me “Photography is the best job in the world! Your job is disclosing realities”

Amen to that.

Thanks for reading!

B

The post Pakistan Travel Photography 2026: Lahore & Karachi [Part ii of ii] appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Some of you may know I love to travel and take annual photo adventures.

Thankfully I have a hugely understanding wife, who sees how this wanderlust keeps me topped up for family life! In exchange she gets her own timeouts and I couldn’t be more grateful we have this setup.

Travel photography in Pakistan in 2026 truly lit me up and charged my creative batteries!

Recent trips have included jaunts to India (primarily focussed on beautiful Rajasthan), a train trip West to East through China and a flight hop North to South through Vietnam.

So when my good buddy (and outstanding wedding photographer) Hamish Irvine got in touch – with a British Airways companion voucher burning a hole in his pocket – and asked if I fancied a bromance adventure, we immediately got our thinking hats on!

Before long we set our sights on Pakistan – a destination with so few international visitors it doesn’t even have a dedicated Lonely Planet guide. But does it have fascinating history and bustling life on the streets? Is it a twist on India with mind-blowing food to savour? Are there hardly any tourists and a sprinkle of danger? Tick tick tick!

As Yorkshiremen obsessed with using air miles to hack cheap business class flights, Hamish locked down Business seats Heathrow > Islamabad and I used Virgin Air Miles home via Saudi in Upper Class, and then we started making plans. Before long, our great pal and travel-loving wedding shooter Kristian Leven (K-Dog!) got wind of our plans and jumped aboard!

Then came the planning! It’s interesting plotting an adventure without guidebooks. ChatGPT was a helpful jumping off point, then I spoke with Pakistani neighbours and friends of friends on the ground in Pakistan, and destinations and plans came into focus. A country still ‘off the beaten track’ I googled ‘is Pakistan dangerous to travel around in 2026?’ and everyone I spoke to said “I guarantee you will find Pakistan the most hospitable country in the world”.

Is Pakistan dangerous to travel in 2026? No way, it genuinely was the most welcoming place I’ve ever travelled!

There are always dangers, particularly travelling in developing countries. This was marked as soon as we booked flights, by a terrorist bombing north of Islamabad. Parents were spooked and we made a pact that we’d pull the plug if needs be.

That plug was tested literally the week before flying there, when an Islamic State suicide bomber hit a Shia mosque killing 32 during Friday prayers near Islamabad. The fact that a radicalised muslim hit a mosque beggared belief, but ‘our man in Karachi’ gave us our first taste of ‘Inshallah’ culture (“if God wills”): He said “it’s unfortunate for sure, but in all likelihood won’t affect your trip, Inshallah. You won’t regret going.”

People there appear to live with the idea that a minuscule minority of radicals may disrupt life in terrifying ways, but life goes on without it affecting their day to day (Inshallah).

Sadly though, a prejudiced global media portrayal of this and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) warnings for Pakistan that dictate where you shouldn’t / genuinely can’t go, do make the country a bit of a minefield to visit. And that’s before you embark on the new hassle of trying to arrange a visa.

But what this does mean, with so few tourists on the ground, is the welcome you receive for having made the effort to overcome these obstacles is just BONKERS!

I mean MINDBLOWING

A motorcyclist would see us in a tuk tuk, ask where we’re from at the lights, then pay our driver for the journey and say “Welcome of Pakistan, you are our guest!”. Street food wallahs either wouldn’t accept our money for their delicious grub, or another patron would pay for it. Locals would buy us chai / soft drinks (even while they were fasting for Ramadan!). Strangers wanted to pay for our meals, and literally everyone wanted to shake our hands and chat about what we were doing here and why.

It was pretty overwhelming. Each and every day, someone made us feel even more welcome. And I didn’t feel unsafe once!

The three of us universally feel so grateful we surmounted fears to visit this vibrant and welcoming country!

We were there for 12 fascinating days, starting in Rawalpindi (near Islamabad), then driving via Mirpur (and Rohtas Fort) to Lahore, before flying down to Karachi on the South Coast and home via Lahore.

So instead of waffling on, let’s get into my fave pics from the first half of the trip (as there are too many for one post!):

Once we’d landed and found our feet in the vibrant market town of Rawalpindi, the sister city to Islamabad (which by comparison is a bit of a sedate 1960’s new town), K-man, Hamish and I decided a good place to start was Rawalpindi station.

I always enjoy the bustle of station life! People coming and going, windows and doors like temporal portals of life on the move.

Smells and colours. Someone always looking. It’s a feat in itself to capture a busy scene without eye contact or thumbs up.

We shared behind the scenes pics, and this one Hamish snapped shows what it’s like every 3 minutes being asked for ‘selfie?’

It was like being a celebrity!

The morning we arrived Hamish and I went looking for an ATM and heard drumming and found a parade of men carrying a model of a mosque through the streets, throwing money.

Hamish hadn’t brought his camera and got some crazy FOMO. Top Tip: Always take the camera.

Just like in my wedding work, I’m always on the lookout for a photo with a bit of comedy; humanising a subject. Like a flower girl picking her nose.

The way this mobile handbag seller strung bags round his neck made me smile!

..as did this (and the country’s general) complete disregard for parking rules.

New lens alert! Is the Tamron 35-150mm the best all-in-one travel lens ever?

Shutterbug sidebar! For those interested in what equipment I take on these adventures I generally carry one camera body (my Sony A9 series), 3 prime lenses (Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 / 50mm f1.4 and a Sony 85mm f1.8) plus a zoom (Sony 24-105mm f4 – for that bit wider range / longer reach). This ends up being 2.5kg of glass, plus camera, plus batteries, plus LOTS of lens changing.

Recently I’ve been interested in this Tamron 35-150mm f2>2.8 as replacement for all these and as a wedding lens! Surely A SINGLE LENS couldn’t replace all these? Well I thought I’d take a punt and road test it in Pakistan!

As a predominatly f2 shooter anyway, this Tamron lens offers the vibes of a prime lens (shooting around f2 aft 35 and 50mm) but with the versatility of a 70-200 f2.8 zoom.

And my quick summary of it in action was WOW! What a beast! I love the depth of field isolation, speed of focus and ability to cover all the vibes of the lenses I’d usually have taken. Even in low light!

The only downside was the weight (which does feel heavy on the arm at 1.2kg), but this took 1.3kg off my shoulders!

I suppose the proof is in the pudding though, so have a look through and see if you like how it captured everything…

See how it’s able to sharply isolate the subject in the depth of field while throwing out the chaps in the background?

With over 250 million people at the last census, Pakistan is a country LIFE on the streets!

I just love warm, highly-populated counties where people live outside instead of behind closed doors, and down every alley is an interesting new space.

We spent a lot of this trip visiting markets. Starting with the Sunday Market at Itwar Bazar. You could get everything from a live chicken for tea, to mammoth rugs, to hunks of Himalayan rock salt.

And these cheeky little entrepreneurs sold the bags and fetched chai!

In the middle was food! Delicious hot samosa chaat, and asking what it was, I was given a free portion, and sat with some students keen to chat themselves.

I usually do these trips on my tod, but it was great to have some buddies there to bounce off and compare our winnings at the end of day (over smuggled in, contraband whisky!)

During the day we generally set off independently on the hunt for pics – tracking each others live locations on whatsapp – until we all felt the call for chai!

Sometimes I’d end up wandering down a street to find Hamish eating lunch with a group of randoms!

Like I say, the welcome here is immense.

While we had been initially concerned about heading into central Islamabad following the bombing, it felt so safe on the ground, we decided we shouldn’t miss the impressive Faisal Mosque!

Currently the sixth largest Mosque in the world (the largest when built), it was inspired by the shape of a traditional Bedouin desert tent. The 260ft high minarets certainly make you feel small.

Love this one, in the giant basement washing area. The pre-prayer cleaning rituals are so interesting.

As are the prayers.

We headed to Pakistan in the build up to Ramadan, which had interesting consequences for our photos…

On the way back from the Faisal Mosque, we saw a field full of activity and goats, so we asked our driver to stop for us to explore.

A bit of poking around and conversing over google translate revealed that this was where the men of the house came to get their full Ramadan goat! Fresh off the hillside.

A bit brutal to watch, I watched them making their selection, being the one to cut the throat, then having it stripped and butchered right there.

You’re not in Tescos now Dorothy, I thought to myself!

I like how kids the world around will reject education for games!

Before leaving the Islamabad area, we visited Rawalpindi’s Raja Bazar, one of Pakistan’s largest sprawling markets. It was such a fab place to meet people and capture the streetlife.

I like how this one shows K-Man & Hamish too

After asking the chap in the background what he was serving, he made me a free plate of delicious breakfast Karahi and fried bread and sat me inside.

Moments later, a bunch of kids on the way to school popped in for their breaky.

Round the corner we found their school too!

That afternoon we headed to Mirpur, stopping for sunset at the epic Mangla Dam – one of the world’s largest earth-fill dams (so-named after the nearby village of Mangla that it swallowed up).

I like that you can just about make out the boy playing with his kite.

(The fun fact here is that half of the Mirpiuri people are in England! A lot of British Pakistani’s came from this region, and we even spotted fish & chip shops in Mirpur town!)

It was great to have a driver from Islamabad to Lahore, as we could stop in at both epic and interesting spots rather than trundle past on a train.

One of the highlights was visiting the 16th-century UNESCO listed Rohtas Fort – one of the largest and most formidable forts in all of Punjab from the period of the Mughal emperors.

I’m a sucker for these silk route fort towns, and have visited loads throughout Rajasthan.

The amazing thing about this one was that it was almost entirely deserted! Not a tourist in site…

Well apart from Hamish on the top of this incredible 100ft high ‘baori’ stepwell!

The mind boggles at these incredible structures, digging almost 150 steps down into the limestone bedrock to the water level, designed to provide water for soldiers, horses and even elephants!

Love this little pic of me (caught again by the Hamish) running up the steps.

On the way to the fort, we saw a smoking brickworks, so on the way back decided to stop again and pop in for a look. An army of workers were there slapping clay into brick moulds, drying them in the sun, then moving them into an ever revolving kiln to fire, remove and restock.

It was great to photograph the girls at work, as we had already run into cultural issues photographing women in a lot of Pakistan.

We met an discussed the issue with many women (and men) across the adventure, and in short avoided doing much without express permission.

Our appearance must have made a random addition to their day!

Before heading off, I wandered round to the living quarters, and met these fascinating faces.

Some of the eyes in Pakistan were just so mesmerising. Green and blue eyes are not uncommon.

One of my fave ever travel photographers is Steve McCurry, the Magnum/NatGeo photojournalist whose Asia photos (and of the infamous green eyed Afghan Girl) continue to inspire me.

This pic of a sleeping man surrounded by washing and animals somehow conjure his work to me.

As we drew in on Lahore, we decided to find a tiny village Kristian had seen mentioned in the appendices of a travel photography book…

It took us a while to find, across a few chassis scraping makeshift bridges, and what we found was loads of fun.

Wandering in, we initially found interesting faces and village life…

But before long, kids appeared out of every doorway, and we were swamped.

It became an amusing cross between being the Pied Piper of Hamlin and the Beatles!

What a wonderful warm welcome to this fascinating, friendly country! The global perception of this place couldn’t be further from the truth.

And it turns out, if you’re willing to carry one heavy lens the whole time, the Tamron 35-150 is a beast for travel shooting!

Stay tuned for the next part; with ancient Lahore’s walled city warren and massive Mughal mosques. Then Karachi’s goat markets and camel-covered beaches!

Thanks for reading folks! (And for the company / BTS pics Hamish & Kristian!)

Barnaby

The post Pakistan Travel Photography 2026: Islamabad to Lahore [Part i of ii] appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

The post Wedding Photos at The Manor House Lindley, in Yorkshire: Kirsty + Gareth appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Wrapping up a glorious year of wedding photography in Yorkshire was Philly + Angus’ New Years Eve Marquee Wedding extravaganza near York…

I love shooting photography at Black Tie Marquee weddings and what a banger turned out to be!

For one, the winter sun shone all day! Morning preps had fab energy (and ‘It’s Raining Men’ dance breaks!)… As Angus runs a company storing amazing vintage cars, the wedding vehicles rocked (a stunning 1969 Aston Martin DBS and a navy Landrover Defender). The ceremony in their local church was a stunner too, with the sun’s rays blazing in and a beaut of a drive for a confetti tunnel. Then after a quick stop at the village pond, we joined the revelry the James Dabbs marquee (that they’d cunningly hidden inside their family plant nursery barn!).

Fizz, nibblies and jazz preceded sitting for a scrummy meal by F4D Events, the cake was cut and speeches hit that perfect blend of hilarious and heart warming!

How do you make a New Year’s Wedding the ultimate party?

Kick them off with sparklers and firing Champagne F1-style of course! Then follow first dance with strawberry tequila shots from a homemade shot ski!

These guys smashed it! And this truly was a wedding befitting the New Year’s Eve energy, with fabulous sunny vibes and styling to boot!

You really couldn’t ask for more!

I specialise in shooting wedding photography in Yorkshire and hope you enjoy their slideshow of highlights from their amazing day below…

The post New Years Eve Marquee Wedding near York in North Yorkshire: Philly + Angus appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Hi! I’m Barnaby Aldrick, a Leeds-based Yorkshire wedding photographer with almost 20 years experience!

As another year draws to a close, I like to look back through all the pics from the past year and do a round up of all my faves. So welcome to the 2025 round up!

Having been a Leeds-based Yorkshire Wedding Photographer for so long, I’ve shot at many Yorkshire wedding venues around Gods Own County!

But it’s great even after all this experience in the industry to be discovering exciting new venues over 2025; including Cripp’s Barns’ Grangefields in Derbyshire, The Out Barn near Clitheroe, Kilnwick Percy Resort and Golf Club, The Little Seed Field Glamp site after a wedding at the grand Ripon Cathedral, Danby Castle Barn (which has somehow eluded me throughout my career) and last but not least, New Craven Hall, a funky urban Leeds wedding venue I’ve always wanted to shoot at!

The best of the rest were at old favourites, including: The Pheasant Hotel in Harome, Sandburn Hall near York, Goldsborough Hall near Harrogate, East Riddlesden Hall near Keighley, Chevin Country Park near Otley, Middleton Lodge Estate and Yorkshire Wedding Barns near Richmond, Wood Hall, The Normans and Priory Barns and Cottages near Wetherby and in Leeds The Mansion, Leftbank and Bowcliffe Hall.

I just love capturing the unique vibe at every wedding with my signature blend of laid-back portraits, stunning details and timeless moments

Like all my past Annual highlights posts, I’ve structured this like the blog posts I make for all my couples, in the order that the day unfolds. I love making these round-ups as they serve as an insight into my photographic approach and what I strive to capture at weddings. So, if you like what you see here and are looking for a photographer for your own wedding, don’t hesitate to get in touch here – where you can check my availability and book onto a quick no pressure zoom chat to discuss your big day. Don’t be shy!

I’d like to give a huge shoutout to all my fabulous couples for letting me into their lives on these special days! Their trust and choice means the world to me and their glowing reviews are the icing on the cake for me:

So without further ado – I give you my 2025 roundup – as a YouTube vid…

Or take your time to enjoy a zoomable scroll of loveliness below… 

I like to start every wedding by capturing ‘establishing shots’ before drawing in on the story characters.

Even when it’s a new venue to me, like at most of the ‘scene setters’ above, I put in some time before joining the action, to capture some funky angles.

I occasionally also get handed a cool drone shot from the videographer too, like this one of Yorkshire Wedding Barn from my fave movie maker buddy Michael at Swanland Media – which often offers a brill new point of view.

Sometimes I shoot solo, sometimes with a second shooter. But I always start with the bridal party on the hunt for natural, candid or fun moments and details that tell the story.

I still love finding creative new angles

Occasionally even I’m surprised by what I find! Such as meeting ponies at Rachel + Kieran’s Grangefields Barn wedding in Derbyshire where the bride’s pal at Plant Magic incorporating Animal Magic brought her ponies Calypso and Melody as flower girls, with plaited manes and champagne holsters!

Now I’m a father of a 2 and 5 year old, I find myself even more drawn to capturing the children at weddings, and all the magic they contain…

…as well as the relationships between the children and their parents. Somehow, I feel the significance of these things even more now I’m a parent.

As always, there are details at weddings which I’ve always strived to capture elegantly – such as the top-down view ‘flat lay’ above – or imaginatively – such as the bouquets being played with or dresses being admired by the bridal party…

A lot of the weddings this year I shot the grooms side of the story too, plus the odd second shooter gigs where I was with the chaps all morning. But I always find this equally as creative, such as when I joined the groom at Pippa + Craig’s wedding at Danby Castle Barn and found him with his sleeping daughter in a sling. They were adorably cute together.

Sometimes I join the groomsmen before the bridesmaids, if there’s also something fun scheduled, such as joining the groom and his pals for the Otley Park Run at Mike + Britta’s wedding at Chevin Country Park!

Harneet + Sid’s wedding at Outbarn near Clitheroe was a real (3 day!) highlight for me this year too – as you’ll see throughout this post – overflowing with wonderful elements.

I not only love dogs at weddings – another thing you’ll see here – but also love seeing what I get back from the second shooters, such as this fun frame from one of my wingmen!

Once we’re done suiting up… T’Pub!

I’d say I’m still a favourite driven photographer, looking to catch fun, candid moments as they happen, such as tiny guest reactions or a dog that thinks it’s a human.

Once it’s time for the bride to gown up, I love it when I’m able to capture all those special women invited into this inner sanctum. The army of maids, mums, hair and makeup artists that bring it all together.

And the tiny flower girls that holds hands and “juzzh” the dress!

The little hand holds, cuddles and squeals. It’s all gold to me.

Britta and Mike’s wedding was even more special to me as they were in our NCT class when we had our eldest kids, so it was just lovely to join them at the wedding too. 

DID I MENTION PONIES?!

Then it’s time for Dad to join the party!

Most British men keep their emotions buttoned up, but that moment when a father is brought in to see his daughter dressed for her wedding has a wonderful unbuttoning effect!

A similar effect took hold of the nephew about to walk the bride down the aisle at Anne + Stuart’s Wedding at Middleton Lodge.

An important part of my storytelling is to weave the elements of a wedding day together like a contextual tapestry, showing the flow of events, peppered with little moments 

Then it’s time for the entrance of the bride, which can also have an unbuttoning effect on grooms, such as the Groom’s moving reaction at Meg + Sam’s Sandburn Hall wedding

I’ve spent this year consciously trying to look for the ‘moment after the moment’. Such as the reactions and behaviour just after the brides arrival / confetti shot / final speech.

Turns out they’re also a ‘moment goldmine’!

Love this little lad’s expression and how the church pew is packed with his bottle, bus and space book!

I told you how much I love dogs at wedding, right?! 

Well a close second is finding reflections and sparkly things to shoot through to add a bit of zing.

Tell you what, another thing I love about weddings is the variety! You can go from shooting the grandest ceremony dripping in religious opulence, like at Catherine + Peter’s wedding at Ripon Cathedral, to shooting a wedding with 2 guests like at Sam + Jen’s Micro-Wedding Photography at York Register Office!

Offering shorter ‘Micro-Wedding’ Packages (and clearer ‘Yorkshire family photoshoots‘) has been the biggest change I’ve made to my pricing structure in recent years, and is all detailed alongside my fully transparent prices on my pricing page.

Some more great moments after moments, before heading down the aisle as man and wife!

And then there’s the confetti – arguably still my favourite part of the day, whether it’s thrown on the aisle, in my signature ‘confetti bomb’, over a balcony (as at Emma + Luke’s Wedding at Priory Cottages near Wetherby) or runway style. It’s always an excitingly explosive moment!

Especially when at the end of the tunnel, someone just cones the groom right in the chops!

My next most favourite photos to capture at weddings are the congats and cuddles straight after walking out of the ceremony / confetti. People aren’t camera aware, they’re focussed on then couple, and the couple get to see their guests for the first time. It lights me up to capture these micro (and macro) interactions and seal them in time!

Then as the cuddles subside, my focus shifts to candid mingles and entertainment; such DIY crazy golf, beanbag tossing or AXE THROWING!

Or capturing the public shaming of the jenga tower toppler!

Mingle time is a treasure trove of fun family interactions, and I love this little moment between ‘three generations’ at Rachel + Jonny’s Wedding at The Pheasant in Harome

The ladies who photobombed the stag team shot made me chuckle.

 As did this groomsman at The Normans who bowled up to deliver crisps from a wheelbarrow!

Sometimes the best way to work of limoncello is with a disco nap… and it’s around this point I like to head out with the newlyweds for a quick round of snappy portraits (with pooch, if available, such as at Abbie + Luke’s wedding at Kilnwick Percy Resort and Golf Club!)

I try to smash these out in 15-20mins, and it helps speed things along by having been trained at the pre-wedding practice shoot I do with every couple…

…like this one with Meg + Sam and their cockerpoo Treacle!

I’ve always found a pre-wedding practice squirm (I mean “shoot”) invaluable. It serves so many useful purposes; to get to know the couple better and get on the same page about the big day logistics/group shots and to get the couple used to being papped. But not only do they go into the wedding day having seen their pics but it makes the wedding portraits quicker so they’re quickly back at the party with their guests!

This Lesbian couple Sam + Jen wanted to champion their LGBTQ+ roots on our portraits around York, and we found this shop with the perfect window display to do so!

I just love all the incredible Indian details and textures in this portrait of Harneet + Sid. 

I pride myself in my group shots being full of life and non-cringy!

I don’t want the subjects to feel like they make them want to die inside, so it’s always fun seeing what we can get!

Grace + Timmy’s Wedding Photos at New Craven Hall in Leeds was definitely the most rocky wedding I’ve done in a while!

Often just before heading into the bizarrely named ‘Wedding Breakfast’ is a great time to toss the bouquet, before I dive in and capture a few details of all the love and attention that was put into the room.

(My fave cake this year had a brilliant secret back showing LUFC, the Disney Castle and Star Wars layers, and topped by lego characters!)

This year had an impressive collection of excellent room entrances!

And as the speeches are about to start, it’s a great op to hunt down a few more fun pics, such as this guest having a well earned bottle of beer as he bottle feeds his 6 week old!

I love capturing all the vibes during the speeches, soaking in all the feels by osmosis. 

The groom’s ‘rock horns’ make this one of my fave pics of the year! 

I’m also always a fan of capturing the shame and humiliation…

A few more fine examples of my fave ‘moments after moments’ 

There was so much I loved at Simona + Patrick’s Yorkshire Wedding Barn wedding, but one of the amazing Italian traditions included the cutting and auctioning off snippings of the groom’s tie, to pay for their honeymoon! A hilarious bit of post meal chaos I hadn’t anticipated! 

That post-meal, pre-party limbo is a great time for the groom to lose the jacket, the bride to slip on her flats and for us to take a turn in glorious golden hour sunlight…

…even if half way through the heavens open!

As light drops, I something throw up a ‘back flash’ for a bit of a bump, or if there was no evening sunshine, I wait for ‘blue hour’ and do a few pics as it gets dark…

I don’t often do champagne blast pics, but was helping second shooting for my ol’pal Hamish Irvine and we did one and it looked pretty cool! 

Before dancing and evening revelry kicks off, if it’s drizzling and the couple are game, there’s still a great creative opportunity for a few backlit pics in the rain, like at Cat + Luke’s wedding at  Goldsborough Hall or Emily + Owain’s Wedding Photos at East Riddlesden Hall

A couple of cocktails or shot-shaped sharpeners and it’s time to cut the cake and hit the floor!

I also love the energy during this part of the evening, as anything can happen…

… and something often does!

Once ties have been tied round heads and newlyweds have ridden some shoulders, I generally consider my work done and that any remaining debauchery go un-documented!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my 2025 round up! Well done making it all the way to the end!

It’s been quite the year! High-5’s to all my lovely couples for being stone cold legends, and for all their kind words and gifts this year – You guys rule!

It’s now time to hibernate with my long suffering wife Lynsey Anna, lighting bolt Lenny Indiana, chatty little Jasmine Joy and bouncy Border Terriorist Connie (AKA the Conado).

If you’re getting married and like what you see, drop me a line to check my availability using my contact form here (or check my handy availability checker in the footer below).

There’s also no better marketing than word of mouth, so do pass my details (or the link to this post) onto engaged couples you think might suit my style!

And if you’re booked in for 2026 or beyond, BRING IT ON!

Barnaby

More annual round-ups!

Check out past round ups below to go even deeper into my past archive of faves….

2025: The Annual Wedding Photography Round-up by Yorkshire Photographer Barnaby Aldrick

2024: The Annual Wedding Photography Round-up by Yorkshire Photographer Barnaby Aldrick

2023: The Annual Wedding Photography Round-up by Yorkshire Photographer Barnaby Aldrick

More!

Helpful posts!

Check out a few resources I’ve created based on my experience in the game to help couples:

The 15 Best Country House & Stately Homes wedding venues in Yorkshire & Humberside

April 6, 2025

The Top 10 Best Yorkshire Wedding Barn Venues

September 11, 2024

The post 2025: The Annual Wedding Photography Round-up by Yorkshire Photographer Barnaby Aldrick appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.

Last week I joined Sam & Jen for their delightfully Autumnal ‘Micro-Wedding’ photography at the Central York Register Office!

Short coverage civil unions like this one, are a lot of fun to shoot and this sweet pair hardly stopped laughing throughout! 

Sometimes 3 or 4 hours of wedding photography is all you need for smaller weddings

I’ve shot loads of civil wedding ceremonies at Leeds Civic Hall Registry Office, Leeds Town Hall and York Register Office). My transparent pricing page has info about my ‘Micro-Weddings’ collection, for Yorkshire micro weddings with 30 guests & under. 

These guys only had 2 guests, Sam’s Mum and Dad and I joined them all at The Grand Hotel in York for a few prep pics before hitting the beautiful streets of York for portraits!

How they met trots the globe, as Jen’s originally from Pensilvania in the States, but schooled in the UK, and they met through a nerdy (their words not mine!) book forum while Sam was in Belgium. Their first date was at The Grand Hotel in York (hence getting ready there) before eating at the Ivy (hence a portrait outside it)!

5 years later, they live happily in East Yorkshire with their cats Brutus & Spartacus, and decided it was time to tie the knot!

As proud members of the gay / LGBTQ+ community they love York for lots of reasons; the fact that they had their first date there, but also that grand ol’York Minster has made significant public steps to welcome and affirming same-sex couples (especially since the 2015 Pride blessing).

On our lap of central York’s funky sports for portraits, we also stopped outside ‘This Shop Is So Gay’, as it made for the perfect background (and even sold Yorkshire LGB tea cups)! 



Sam’s the creative of the duo (if we lost her on the shoot I was told to check in Hobbycraft!). She made the amazing Autumnal bouquets and buttonholes, with nods to Jen’s lego obsession by featuring cute medieval Lego characters in each!

I do love the intimate nature of  photographing Micro-Weddings in Yorkshire

From joining them for a quiet exchange of cards (which, as usual, Jen forgot to take the price tag off!) to a quiet champagne toast, a relaxed walkabout and a tiny civil ceremony followed by a tiny toss of Confetti – it was all such a blast!

Now grab y’sen a steaming mug of Yorkshire tea and hit play on the slideshow below to check out their wedding highlights below…

The post Micro-Wedding Photography at York Register Office: Sam + Jen appeared first on Trusted, experienced Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, based in Leeds.