Yesterday I joined Marianna & Matt to photograph their wonderful outdoor wedding at the amazing ‘Priests House‘ (which belongs to the Bolton Abbey Estate). They held their bunting & paper lantern filled afternoon reception at Cracoe Village Hall in the Yorkshire Dales.

It’s rare one gets to photograph an outdoor wedding ceremony, even rarer awash with sunshine!

So it was a rather magical day all round…

I joined Marianna & the girls at their lovely home in Ilkley, on the skirt of the Yorkshire Dales.

Marianna runs her own makeup company called Smink Makeup (which means ‘Make-up’ in Norwegian, which is whence Marianna’s roots originate).  She works around North Yorkshire & London, where they were both based before settling into Ilkley.

Marianna’s mum, Lisa, is also a seriously established make-up artist and has made the faces of many stars (apparently including Tom Jones!)

So the pressure was on to make her only daughter look wonderful on her big day!

Marianna is very much a free spirit and had two unusual wedding dresses (one for the day and one for the night).

On the right are the lovely bridesmaids dresses! 

When I posted the images from their recent pre-wedding meeting (check out the images here), I almost forgot that I’d met Marianna & Matt back in January for a “Shave the date” session; where we joined some real sheep shearers and had a highly entertaining morning bothering a shaun sheep with a pair of shears!

They then turned their images into this postcard to invite their guests to save the date!  I found the above card in their kitchen.

Fun idea eh?

The bride, the bridesmaids and the flowergirl!

I like this one of Marianna’s shoes and a lovely bag her mum got for her

Here’s our little flower girl prepping the shoes!

I love this one of Marianna & the girls having a bit of fun!

Meanwhile, Clare joined Matt for his preparations with his best man over in the quaint archetypal Dalesy village of Grassington

There was an ace flash of hot pink & sunny oranges througout the day, and Matt had had his chaps jackets tailored especially, including bespoke labels!  

They also ordered an ace London bus to shuttle round collecting their guests

Clare rode with the gang around the hairy narrow lanes of deepest Upper Wharfedale!

The destination was ‘Priests House‘, a former fortified hunting lodge used by Henry the VIII, belonging to the Bolton Abbey Estate!

I’ve often zoomed past the castly ruins of ‘Barden Tower’ to weddings at Bolton Abbey & Burnsall and have wondered what they are.

I like this detail of Marianna & her bridesmaid having a tender moment, while mum & Matt’s brother’s wife help her into her dress.

Da daaaah!  One bride!  I love the vintage styled 70’s dress!

Cheers

Our silver dress wearing bridesmaids turned up & got made up, before zooming off for the ceremony.

Just before I left, Marianna climbed the stairs to help her mum get ready, and I looked up and saw this cracker!

It’s probably my fave image of the day!

As Dad was sadly no longer with them, Mum gave Marianna away

They’d pinked and oranged pretty much anything that could be pinked and oranged!

Here’s an interesting fact for y’all: The only place in the UK that allows official outdoor wedding ceremonies is in Scotland.  Up there, the registrar or religious official is sanctioned to marry you any where you please (though outdoor ceremonies are perhaps even more a gamble up there!).  In England & Wales, it’s the room that’s officially sanctioned for marriage, hence most weddings have to be inside.

But Marianna & Matt actually had their official civil ceremony the weekend previous, so they could have a ‘blessing’ anywhere they chose!

The most wonderful personal ceremony was done by Laurra Nalty of Leeds-based One Life Ceremonies.

Then afterwards, we threw a bit of confetti!

Then guests enjoyed a spot of pimms & canapes in the sunshine

I love this shot of a bridesmaid who’d caught a chill when the sun popped behind a cloud, and bobbed on Dad’s jacket!

Talking of jackets!  Check the linings!

In fact, I love how their whole scheme came together

After a few groupshots, we ducked off for a quick portrait shoot in the soft sunlight

They’d brought a parasol in case it rained, but I thought it looked ace to use it all the same!

Then they bussed the gang over to Cracoe Village Hall for the afternoon reception…

Where the main room was quite the sight indeed!  Check out the lantern action!

Breath-taking (and fun at the same time!)

A dear relative made an awesome cake

And embarrassing childhood pictures adorned the walls…

The hall looked mint, as guests settled in.

And check out the amazing hog roast suppled by Ribble Valley Hog Roast.

I’m a proper connoisseur when it comes to food, and I can honestly say I don’t think there are many foodstuffs I like more than a bap filled with roasted pork, crackling and apple sauce…  Mmmmmm

Speeches were great fun

And as the best man had spoken at the blessing, two other groomsmen took the op to speak, or in actual fact, SING a song about Matt!

There was ever a chorus for everyone to sing.  Genius.

Here’s a snap I liked of their first dance, played live by the excellent Kabuki function band from Leeds.

All in all, it was a wonderful fun & sun filled orange & pink day to the unique beat of Matt & Marianna’s drum, and we had a ball joining in!

I hope they have a wonderful honeymoon & enjoy a long and happy life together.

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