What better way to to beat the autumn blues than to embrace the beauty of the season with an autumn themed wedding?
Orange was the colour of the day.
The bright orange contrasted beautifully with the earth tones and wood that decorated the venue.
Autumn wasn’t the only theme for the day though.
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** This wedding was featured in Love My Dress wedding blog in Jan 2018, which is awesome!
As soon as Kathryn first mentioned Rossington Hall I got excited.
Well, excited and disappointed that I would have to wait a whole year before her and Ste’s wedding day.
I had done my research online, looked at photos of what Rossington Hall looked like on a typical wedding day.
It was only actually a few weeks before the wedding day and we met at the Doncaster venue on an open day that I was able to truly appreciate the beauty of this magnificent house.
Truly, Rossington Hall is a beautiful wedding venue.
Yes, from a photographer’s perspective the halls at very dark and an absolute pain to take photos in.
The grounds more than make up for it though, so long as the weather plays along.
Speaking of the weather, a spot of rain may potentially have caused difficulties for the Markham Main Colliery Brass Band who were set up to play during the welcome reception out in the gardens.
Fortunately there was no rain, in fact it was glorious sunshine all through the day. Something of a rare treat for a UK August Bank Holiday weekend.
If your wedding venue is Rossington Hall and you are wanting a church ceremony, St Lawrence is a natural choice.
It is a short 15 minute drive away and an absolutely beautiful church.
Plenty of space inside, should easily accommodate a sizeable wedding party.
Also, for a church in the middle of a town, the parking is surprisingly good.
The only logistical issue we had was the sharp blind bend just before the church entrance which made life difficult for the wedding car to stay nearby.
See ya next time.
James
Getting married on a bank holiday in Britain is a bit of a gamble, weather-wise.
Luckily Lyndsey and Steve landed on the first sunny August bank holiday weekend since 1874.
I have been to Whitley Hall hotel before so I was already excited about coming back, when they told me about the superhero theme I just couldn’t wait.
So, here’s the story.
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I arrived at the Consort Hotel in Thurcroft nice and early to find the air conditioner in Colleen’s room dripping on the carpet, the bathroom flooded from the shower and some of the girls suffering from… hay-fever… allegedly.
Still, spirits were high in the face of adversity and everyone was surprisingly calm as the girls gradually transformed into Bridesmaids, Flower Girls and of course, a Bride.
Church services simultaneously excite and terrify me.
Churches were never designed with photography in mind.
Often the lighting is poor. There is little room to manoeuvre and there are certain areas which are consecrated and therefore off limits.
Working with the Vicar is a must for me. I will always make an effort to discuss my intentions with them before the service.
As it happened, Colleen had invited me to the rehearsal earlier in the week so I had a great opportunity to chat with both the Vicar and the Verger meaning I was able to discuss all the ins and outs, propose my routes and establish exactly where I should and should not stand.
It also gave me chance to suss out the parking situation which is often a stress point for me when I am rushing from the bridal suite to the church trying to beat the bridal car.
Having had that pre-planning opportunity everything ran smoothly for me at the church and, I think, I didn’t upset the Vicar!
As I had mentioned earlier in this post, there were a few issues with leakages in the bridal suite in the morning.
Fortunately this was not a sign of things to come as everything went very well as far as I could tell once we were back at the Consort Hotel.
Being that the hotel is situated on a busy road in Thurcroft the opportunities for outdoor photos were pretty limited, so my suggestion to anyone getting married here would be to try to get your group photos done elsewhere, at church for example.
For us, the weather at church was, adverse. The sun was beating down creating some pretty harsh shadows but worse than that, there was a very strong wind running through the grounds so guests were struggling to maintain their composure.
We ended up taking up a spot on the edge of the car park for group photos, and then I took Colleen and Floyd down the road to what looked like a farm for our evening portraits.
Overall, I’m chuffed with the photos and I had a great time taking them.
Colleen and Floyd have a very lively family, all of whom made me feel very welcome. Definitely one to remember.
Here is a selection of photos that you can scroll through.
So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed those photos. Get in touch with any questions, comments or if you want to check my availability.
See ya next time.
James
Most of my blog articles recently have been general wedding advice from a bloke’s perspective.
Although I have quite enjoying sharing my experiences I am happy to be blogging a real wedding again.
So, here is the story of Amie and Joe’s St Leonard’s Church and Niagara Club, Sheffield wedding as told by me, their wedding photographer.
If you’re interested in reading any of my articles, including Boys Don’t Cry: A bloke’s guide to getting emotional on the wedding day and the hugely popular Bridal Prep – What the morning of the wedding is all about have a look on my blog page.
Bridal prep is a beautiful part of the wedding day. More often than not though, the emotions and serenity are often lost during the last 20 minutes before the car is due to leave.
Today there was none of that panic.
Amie and her entire party were all made up, dressed and ready to go with about an hour to spare.
This may sound over the top, I have to say it definitely works for me. I would always prefer to be ready and waiting rather than rushing.
What this meant is that Amie was able to spend the time reflecting with her family and close friends before going off to get married.
It also gave Paul the videographer (weddingtodvd.co.uk) a chance to record a few messages from the party which will no doubt be a beautiful memory on their wedding video.
Eventually though we had to leave.
The beautiful white Jag, courtesy of Nostell Chauffeur Co. was typically prompt, arriving 20 minutes early as bridal cars are prone to do. Even she was amazed to find that the bridal party was sat ready and waiting for her.
All this extra time gave me some leaway which is always nice.
Typically I am rushing to get to the church before the bride.
Today though I was able to get my photos of Amie and her Dad getting into the car and then make my way to St Leonards, get parked and still spend a little time with Joe and his groomsmen before Amie arrived.
St Leonards is a lovely church by the way.
From a photographers perspective it is ideal because of all the space around the edges which allowed me to move freely without interfering with the service.
A friendly vicar helps too. I was given free reign to wander the church as I saw fit which is always very much apprecated.
This was my first wedding at the Niagara Conference and Leisure Centre in Hillsborough.
It was a lovely experience. We were in the marquee and, although there were signs of another wedding over in the main building we never got the impression that they were stretched and at no point did the other party impede on ours.
At least from my perspective as the wedding photographer, the Niagara Centre
Anyway, here is a selection of highlights from the photo album.
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If you would like to talk to me about photographing your wedding give me a shout, details are on my contact page.
See ya next time,
James
Back in the olden days of wedding photography you would not have seen bridal prep photos included with the standard service.
That was when wedding photography was all about capturing a single bridal portrait to sit on the mantelpiece for generations.
Whilst bridal portraits are still very much a thing, wedding photography has moved on to include documenting the emotions of the whole day.
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Here it is… your one stop shop for all the information you could possibly need about wedding photographers. All your questions answered in one article!
This is the second article in a series aimed at helping couples to find the right wedding photographer for them.
If you came here hoping to understand wedding photography pricing you should take a look at Wedding Photography Pricing Explained which goes into way more detail on that subject.
Though I am a wedding photographer myself, I have written this with my unbiased hat on.
I know I’m not the right photographer for everyone and that’s fine.
In researching this article I scoured Facebook, Google, Twitter… anywhere people are likely to be asking questions about wedding photographers.
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You might expect that a room full of women all trying to get ready for a wedding would be absolute chaos.
Generally it is quite the contrary in my experience.
Today was no exception to that.
What was unusual is that the tension never seemed to ramp up as it usually does as the time draws near.
Katie seemed cool as a cucumber all the way through, and was even ready to go 20 minutes before it was time to leave.
I think that pretty much sums up the day really.
Everything was perfect, though I got the impression that even if things went wrong that would still be fine.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am starting to believe that is the very reason everything did go so well.
Anyway, I am getting a little too philosophical here, you probably just want to read about the wedding day, where we went and who made it possible.
I am conscious that you are probably only here to look at the photos so I will keep this brief.
I am also going to make an effort to mention as many of the suppliers involved in the day as I can. There as so many wonderful people working behind and in front of the scenes that make wedding days magical, they deserve a mention.
The day started out at Katie’s parents’ house. A handful of pretty ladies were transformed into even more pretty ladies by Makeup By Erin Nina and Wedding Hair by Amy Ward.
Once Katie had gotten into her dress from New York Brides she and her bridesmaids hopped into a gorgeous Mercedes courtesy of Chauffeur Class Services.
To church we went.
It was a beautiful service, very moving. It was also quite warm in there, although I guess I felt that more since I was moving around so much.
Anyway, following the service we hopped back into the cars and made our way down the road to Norton House Country Club.
Norton House is definitely a hidden gem.
So hidden that I actually drive past it 5 days a week on the school run and had never noticed that it was there.
Of course, once you see if you won’t believe you hadn’t noticed it before.
I don’t want this to become a review of Norton House Country Club, I just want to say how attentive the staff were on the day.
A hotly debated topic amongst wedding circles is should you feed your wedding photographer?
Personally, I think too many people make too much of a fuss about something so trivial.
I have no problem buying myself a sandwich at the bar during dinner time. However, I do always ask at the venue in advance whether this is an option, since some venues are not set up to cater for adhoc orders during wedding service.
I had previously met with Norton House staff who had assured me some food could be arranged for me.
What I hadn’t expected was to be seated in my own private dining room (an adjacent bar) and to be served the same meal as the guests.
Great service, it’s really the little touches that you should be looking out for.
Food was great too.
I don’t want to trivialise anyone because everyone did an amazing job, the decoration by Angela Godfrey was top notch.
The DJ from Sound Sensational went above and beyond.
And what a cake! A doff of the cap to I Bake A Bit!
Anyway, I guess this is what you really came to see.
See ya next time.
James
Holy moly what a hot day to get married at Kenwood Hall.
After having covered a wedding in Tuscany just a month earlier I figured I was now good and ready for all weather conditions.
As Louise’s Mum pointed out, it was a different kind of heat than you get on holiday.
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Having only recently landing back home in Sheffield from a trip to Scotland I found it quite comforting to be back at Sheffield Town Hall, a wedding venue I know very well.
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