Chelsea and Maya are such a fun, magnificent and unique couple. And here’s their equally as wonderful wedding story! 

York Hospitium Wedding Photographer, Chelsea & Maya

York Hospitium Wedding Photographer. Introducing these guys! Chelsea and Maya are such a fun, magnificent and unique couple, and I now I have the pleasure of calling them great friends.

It was such a journey capturing their intimate York wedding at the classic York wedding venue, the Hospitium. The morning was both calm and hectic (as most wedding mornings are), at the super fancy and eloquent York Hotel du Vin.

Their wee pooch Caper, who’s one of the biggest fiends for treats you’ll ever meet, but has the biggest cuddly heart you could ask from a dog, watched over the girls as they got ready together. So this is a wedding first for me: Maya made the dresses herself. I’ve never seen this before! And what a brilliant success it was, their dresses were incredible. All worth the long hours and hard work Maya’s put in over the past weeks. AND THEN, disaster struck. Chelsea realised about 10 minutes before the taxi arrived, she’d brought two right footed shoes for herself (they were both meant to wear the same shoes). Remarkably, Maya found this hilarious; any other bride would’ve definitely kicked off! And the reaction as they just started to piss themselves laughing was amazing, and quite heartwarming actually- the fact Maya saw past Chelsea’s mistake so easily and saw the bright side demonstrates just how sweet these two are for each other! So we tried an alternative option, the hotel slippers, which just looked ridiculous poking out of the bottom of the dress. With the risk of banana feet being too great, serious phone calls were made, and Chelsea’s Auntie stepped in to save the day with perfectly fitting flats for Chelsea. The day was saved. And Caper just watched on, rolling her eyes the entire time.

Into the taxi, and off to the Hospitium as their 36 guests waited their arrival. The two walked down the aisle together. Chelsea couldn’t keep it together, and Maya mopped up her tears for her, it was a lovely moment. After the vows followed by a massive kiss, they jogged down the aisle and out into the open, a married couple!

The drinks reception was such a lovely small affair. I’m so used to there being around 100 people to get round snapping, so it was super refreshing and lovely to almost get to know everyone and become part of the groups myself. It was great to see the dude who linked me up with these two too, the wonderful and charming Milo, who they know from working alongside at the Royal Armouries. Which as I discovered more about into the wedding, is a pretty unusual place to work at, and there’s tons of stories to enjoy from the Armouries contingent. So drinks on me next time everyone for more of these brilliant behind the scenes stories from international world cup jousting tournaments!

Myself, Chelsea and Maya embarked on a walk across to the Minster and to the iconic Chapter House Street – my favourite spot for a wedding photograph in the whole of the ancient city, and down through the shambles. It was a busy day in York, and the girls just looked incredible amongst the backdrop of busyness. York is a photographer’s dream for lighting, colour and backdrops, so on the walk I was like Caper looking at treats myself around every corner.

Straight onto the classy Hotel du Vin and dinner was served. The interior of the breakfast room is really nice, tight and cosy, and under a big window roof that can actually open! So lots of light for some superb, and emotional speeches. There were some tough, and heartfelt speeches made, all beautifully said and really brought the most wonderful atmosphere of family and love in the room.

The evening guests arrived, and the doughnut cake (which is now the best wedding trend of 2019 IMO) began being ravaged. But not too much before the brides shoved doughnuts in each others faces, and them some of their lucky guests’ too. But it wasn’t over then, as the girls bought sparklers! Which they knew would get me going. So we got the team outside, and formed a tunnel and down and back they walked. Such a brilliant way to end a perfect day.

And there you have it! So did you read that entire essay then? I commend you, thanks for making it this far. But are you prepared to go a little further? There’s four super lovely images from Chelsea and Maya’s Halifax pre wedding shoot below. They’re both super fans of the hit TV series Gentleman Jack, so we hit up a few hot spots from the show in Halifax a week before the wedding.

Well, thank you Chelsea and Maya. I can’t have imagined not photographing your wedding, it was an absolute pleasure capturing and being a part of your day. I’ll see you guys soooooon! Enjoy stuffing your faces more in all the Michellin restaurants you’re going to x

Want to see another Hospitium Wedding? Head over to Lizzy & Jenna’s York Hospitium wedding from March 2019! It was another cracker that cannot be missed.

York Hospitium Wedding Photographer by Hamish Irvine Photographer. Hamish Irvine is a documentary, fun and relaxed wedding photographer available for weddings in York, across the UK and for weddings worldwide. See more same sex weddings here. Documentary wedding photography story telling packed with energy, colour and life. See more on the blog, and get in touch.