Yorkshire wedding barn wedding photography - Hannah and Matthew

The Yorkshire wedding barn is a bit of a favourite of ours so it was great to be back again for Hannah and Matthew’s wedding day. It was a wonderfully relaxed day, unseasonably warm for the time of the year, and a lot of fun to photograph.

Here are our highlights from the day.

If you're planning your wedding at The Yorkshire Wedding Barn and are looking for a wedding photographer, please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

Durham Castle - Briony and Edward

Durham Castle weddings are always a joy to photograph. I love the history and character of the castle, the old elegance of the interior, the dark wood paneling, the cathedral-high ceilings, and the stained glass windows to match. It really is something out of a fairytale. The Castle couldn’t have been a more perfect choice for Briony and Edward’s wedding day.

Being from out of the area, Briony hired a lovely little Airbnb close to Nevilles Cross for her and her girls to get ready in, while the lads got ready in the castle before walking down to St Nic’s church in Durham’s Market Place for their wedding ceremony. By the time Briony arrived, a crowd of onlookers had gathered, who cheered and applauded as she got out of the wedding car and walked into the church on her dad’s arm. After a beautiful ceremony, we jumped into our cars and headed over to Prebends Bridge for a few photographs while their guests made their way up to the castle for their celebrations. It was a beautiful elegant wedding, and we loved every moment.

If you're planning your own wedding at Durham Castle, and are looking for a wedding photographer, please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

“We just wanted to say thank you once again for all your work on the day and for such beautiful photos. We are delighted with them and they capture the day so well. Thank you for all your assistance on the day, and a special thank you to Chrissie for saving the dress from makeup stains!!!  The photos are just beautiful. Thank you for capturing so many special moments. They bring back all the special memories looking through them.” - Briony and Edward. 

Gisborough Hall - Emma and Jamie

A Gisborough Hall Wedding. Emma and Jamie celebrated their summer wedding at Gisborough Hall. As the son of a wedding photographer, Jamie knew alot about weddings, and along with Emma’s creativity, they put together a day filled with fun.

They made sure that there was no time for the guest to become idle. Lawn games, ice creams, a bouncy castle, and disney princesses for the little ones, along with the most original idea we have ever seen for confetti - mulitcoloured pompoms, which produced a spectacular effect.

Durham Castle - Laura and James

Durham Castle is a dream to photograph, wonderfully atmospheric, grand and full of history.  It also held some very special memories for Laura and James and so it could not have been more perfect for their wedding. 

I asked Laura to tell us about their wedding herself, so here goes!...

"We met at Durham University in 2006. We shared a few mutual friends, but it was playing college basketball that meant we started spending more time together. The most memorable turning point in our 'friendship' was when we spend a couple of hours together on a first aid course.... practising CPR (!) and then the long walk back home where we chatted for ages.  James proposed after 7 years together, on a slightly random Monday evening after I'd been at work for the entire day. He called me whilst I was driving home and asked me to give him a call 5 mins from home so he could start cooking the chicken fajitas. Little did I know it was actually so he could leave our flat - he left an envelope on the doormat which was the start of a treasure hunt... the end of which was a proposal :) Unfortunately the chicken fajitas didn't exist (!), but we went out for dinner before going on a mini break to Vienna 2 days later."

"We had a facetime chat with Chrissie and Nigel and loved how relaxed they were! I could instantly imagine them sharing in our wedding day."

For Laura and James, Durham Castle was always the one.  

"We were both students at Castle College in Durham, which is very lucky to have Durham Castle as the halls of residence! I lived in the castle during my final year, top floor of the keep - 127 steps up.  James used to refer to it as his 'city centre pent house! For us, there was only one place we could get married if we were ever to 'tie the knot!"

Laura chose vintage inspired accessories along with her stunning shoes - the Ivory 'Paris' stone embellished heeled sandals by No. 1 Jenny Packham.

Laura's stunningly beautiful wedding dress was the Jean gown by Badgley Mischka

"My wedding dress was the first thing I bought for the wedding - I loved the slightly vintage element of it and tried to carry this across the wedding (ie nothing too pristine and perfect - I didn't want 'matchy matchy'!)"

They were married in Durham Castle's medieval private chapel, the Tunstall chapel, constructed by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall in 1540. 

"When I'm a guest at weddings I never look at the bride first when she walks down the aisle - I always look at the groom to see his reaction! I really wanted two photographers so that both moments could be captured"

"One of my favourite moments was walking back down the aisle after the service and seeing all our friends and family."

Laura and James were so much fun to work with, relaxed and clearly in love.  They made it too easy for us to capture some beautiful images of them alone together

"We loved the confetti gauntlet despite it almost choking James, the photo of him after getting confetti in his face is one of my favourites - even though it really shouldn't be!"

I asked Laura for a little advice for other couples getting married...

"Plan the day you want and that will make you happy. There can be so many differing opinions when planning a wedding. Just do what makes you happy -it's your day."

"As we were getting married in spring, I wanted to incorporate spring colours (light pink and purple). As it was Easter weekend we also wanted to give a little nod to this with the personalised easter egg favors."

Laura and James' beautiful wedding cake was carefully handcrafted by Laura's talented mother

"We looked over some photos that Nigel and Chrissie had taken at a wedding at Durham Castle and fell in love with them. Once I'd seen this there was no debate!"

"Make sure you find even just 5 mins to yourselves at the wedding.  We used the time when we went off to do some photos with Chrissie and Nigel after the dinner."

A favourite moment was our SECOND dance with our amazing band, Detroit Soul, 'This Old Heat of Mine'. We actually wanted this to be our first song, but didn't think the lyrics were appropriate!

Congratulations to you Laura and James once again.  Thank you for your words of wisdom, kindness and warmth - and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for inviting us to share with you, your wonderful wedding day at Durham Castle.

Laura and James carefully selected some fantastic suppliers for their wedding day:

Venue: Durham Castle

Venue styling: Pumpkin Events (friends business)

The wedding dress: Badgley Mischka: Jean

The men's suits: Moss

Wedding cake: Mother of the Bride!

Flowers: Style and Seated (friend)

Hair and Make up: Church Hairdressing (Tynemouth), F.A.C.E Makeup (Sarah Stonehouse)

Entertainment: Detroit Soul

Louise and James - Eshott Hall

Louise and James were married in their local church St Mary's in Wickham, moving on to the elegant Eshott Hall for their wedding reception.

Here are a few photographs of their beautiful wedding day...

Kirkley Hall - Amy and Joe

Nigel I love getting involved in local wedding fairs, exhibiting our work and meeting face to face with future clients, and Amy and Joe were one of those clients.  We met at Belle Bridal's wedding wonder show at St James' Park and we hit if off straight away.  Amy's spark of energy along with the strong connection between them that was obvious to see right from the beginning, I knew straight away that I wanted to photograph their wedding.  

They decided that 3-4 hours of coverage would suit them better than our usual offering with photographs taken just prior to the ceremony, the ceremony its self and of their drinks reception.  It's surprising how much can be achieved in such a short amount of time.  It wasn't planned that we would stay to photograph the speeches but we had had such a great time with this fab couple we couldn't tear ourselves away, so we stayed a little longer, kept ourselves out of sight and captured the speeches too! 

To a wonderful couple and new friends, congratulations and thank you for having us along, we loved every moment!