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A Stylish Saddleworth Wedding

I’m not sure how I’m going to top Ben and Lorna’s Saddleworth White Hart Wedding this year and it being the first one of 2019 leaves me with a nice problem to have, they have set the bar high. I’m going to try hard though. I’ve found over the years really what you need for an amazing set of wedding images is for the stars to align, a bit of luck, a fair amount of planning and preparation and for the photographer and the bride and groom to work together to have a cohesive overall vision of how the images are going to look. Its with this in mind that after recently stumbling across an abandoned mill while on a walk with a friend that the beginnings of a plan came together. So all I needed then was a a really cool open minded arty couple who wouldn’t mind clambering round an derelict mill on their wedding day, which is quite a big ask. Well until I remembered that the first wedding (and a rare Saddleworth one at that) of the year was Ben and Lorna’s, the stars aligned perfectly and here are the results and I’m so proud of them.

Worth mentioning too is that this wedding was totally put together by wedding suppliers in Uppermill, not just because we are all within 1 minute of each other but because they are all at the top of their game. The stunning, super stylish flowers (including cotton plants which our local industry was built on) are by my good friends at Eden Floral Styling. The cake is by Suzanne at The Frostery, you should really check her out, her work is unbelievable. The dress was supplied by one of the best humans on earth, Rybekka Simpson ( I may be slightly biased!) from Frock and Soul (now Sukie’s Wardrobe)

A relaxed morning or preparations then off to The Holy Trinity Church, Dobcross.

I had a great morning flitting between the houses where the boys and girls were getting ready, everyone was so friendly and relaxed. No drama just friends and family enjoying each other company, it was lovely to witness.

I hope these images portray just what a warm and friendly family orientated bunch of folk these were, it was a joy to be around. It also helps having been part of this family’s wedding preparations before when I shot Fi and Gareth’s wedding at The Ashes Bar , Fi was one Lorna’s bridesmaids.

Lorna’s family have strong Scottish connections and they were led in by a bagpipe player the short distance from Lorna’s Mum’s house past the Swan Inn (Ben and Lorna’s great local) and into the Church in Dobcoss.

It was a great ceremony and certainly added too by the vicar, this is definitely how vicars should be, he positively encourages everyone to enjoy the church, Edie, Ben and Lorna’s lovely daughter didn’t need asking twice and she kept popping up everywhere during the ceremony to everyone’s amusement.

Time to shine

So ceremony over and the guests making their way to The White Hart in Lydgate; a pub known locals and nationally for its amazing food, we snook of for some 30 mins together. Having already do a pre wedding shoot in Saddleworth we hit the ground running, its important to plan well ahed as time is always very tight on a wedding day and you don’t need your photographer to be taking up any more of your precious time than necessary. having said that I thing Lorna and Ben would have happily spent all day in the abandoned mill. Anyway as you can see all the planning paid off in fine style and Ben and lorna truly smashed this part of the day, I knew as I was taking the photographs that they were going to be special, hence the ‘odd’ little dance!

If your not into cameras-skip over this bit! But this was the first wedding I have shot with my new mirrorless Nikon z6 and the results and use of the camera are a game changer for me. I’ve not experienced a bigger change in my gear since swapping from film to digital, it bodes well for the rest of the year, sorry about that but it’s worth a mention (if you are a camera geek)!

Back to the Wedding at The White Hart, Lydgate.

So bride and groom safely delivered back to the White Hart wedding venue, (I say safely because I slightly fell through the floor at the mill but we shall gloss over that!) As previously mentioned the White Hart, Lydgate is know for the quality of its its food and service and this has obviously transferred from the restaurant to the adjoining wedding venue, everything was done just right. It was then just a case of me photographing the guests naturally which really is what I spend 95% of a wedding day doing and enjoying.

So Ben, Lorna and Edie I wish you both all the future happiness together, it was clear to see that you are totally made for each other and hopefully I’ll see you in The Swan sometime soon.x

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