Pre-Wedding at The Priests House in Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire

Last week I joined the wonderful bubbly Marianna & Matt for their pre-wedding meeting in the Yorkshire Dales.

They’re marrying on Saturday and having an outdoor wedding blessing at the amazing semi-derelict ‘Priests House‘, which belongs to the Bolton Abbey Estate!

I’ve often wondered what that fab castly building is through the trees as I drive through Upper Wharfedale to weddings at Bolton Abbey & Burnsall.

Now I know! It the impressive ruins are actually called Barden Tower, a former fortified hunting lodge used by Henry the VIII.

Their afternoon reception is going to be across a Dale or two at the picturesque village hall in Cracoe.

I’ve done a wedding there before and have a few weddings booked there this year.

Last time I shot there my couple were walky countryside fans, and donned walking boots and traipsed around the fields! Check it out here.

Either way, you’ve got to watch your back wandering free in the fields looking for nice spots to shoot a couple, as the rams can get a bit feisty!

So we stuck to a few more populated spots around the grounds to warm up & shoot a few practice portraits!

I liked this stairway up to an 8ft deep reinforced entrance, which leads into a low ceiling’d & historic grade 1 listed restaurant.

I liked this quieter moment of M&M enjoying each other’s company.

As it was starting to spit a bit and the light was a bit flat, I felt the images benefitted slightly from a spot of ‘vintage’ faded processing.

I love this one – Marianna has a fantastic laugh.

She’s actually in the wedding industry herself, and runs her own makeup company called Smink Makeup (which means ‘Make-up’ in Norwegian, which is where head Lipstick Lady, Marianna hails from). She works around North Yorkshire & London, where they were both based before settling into Ilkley on the skirt of the Yorkshire Dales, so if you’re looking for wedding makeup, look no further!