A couple of weeks ago I had the great responsibility of capturing the wedding day memories of Jessica and Lee. They booked me around 18 months ago to cover their wedding photography needs, and around 4 months ago we met to do the pre-wedding meet-up and photoshoot; in all honestly, the time has flown by (as I'm sure it has for Jessica and Lee).
Their wedding took place at Rushpool Hall {link} in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, a lovely venue I've shot at many times; however, rather annoyingly, I've never had much luck with the weather at this venue to fully do it justice, regardless of the time of year I've been booked for.
I know...a good photographer isn't affected by the weather, and I feel I’ve done a good job in the past at Rushpool Hall when the heavens have opened and the gale force winds have hit, but I've always known the potential this venue has, and just wanted to do have the opportunity to shoot it in favourable conditions.
So, in typical fashion, weather warnings were posted by the Met Office for severe rain and Supercell storm for the night before and the morning of the wedding - which pretty much is what happened, with thunder rumbling at 4:30am the day of the wedding.
However, the wedding fairies showed mercy and the temperature climbed throughout the morning, drying away any wetness on the ground and at around noon the sun made an appearance – it was at this point that I knew it was going to be a good day.
It was a relatively late kick-off for Jessica and Lee’s wedding (3pm), so I arrived just before 1pm to start the pre-bridal preparations in the bridal suite; always my favourite part of the day because it’s so unstructured and the bridal party are usually full of nervous energy. Jessica had the dresses already hanging from the 4-poster bed, which saved me the indignity of trying to hang them up for photos (since I’m vertically challenged somewhat).
The bride’s horse (Lemon is his name) also made an appearance and took some of the limelight from the groom, but was a great prop for some really good photos. There was also a dove release, something I’d not experienced at any weddings previously and relished the challenge of capturing the release. Even the peacocks tried to gate-crash the wedding meal by getting into the conservatory – which gave me a chance to get some close-ups of the elusive creature.
Jessica and Lee have a little girl, Harriet, who was very co-operative on the day and even allowed me to take her off for some stunning portraits which will be a nice surprise for the couple when I show them their final suite of images.
As well as being a special day for Jessica and Lee it was also a special day for Jessica’s parents and grandparents who also share the same wedding anniversary date – 4th July.
While it was warm, there was an occasional breeze, which I’m sure everyone appreciated; although I’ve never drank so much ice-water at a wedding before, it really was that hot.
All in all, it was as close to a perfect day as you can expect (given all the elements at play on a wedding day) and I cannot wait to show them the moments I’ve captured from their special day.