What an amazing weekend. I had a fabulous day on Saturday photographing the wedding of Alice and Dan and the beautiful and very picturesque Ampleforth Abbey, a location I thoroughly enjoy working at and spending time at. The big concern this weekend and the thought on everyone’s mind was undoubtedly the weather. After a glorious week of sunshine, the forecast was for heavy rain all day. The forecast looked grim with no break in the rain, and I really felt for Alice and Dan. But as with everything to do with the weather, it is unpredictable. Ampleforth tends to defy the weather forecast being located in a valley, and Saturday was no exception. When we needed the rain to ease off, it did. 
 
 
 
Whilst Dan got ready at the Black Swan in Helmsley, Alice and her bridesmaids got prepared at the Feversham Arms. Both are lovely locations in their own right. Everything was rather calm and chilled when I met with Alice in the morning as she had her hair and make-up done, before then getting into her beautiful wedding dress. She looked absolutely stunning and the dress was made for her. 
 
 
At the Abbey I again met briefly with Dan, before Alice arrived very early with her bridesmaids and parents. Dressed in navy with pink floral bouquets, the colours worked really well on the bridesmaids and tied in well with the navy suits of the groom and groomsmen. Fr Hugh hosted a lovely wedding ceremony, and knowing Ampleforth Abbey like I do I was able to discretely capture shots from different angles and locations without disturbing or interrupting the ceremony. The Abbey is very photogenic from the interior to being able to capture as much of the abbey as well as close-up photographs create a really comprehensive record of the ceremony. 
 
 
 
The drinks reception was held in the ‘Big Passage’ at Ampleforth School, which was the wet weather contingency plan, and although there were light spots of rain in the air at times, we were able to take all the formal group line-up photographs outside, including a large group photograph of everyone overlooking the valley. It is a great location for a group photograph, and captures the location well. 
Alice and Dan walked to The Windmill, the location of their wedding breakfast. It is only a short 15 minute walk, and as there were still spots of light rain in the air they chose to walk with an umbrella. As you can see from the photographs a white umbrella works very well in wedding photographs. It does not cast a colour hue over the couple and acts as a nice reflector. Choosing the opportunity to take photographs of them as they walked, and then taking a selection of posed photographs at a suitable location made for a really lovely set of images of just the two of them. 
 
Alice and Dan chose to have their speeches at the beginning of the meal so as to help everyone relax as preparing for speeches can be nerve-racking for the father of the bride, groom and best man. The meal was pretty amazing with a choice of pigeon breast or haloumi as a starter and beef or fish for the main course, all prepared on a grill outside The Windmill and served by the catering and hospitality staff at The Windmill. 
 
 
The amazing three tier cake was produced by Alice’s sister which Alice and Dan chose to cut just before their first dance under the music control of the very talented DJ Mark Green, who was great at getting the guests on to the dance floor to dance the night away. 
 
I, as a Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, had a great day and I believe everybody else did also. Alice and Dan are a lovely couple and I was honoured to have been chosen as the photographer to capture their day for them. I wish them a great time on honeymoon and look forward to creating their wedding album in due course. In the meantime here is a selection of highlights from their wedding day for you to enjoy. 
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