Yorkshire Wedding Photography at Rudstone Walk – This weekend just gone, Hannah and I had the pleasure of spending the day with Andrew and Kerry as they celebrated their wedding in style in the east Yorkshire Wolds. When I say we spent the day with Kerry and Andy – I really do mean the absolute full day! We set off at 6am from Insight HQ to drive across the county to meet up with the boys who were all meeting up at Paul’s Barbers in Preston for an obligatory wet shave and shearing – and what a laugh we had! The girls at the barber shop knew the groom and his crew well and the banter flying around was absolutely classic! The wet shave ‘ritual’ gave us some great opportunities for creating cool, photojournalistic images which will look great in Andy and Kerry’s finished album.
We left preston and then headed back across the county to the Moncton Shooting ground for an hour of clay pigeon shooting which was SUPER cool to watch and photograph. Our groom, Andrew, is a super keen outdoors sportsmen and regular shoots at Moncton so he had arranged for the owners to open up early for a spot of pre-wedding target practice. Only the groom and one of his best men had shot before so the other groomsmen had looks of excitement at one extreme and looks of danger and trepidation at the other – again – making for very cool photos! Hannah and I even got to try our hands with the shot guns and I was amazed at how strong the recoil was on the double barrelled beasts!
From shooting, we moved again – this time just down the road to the grooms final destination at Rudstone Walk. After photographing the boys get into their fineries – helping them with ties and button hole flowers on the way – we then got to create some really cool lit shots outside with that classic East Yorkshire skyline for our back drop. Rudstone Walk excels at many things but surely one of its most outstanding features is the view out over the county and if you catch it on a day with nice cloud formations – it becomes a photographers dream – this was one of those days!
We left Andrew and the boys to have a ‘medicinal’ at the hotel whilst Hannah and I drove BACK across the county to where the bride was making her final preparations in the tiny village of Great Hatfield – in the middle of absolutely nowhere – classic location! We were met by the girls in the final stages of hair and makeup with everyone in great spirit and ready for a wedding!
I photographed all of Kerry’s details first whilst the bridesmaids dressed and then we were ready to help Kerry get into her gorgeous gown. of course, I always step outside when the bride is stepping into her dress but come straight back in once she’s ‘decent’ so I shoot all of the lovely detail of the dress being fastened – it always has such a ritualistic feel to it and looks great on camera!
Once I’d created some beauty portraits of the bride with her complete ‘look’ we brought her down the stairs to greet her Mum and Dad who were in a glass case of emotion as they saw their daughter, dressed ready to marry, for the first time as she came around the corner of the staircase. I always love this point of the day – it’s always such a ‘rite of passage’ moment and looks great in black and white pictures.
Once we’d finished the bridal party’s portraiture, we headed back to Rudstone Walk for the wedding – I calculated we clocked up just over 120 miles on this day but logistics are no problem – I lived in Canada for 10 years and didn’t think twice making an hour long round trip for milk and bread when I lived in the mountains!
The East Riding Registrars performed a lovely ceremony for Kerry and Andy – both who were visibly and physically moved by their formal coming together in marriage. It was so lovely to see the energy being exchanged between them – I get to witness this from very close quarters and I’m always moved. Once the register was signed and the ceremony complete, we took the wedding party outside and shot the formal group shots in record time as it was a little blustery with a coldish wind so didn’t want to keep people outside for too long. Rudstone Walk has a perfect courtyard which is partially sheltered so we winning already.
After a brief ‘Penny Drop Session’ with the bride and groom (this is that time for them to realise they’ve just got wed and for me to commit that to pictures) we headed in for a lovely 3 course wedding breakfast. Rudstone Walk excel at preparing lovely, homestyle cooked meals and their wedding offering is really first class – the roast beef went down great guns before everyone tucked into a homemade sticky toffee pudding – yum!
The weather got better as the day progressed and as the meal was concluded, we were met by an absolutely stunning evening. The kids enjoyed trampolining and football on the lawn whilst I took the bride and groom for a second walk about to explore some other areas of the Manor.
Before we knew it, Andy Rollins from Ace Disco Party Sounds was striking up the music and the dance floor was jumping even before the cake cut and first dance which is often signifies the ‘official’ kick off for the night do. Guests enjoyed cocktails out on the patio overlooking the beautiful skyline until it was time to see Andrew ‘light up the dance floor’ with his special moves and boy can this groom dance – we’re talking sparks a plenty!
At the conclusion of the first dance, Kerry and Andrew led their guests back out onto the patio to treat them to an amazing display of pyrotechnic theatre – it was the most incredible display of fireworks set to music I have seen in a long time – the music choice of Ava Maria was just perfect as well. We love to capture the excitement of fireworks and these shots always look great to finishes an album presentation off.
So we left the bride and groom with a rammed dance floor as we packed up and went home after nearly 17 hours of coverage – we shot just short of 5000 images and on first review, we have an amazing collection to share with the bride and groom once they have come back to earth in a couple of weeks time. I asked Andrew what Kerry would do with her life now that 24 months of wedding planning had finally come to fruition and he basically told me he had bought a plot of land and was to build house so kerry could now get herself stuck into the long task of designing all of the interiors – she’s never one to stand still!
If you’ve enjoyed reading this story and you might be looking for a Yorkshire Wedding Photographer that loves shooting at Rudstone Walk then please don’t hesitate to drop us a line so we can find out more about your plans. You can request our brochure at the following link and also check out our wedding photography Facebook page here.
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