Wedding Photos at The Angel Inn in Hetton, Yorkshire: Laura + Nick

Yesterday I was up in in the Yorkshire Dales on a sunny Sunday to photograph a wedding

The Yorkshire Dales is officially ‘A Special Area’ & I couldn’t agree more.

Which is why these kids, Laura & Nick decided to host their big day there…

…at one of the country’s longest-running & best loved gastro-pubs, The Angel Inn at Hetton.

We usually stay on into the evening at weddings and put out the laptop showing a slideshow of ‘On-The-Day Wedding Highlights’, but I’m joining these guys for their official evening celebrations at historic The Leeds Club in a few weeks, so we done and dusted by the time the meal was served!

In the meantime, here’s Laura & Nick’s Wedding Highlights Slideshow, set to ‘Madness’ by Muse (which can be downloaded as MP3s from amazon’s MP3 store here). I generally set this slideshow to their first dance, but as it’s not yet happened, Clare mentioned that Nick liked Muse, and I’ve been enjoying this track (in spite of it’s Radio 2 airplay!) so thought it might be nice.

Enjoy x

I hope you enjoy this story of a very special day!

In our experience, Autumn/Winter weddings are as much luck of the draw as summer ones, but it’s so nice to play in the Autumnal colours & sunshine!The Angel was looking fab, albeit having shed the Autumnal Ivy it sported at Laura & Nick’s pre-wedding shoot (view it by clicking here)
One thing my Mum passed onto me was a love for brilliant gastro pubs. They’re generally called the something-at-somewhere. The Blue Lion at East Whitton, The Star at Harome and the Angel at Hetton are some of the best I’ve ever eaten at; so not a bad place to bring your near and dear for a wedding feast eh?!

In’t lodgings above t’wine cave (I’m going all Yorkshire!), where the ceremony was held, Laura & team bride were getting ready.

Here’s Laura’s sis helping Laura on with her present from Nick, a Links bracelet featuring her new family crest and initials!

Hanging on the wardrobe was Laura’s wonderfully, vintagey wedding gown!

And to go with such a thing of class? Choos!

Nothing but t’best!Laura’s soft and spikey flora looked brilliant, and as the big day was on Remembrance Sunday, they were stuffed with little poppies!I like this little shot of Grandma & mum in the flat downstairs. She was a great sport & seemed to have a blast

Meanwhile, Clare joined the chaps over at Laura & Nick’s flatI like this one of Nick fixing his tie.Team groom!Nothing like a bit of Playstation on the wedding morning

Laura’s gift to Nick was a Private Number plate!A pit stop at Maccy D’s
Then up to the Angel to get button holed… and factor in some Dutch courage

The ceremony was held in the Wine Cave (or Bat Cave, if you ask Nick) over the road from the Angel, and while the gang assembled

Laura was being helped into her dress!

AwwThis is one of my faves.

One proud dad, with his daughters

Here comes the bride

There was an amusing, Freudian slip when Nick sounded like he said “…to be my awfully wedded wife.”

D’oh!

One of the lovely things about a civil ceremony is being able to write your own vows, made all the better when they make the groom cry!While we got loads of pictures of the kiss (like all the best couples, they did it like 4 times!), I really like this shot just after.

Making things official

Witnesses and all.CONFETTI BOMB!SOOOOO glad the weather allowed us to do the family lineups and portraits outside!Our newlyweds with their best man and best girl

Then we took a quick turn around Hetton for a round of portraits.

I’m really pleased with this one; I love Laura’s expression and the way the light is falling on her.
We’d done a practice shoot in Hetton a few weeks previous (blog post here)

I’d shown them how if feels to be photographed and what I’m after, and it makes the wedding portraits so much easier (not to mention quicker)I love this one walking up the road, with Laura in her 20’s furry shawl (which I wore for most of the shoot! Mmmm)I generally favour pictures of a couple laughing, having fun together and messing about / chuckling at my lame jokes, but I’ve been really trying to improve my game on the couple portraits recently, and sometimes a quiet, serious image has just as much impact, and more elegance.This old, peeling green door was something we found on the pre-wed and I love the texture it adds.Another angle on the door, showing off the back of the dress & Nick’s signet & wedding rings.

These guys had the perfect attitude towards the shoot. Laura fought the cold (and mud!) valiantly, as she was, as she put it “only doing this once wants great wedding portraits, so it’s worth getting cold!” That is 100% the attitude required from a wedding couple, whether caught in in summer drizzle or winter chills; it makes ALL the difference!Not sure which I like most out of this one…

…and this one?Anyhoos – it didn’t take long to get plenty of crackers in the bank, and we’d turned though confetti, all the groups & the portraits in 45mins) so we headed back to join the guests for the remaining hour & a quarter.

A 2 hour reception is the perfect length of time to get great pics and have time to enjoy canapes and a good mingle.

Nothing worse than choosing loads of lovely nibbles and inviting all your buddies when you don’t get change to eat & see em!

The Roundhay Girls, working some sass!

I went to Roundhay School with these guys (though I was in the year above), and it was great to see some familiar faces there. In March this year I also photographed the wedding of the lovely Katie (2nd from the left) to her hubby Nick at Priory Cottages (check out their highlights blog here).

It was a lovely surprise for us to to see Katie there. But it was also a surprise for Katie, because as she lives & teaches in Thailand she thought she couldn’t get time off to come to the wedding and was gutted she wouldn’t be able to make her buddies big day. But her hubby Nick arranged it & surprised her with it a few days beforehand and she got to be back for both her mum’s 60th and Laura & Nick’s wedding! #WIN!

Here’s Nick and his crew, again dotted with a few familiar Roundhegions.

The wedding meal was served in The Angel Inn itself, and I snuck over to catch a few details before the room got swamped.

One thing I knew was that the cake was going to be bad ass, because Laura is a professional cake maker under the moniker Cook and Cake! Laura made the brilliant travel-themed suitcase cake for Katie & Nick’s wedding (check it out here) including edible passports! So it came as no surprise that she made all the incredible flowers on their own cake by hand

Such amazing attention to detail!

[ If you’re getting married and want a genius, bespoke cake, do get in touch with Laura on cookandcakeinfo@gmail.com! ]

Before the gang swamped the room we did a little stagey cake cut.

Another nice touch about the day was that a member of Nick’s family (can’t remember if it was Dad or Grandad) bought a case of Gould Campbell Vintage Port in 1977, the year Nick’s older brother was born, so The Angel Inn decanted and served this incredible old port after dinner! Apparently they fetch around £75+/bottle (at cost) and get a taste rating of 91/100!