Andy Gaines Photography

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Andy Gaines Photography

I make creative wedding photography, with less cheese and more awesome. Specialising in creative wedding photography, with less cheese and extra added awesome.

Recent awards include Junebug Weddings 'Best of the Best Wedding Photographers 2016' and Masters of Wedding Photography Awards. Awarded 'Best Wedding Photographer in England 2015' at the National Wedding Industry Awards, Junebug weddings 'Best of the Best Wedding Photographers 2016', Winner of a number of Masters of Wedding Photography Awards and 'Rising Star of wedding photography in the World' b

y Rangefinder magazine - Andy Gaines is a photographer based in the north of England and working all over the UK, Europe and the world. Please visit https://andygaines.com for my portfolio, more info and to make sure the happiest day of your life looks exactly that. Follow me on Instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/andy_the_gaines/

07/09/2026

Some weddings feel like a day. This one felt like a proper adventure!

Charlotte + Simon brought 80 of their favourite people to the incredible Château Rieutort in the South of France, a place that’s particularly special to Charlotte and her family, as it’s owned by her dad, for one hell of a weekend!

And what a weekend it was.

It all started with a pool party, then blazing French sunshine, a beautiful ceremony beneath the trees, cocktails and live music by the pool, dinner outside, speeches, a margarita tower, sunset on the terrace and an absolutely huge party that eventually ended where it all began, back in the pool!

Even getting there had been an adventure. Massive storms had swept through the area the week before, bringing down and damaging trees around the château. There was still some heroic last-minute tree surgery happening on the morning of the wedding to get everything looking amazing for the afternoon.

Charlotte + Simon are humans after my own heart - both big into their mountains, trail and ultra running.

Big days, big landscapes and big adventures - and somehow the whole weekend felt very them - Blazing heat, a very long day, plenty of endurance required and a big finish at the end of it. Basically an ultra with considerably better outfits, more champagne and a margarita tower at the final aid station… I’m fairly sure UTMB®️ World Series could learn a thing or two.😂

Such a brilliant couple, an amazing bunch of people and a ridiculously good weekend to photograph.

So grateful that my job continues to be so fulfilling and gets to take me to places like this, with people like this. Feeling very thankful!. ❤️

📸 - Andy Gaines - Wedding Photographer and Filmmaker

Huge thanks to all the amazing people that helped make this weekend so special:

Venue:
Co-ordination dream team: John and Virginie: Masters of Matrimony
Hair: Peach & Blush
Catering: Traiteur évènementiel Croq’Gourmet
Flowers: Céline Blandet - Décoratrice Florale
Band:

Charlotte Astleford

13/08/2026

20 moments you’ll want to remember forever.
Including the ones you didn’t even see!

It’s been a while since I’ve shared my photography ethos on here - but it bears repeating occasionally! Now, I post a few portraits on here. I love making them.

But really, this is the stuff I care about most.

Because a wedding is this rare, brilliant moment when pretty much everyone who matters to you is together in one place.

And while you’re right in the middle of it, you’ll only see a fraction of what’s going on.

You may not notice the look on your dad’s face. The hug across the room. Your mates being idiots. The tears, the kids causing chaos, the quiet moments and everything happening while you’re somewhere else entirely.

But I will.

That’s why I’m there for the whole day. Watching, anticipating and photographing what happens around you as much as what happens to you.

Of course I’ll photograph the wedding. That’s a given. But what I really want to give you is something bigger: a time capsule of your people and your life, exactly as they are right now.

The things you remember.

And all the things you didn’t even know happened.

That’s what wedding photography is about for me.

02. Remember exactly how it felt to look at each other:

You spend months planning what your ceremony will look like. But this is what you’ll actually want to remember: the person you love standing opposite you, and everything you’re both feeling in that moment. No posing, no direction. Just the two of you, completely in it.

03. Remember the little moments as well as the big ones:

Your wedding won’t just be made up of ceremonies, speeches and first dances. It’s the tiny bits of affection in between that make it yours. They’re easy to miss, and exactly the kind of thing I’m always looking for.

04. Your wedding doesn’t need to be perfect to be perfect:

Things will wander into shot. Plans will change. The weather might misbehave. And sometimes a flock of sheep will walk straight through your ceremony. Don’t worry about perfection. The unexpected bits are often the bits you’ll love most.

05. You won’t remember half of what happens. That’s kind of the point.

Wedding days are a blur. The j

11/08/2026

We love this job. It feels CRAZY that we’ve been documenting weddings for over 15 years now and still after all that time, and all those hundreds of weddings, of every possible kind, across the entire world, it’s still just an absolute joy and pleasure to get to do.

Cat & Javi and their families came together from across the world - England meeting Ecuador, in Scotland at the always incredible Borthwick Castle - lots of lovely cultural nods throughout the day but, like always, the most meaningful part was simple. Two people, their love for each other, and their loved ones there to celebrate with them.

We love this job. 🙂

📸 + 🎥 Andy Gaines - Wedding Photographer and Filmmaker

Catriona
Javier Gilbert Jaramillo

St Kilda Scotland — Best Kept Secret In St Kilda
Mirka Bridal Couture — Mirka Bridal Couture
MacGregor & MacDuff — Kings of Kilts
Lauren Gilmour Hair & Makeup Artistry — Bridal Hair & Makeup Artist | Scotland
Coach Hire Edinburgh — Coach Hire Edinburgh
Borthwick Castle — Borthwick Castle
Oink Hog Roast —
Liberty Blooms — Liberty Blooms - East Lothian / Edinburgh Wedding Florist
Corra — CORRA
Clare Designs — Clare Designs | Wedding Stationery & Poetry ✨

14/07/2026

Kat and Sam did it right. They chose a small civil wedding in London with their closest family - and then invited all their best mates (and given they’ve both been together since meeting at their yr 11 school prom, that’s a pretty solid bunch of mates) for a massive weekend house party at their uncle’s house. It helps that said house is Netherby Hall Which proved the perfect setting for 2 days of celebration. Including, pyjama party, quiz night, Ceilidh, beautiful outdoor ceremony and so many wonderful, personal touches that I couldn’t fit in the character limit..!

I say it all the time, I know, but to get to spend such special times, with such lovely people and their families and friends, AND get to contribute something meaningful to their lives is a total gift - and one I love to get to continue doing.

Incredible work from an amazing bunch of suppliers - high fives all round:

📸 Andy Gaines - Wedding Photographer and Filmmaker
The Flower Studio
Maggie Sottero Designs | Wedding Dress Designer
Woodfired Guys
Nails By Lottie Thurstan✨
Walker Slater
Cragganmore Ceilidh Band
Azazie
Liz's Country Kitchen

01/07/2026

Sarah & Joe snuck off to Italy to get married and decided to party back home with all their mates at their self styled ‘piss up in a brewery!’ at the NORTHERN MONK REFECTORY AND GARDEN 🌸 Chapter Hall at Northern Monk Refectory LDS in Leeds.

I came along to document it all for them and it was an awesome night! So many more great moments to share from this party!

📸 Andy Gaines - Wedding Photographer and Filmmaker

Sarah Fischer
Millia London
Jimmy Choo

Leeds brewery wedding photography at the chapter hall in Leeds.

30/06/2026

Andi & Austin are definitely doing something right! I’ve been shooting at for as long as I can remember - and I’ve never enjoyed weather there like this weekend!

A+A traveled with their families and friends from America and they made it count! An amazing day and night!

📸 - Andy Gaines - Wedding Photographer and Filmmaker

Austinorino

Licks Cake Design
WooHoo Band!

Borthwick castle wedding photographer

23/06/2026

Super happy to hear I’ve picked up another Fearless Photographers award for this comic moment I captured at Lily and Henry’s wedding a couple of years ago.

I’ve always loved keeping one eye out for all those little ‘not-really-a-wedding-moment’ moments whilst photographing weddings. Those little funny/comic/poignant/crazy ‘real life’ things that happen throughout the day, that have nothing really to do with brides, grooms or marriage, but are just wonderful little vignettes of humanity!

In this case the parents can file these away to be unearthed at 18th birthdays, or maybe even future weddings! That’s what I love about wedding photography - even the most seemingly small, inconsequential moments might still have real value and be important to someone years and years down the line if you capture the memory in a photograph!

Award winning documentary wedding photographer.

19/06/2026

Not sure I’ll ever get tired of looking at these pictures and enjoying this place! The far north-west of Scotland is a long way from most places, but boy is it worth making the trip!

If you’re going to elope, do it the Stu and Jess way. Simples.

Their plan - to get married at the Picturehouse Cinema in York, before heading up to the Crescent music venue for a rock and roll knees up, sounded perfect for them - but unbeknownst to the entire world (apart from us) they were actually planning to elope to the far North-west of Scotland 3 weeks prior and get married (in secret) at their favourite place in the whole world - Achmelvich Beach. And then, so no one would miss out, our film of the trip (much more of which later!) would be shown to the surprised guests at the cinema in lieu of the actual wedding…

So a few weeks back Abigail and I loaded the campervan and headed off on a top-secret near-1500 mile roadtrip to capture their elopement. We spent a magical few days together in a part of the world which is truly as stunning and beautiful as anywhere I’ve shot around the globe. This was followed by 2 weeks locked in the editing suite creating the big reveal film (again, more of which very soon) and then this weekend we got to photograph and film the big York wedding and reveal! I’m still tired just thinking about it all - but our hearts (and hard drives!) are full and we CAN NOT WAIT to share more from this wonderful adventure, starring two of the most wonderful people you could ever hope to meet…

📷- Andy Gaines - Wedding Photographer and Filmmaker

Achmelvich Beach Elopement photographer.

06/06/2026

Wow!

Where to start with yesterday?! From the party-house prep at the historic Beekman hotel, via the police motorcade es**rt through downtown Manhattan to get to the ceremony, to the stunning rooftop ceremony at and the beyond-epic-party. Carly and Joe had a wedding for the ages!

To get to travel the world documenting these events, from little ‘old’ york to big ‘new’ York (and everywhere inbetween) is really something i’ll never stop being grateful for, and despite being a mountain guy at heart, I’m not sure I’ll ever tire of *that* rooftop view!

Thanks so much and .mcmahon11 for having me capture your incredible day - I’ve so much more to share from an absolute rollercoaster of a day, but for now here are a quick few of my favourites.

📸 -

Incredible crew and dream-team yesterday - high fives to:

davis

23/05/2026

Part two of Jess & Stu’s RocknRoll, Double-Album-of-a-wedding, saw 200 of their nearest and dearest descent on York’s City Screen cinema to witness them be married. Surprise number one came in the form of ‘s Rick Witter, with his recent crash course in marriage licensing, conducting the ceremony… surprise number two came in the form of surprise number one not being entirely legally binding, so the guests got to enjoy the actual ceremony from 2 weeks earlier. More on which later…

The legends that are then led the entire wedding congregation on a pied piper walk along York’s City walls to the , for fish and chips, ice-cream, speeches, partying, rock and roll, dj’s, live music and more continued into the early hours…

Just.A.Perfect.Day. x
📷

Address

York
YO231JR

Website

https://www.andygaines.com/

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