Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0009Weddings at Cave Castle Hotel are always lovely – i know the venue very well as I’ve captured lots and lots of events there and it is literally a 2 minute stones throw from where i live in South Cave, East Yorkshire.  Ryan and Alex, who are from the Leeds area, chose Cave Castle for its majestic character, beautiful grounds and fantastic hospitality – they were not disappointed on any of those fronts!Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0001

My day started early with the boys preparations who had stayed over at another local hotel down on the River Humber.  When I woke up on the morning of the wedding, it was absolutely bucketing down with rain but was so hot and humid, we felt like we were going to melt so when we met up with the groom and his groomsmen we quickly discussed an alternative arrangement to getting them into their suits too early for fear of spontaneous combustion!Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0002

We spent an hour just hanging out with the boys, instead of the usual photojournalism we capture of them getting ready, we spent a lot of time detailing all of the sublime accessories Ryan had brought together and his tailored suits from Saville Row, London.  I think the boys really appreciated not having to dress too early and we still managed to get some really great storytelling images.Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0003 Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0004

Our Bride, Alex, was making her final preparations in the Bridal Suite at Cave Castle Hotel when we arrived and although it had stopped raining, it was still very humid but the girls were coping very well.Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0005

Alex had assembled an excellent team of professionals to help her bring her dream wedding together, including Tracie Geelan of  The Yorkshire Wedding Planner who was a massive help in not only bringing the venue styling to life, but also doing so many other things which made such a big difference to our Bride’s morning – we would highly recommend her services!Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0006

Once Alex was done with hair and make up, I photographed her bridesmaids and then it was all hands on deck to help her dress.  Her gown was totally stunning, fitted like a fine silk glove and hung so gracefully.  Her Jimmy Choo shoes set her look off perfectly – my man crush for Choos Shoes cannot be denied and I loved photographing them in detail!Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0007

My good friend Howard from Silver Lane Wedding Cars was on hand to transport the bridal party the short distance from Cave Castle to All Saints Church whilst Ryan waited nervously inside, the weather at this point had cleared and it was shaping up to be a beautiful afternoon.  Revd Mike conducted a lovely ceremony and before we knew it – we had a new Mr and Mrs Mangam!Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0008Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0009Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0016

The rest of the afternoon was laid back as we took care of the formal group shots and before we knew it, it was time to sit for speeches and then wedding breakfast.  The speeches were great to photograph with all 3 speakers doing a great job, raising a tonne of laughs and tapping into all of the emotions that fly around on a wedding day – we had plenty of smiles, laughs and tears for our cameras to photograph.Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0012

After dinner, Ryan, Alex and I took the opportunity to enjoy a walk around the grounds of Cave Castle Hotel to get some of my signature style of wedding images and by the time we had taken care of these, the Balmoral Suite had been turned around in readiness for the night to come with a band and DJ on hand to provide entertainment dee p into the night.Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0013

The bride and Groom had done lots of preparation for their first dance which looked fab and this was followed on shortly afterwards with a fabulous display of fireworks – always a great place to finish our coverage and say our farewells.  We loved photographing Alex and Ryan’s big day – Cave castle Hotel is such a fab venue that suits the “insight Look’ totally down to the ground – we’re back at the venue several more times this year.Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0014Cave-Castle-Weddings-_0015

If you’ve enjoyed reading this story and want to find out more about how I might help on YOUR wedding day – head over to my wedding portfolio on my website and then perhaps fill out an enquiry form to check our availability.  Don’t forget to head over and ‘Like’ our Insight Photography Facebook page for regular updates just like this one!