On bank holiday Monday I joined the lovely Emma & Harry for their splendid wedding in deepest North Yorkshire
The venue: Middleton Lodge – a splendid country house in the charming village of Middleton Tyas, near Richmond – genuinely is one of my favourite wedding venues around, even on typically English drizzly ‘summers’ day.
It’s not the first time I’ve photographed at this lovely former hunting lodge venue – I’ve been in sun, snow, rain & all the gorgeous colours of autumn! Use the link in this sentence to check out my special category page showing all my wedding photos at Middleton Lodge.
As is generally the case at the weddings we shoot. while everyone enjoyed their reception meal we backed up pictures and made a quick slideshow to show at the evening reception. Even though they’re only quickly ‘processed’ and aren’t up to the scratch of the final images, after the wedding I like to set the slideshow to their first dance track and turn it into a video to blog, so the couple and their pals can see the images literally a few days after the wedding.
Emma & Harry had put so much thought into all the wonderful handmade details throughout their big day, including these ace signs!
The grand Middleton Lodge staircase up to the bridal suite…
…where team bride were being pampered…
…and enjoying a few bespokely branded bubbles!
Here’s the lovely bride to be, Emma!
But their flower girl was the real poser!
Though iPad distraction was required while her hair was done!
Check out Emma’s stunning Sharon Bowen Haut Couture custom designed wedding gown!
And check out Em’s stunning bespoke feathered Blahnik kicks!
(I found out what these cost … lets just say they were lots!)
Flower power!
Stunning flora was supplied by Sharon at Blush Bespoke Flowers in Harrogate
Warpaint being applied
I like this one of Em donning the sparkles
Only 10 minutes drive away, Clare joined the boys over at the beautiful Brompton Lakes lodges
Here’s out man of the hour, reading the destructions…
…for his pimp new timepiece wedding gift from emma!
Lovin’ the ‘Don’t be Late’ note!
I was interested to hear the story behind this surreal pic!
It’s less exciting than I imagined; it’s one of the best men with his trousers on inside out having them turned up!
The morning weather was warm enough for a cooked breakfast outside!
And then the duties were given out!
One groomy suit in wait
…a beautiful set of rings
A relaxed moment of the chaps getting togged up
Fixing the ties
A fun touch was that literally ALL the male guests wore ‘funky socks’
Win!
It’s all in the socks!
The chaps then made their way over to Middleton Lodge
and it was time for a few casual groupshots of Team Groom.
Love this one of Harry & his best men!
Choose your favourite. Â Personally, I’m down with the groom.
Meanwhile, upstairs one bride was starting to look altogether more bridal!
Wow!
When almost complete, Dad joined the fun
One blushing bride, ready to roll!
A quick informal groupshot of team bride! 
And another quick floral detail.
Downstairs, the ceremony was set to go in one of the grand drawing rooms
Hand made order of services were handed out
Here comes the bride
Dad admitted to shedding a few tears escorting his little girl down the aisle
Beautiful
Harry’s grandfather read the first verse of from the Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’…
Before The Deansgate Ensemble string quartet joined in for the remainder of the reading!
It sounded ace and by the end, the majority of the guests were singing along.
The vows…
The rings…
And back down the aisle as man & wife!
As it was unfortunately raining (literally our first this year where we’ve not been able to get outside!), we did the full party shot on the stairs before guests got stuck into reception drinks
…and we did family shots in the drawing room 
…as well as the official wedding party shots
Fortunately, being inside didn’t stop us from having a bit of fun
They’d left around some fun photobooth moustache’s on sticks for guests to play with, so it seemed only right to get them used!
Team bride!
Team groom!
(Top sock work boys!)
Boy sass
Camp ring reaction shot!
(These may have been my fave group shots in ages!)
We quickly turned through a few portraits of Em & Harry, who weren’t a massive fan of the couple portraits part!
Fortunately, we’d done a practice shoot up around the beautiful Brimham Rocks a few months back to get them used to being photographed (check out the highlights here), so it wasn’t too hard to quickly get a few crackers.
Then we let Em & Harry get back to mingling with their wedding guests, accompanied by beautiful orchestral string covers.
Before heading down to the marquee, there was a wee break in the weather, so handmade bags of confetti were given out and we nipped out
for a CONFETTI BOMB!
Love these shots!
Guests then made their way over from the main house…
…to the marquee…
…which looked absolutely ace inside!
Tables and decor was centred around a travel theme
Here come the happy couple
Introducing the new Mr & Mrs!
Speeches were seriously good – heartfelt and hilariously delivered…
…and wrapped up with a ukulele song and joke telling baby groom clone routine.
After dinner, guests headed back up to the house to enjoy a secret tea party around Em & Harry’s cupcake tree, while a brother & pal laid out a few acoustic covers!
Then when the marquee was set, the gang headed back down for the first dance.
The guys aren’t a fan of staged kissing shots, but I rather like this genuine moment on the dancefloor as guests piled on.
Then the party really got started
Dusk set over the proceedings…Â 
…and the band kept the gang on the floor
And before we bid our farewells, we had a little play drawing hearts with sparklers!
So here’s a massive congratulations to the lovely Emma & Harry, and here’s hoping you have a fabulous month-long honeymoon in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Bora Bora, Tahiti  & New York!  Jealous much?!
Party on kids x
B