Most Leeds city centre weddings happen in more than one place. Ceremony in one building, drinks in another, dinner somewhere else, and a walk through town in between. That sounds like a faff, and it is the best thing about them: you get a wedding that moves, and I get a city that keeps changing the backdrop.
A lot of you will be marrying at Leeds Civic Hall and heading on to a hotel afterwards. If you want a Leeds city centre wedding photographer who already knows both ends of that day, you are in the right place.
"In Leeds the walk between venues is not dead time. It is usually where the best pictures of the day happen."
The VenuesWhere Leeds couples marry
- iLeeds Civic Hall. Thirty-plus weddings in and I still like walking up those white steps. Registry office and city landmark in one, with a hidden garden round the back. The registrars work to a set slot so the ceremony is short, and I'll usually take you straight out for confetti while the energy is up. I've written a full Civic Hall guide covering the timings.
- iiThe Queens Hotel. The art deco one on City Square, with a private entrance straight into Leeds station, so guests can step off a train and be at the reception in two minutes. Martin and Hannah held theirs here, and I've photographed a morning preparation here for another couple.
- iiiOulton Hall. An 18th-century mansion at Rothwell, about five miles out, for couples who want grounds without going far. I've shot two weddings there in a single season, one at the very start of it and one in November.
- ivThe streets themselves. City Square and the civic buildings around it. In Leeds the walk through town is usually all the portrait time you need.
A Real Leeds DayMartin & Hannah, Civic Hall to City Square
Martin and Hannah's day used two venues and the city in between, which is the classic Leeds shape.
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Ceremony at Leeds Civic Hall
The registrars work to a set slot, so the ceremony itself is short. That is a gift: it leaves the rest of the afternoon free while everyone is still buzzing.
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The steps
Confetti on the white stone, straight out of the door. It is the shot the building was built for, whether the building knows it or not.
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The walk to City Square
Down through town to the Queens Hotel. A short walk, and the part of the day where a wedding party stops posing and starts behaving like themselves.
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Reception at the Queens Hotel
Speeches, dinner and the evening in one of the grand old station hotels, with the square outside for anyone who needs air.
"Two venues and a walk between them sounds like a logistics problem. Give it twenty minutes in the timings and it turns into the most relaxed part of the day."
PricingA full day in Leeds
A full day of Leeds wedding photography starts from £1,800, with no travel charge anywhere in Yorkshire. Civic Hall ceremonies are often shorter days, and there are half-day options on the pricing page.
More Leeds WeddingsSee the city on a wedding day
The Leeds Civic Hall guide has thirty-plus weddings' worth of detail on timings, the steps and the secret garden. For a day just outside the ring road, see the autumn wedding at Oulton Hall.
