Amy & Alex

I’ve shot a few weddings at Aldwark Manor now. The thing I enjoy most about them is that each time it’s completely different. From the moment that I met Amy & Alex, I knew that today would certainly be a bit different, given the themes of Disney, Gin & Christmas. In July.

Another thing that I like about Aldwark is it’s location. Or, to be more precise, it’s surroundings. You start off in the tiny, picturesque village of Aldwark in the heart of rural Yorkshire. At the side of the road is St Stephen’s church just at the entrance to the Manor. Then, there’s the picturesque driveway that passes through the golf course up to the front door. Now, I’m not a golfer, but I do love golf courses. There’s something about how they are landscaped that seems to make them too good to play golf on, at least to me.

I joined Amy and her entourage at the manor first thing in the morning. After photographing the excited preparations, the bouncing on the bed (the flower girls, not Amy) and the morning shenanigans, I took a stroll down to the church. That’s where I met Alex who’d sensibly utilised a golf buggy to really arrive in style. I’ve seen grooms arrive in Bentleys, Jags, even a Ferrari. Never a golf buggy before.

After a beautiful service at the church, everyone took a leisurely stroll back up to the manor for dinner in the specially decorated, Disney themed restaurant, and speeches. I should mention that Alex used to be York City FC’s mascot, Yorkie the lion. The speeches were pretty revealing about what goes on behind the scenes for a football mascot, pretty revealing indeed. But, highly amusing. You may notice from the photographs that later on, Yorkie himself made a bit of an appearance.

It’s fair to say that Amy and Alex love Christmas. I’ve seen small children that don’t love Christmas as much as Amy and Alex do. But, when your wedding is in June, what do you do? You use a MASSIVE confetti cannon to blast ‘snow’ onto the dancefloor, that’s what. I love the two photographs of everyone counting down to the ‘snow’ and then in the next split second – whiteout!

The evening finished off with a brilliant firework display and Yorkie the lion joining everyone on the dancefloor. Disney, Lions & Christmas in June – not really a normal day for a wedding photographer. I had a great time!