Ceremony & Reception: Holdsworth House, Halifax
Caroline and Neil are a very bubbly couple, in fact it's a job to get a word in edgeways at times ;-) Fortunately, that meant there was plenty of banter and it led to some cracking photos. Caroline in particular has a vast repertoire of very articulate facial expressions, as you can see below.
I arrived at their house to find Neil & usher, Andy so relaxed that I thought I'd gone to the wrong house! Gav, on the other hand was coping with mayhem with Caroline & the bridesmaids. Thankfully, shirts were ironed, shoes were polished and we arrived at Holdsworth House in plenty of time.
Last time we were at Holdsworth House, we very nearly got snowed in and hardly anyone turned up for the evening reception. It was quite different this time with the warm early spring sunshine making the place look stunning. What a great venue! The House itself was built in the 17th Century and retains many of its original features, such as oak-panelled rooms, huge fireplaces and tiny leaded windows. It certainly has plenty of scope for some amazing photos and the staff are very professional and friendly and know exactly how to make the couple feel special. The whole ambience is very relaxed, which was perfect for Caroline & Neil.
Congratulations to Caroline & Neil and I hope you enjoyed your special day as much as I did!
Don't forget you can enlarge the images by clicking on them.
In case you were wondering, yes, we did run through all the corny "Bridal / Bridle" and "Horse & Groom" jokes we could think of. It would have been rude not to!
The keen-eyed among you will notice that this set of images are all in black & white (heavily influenced by the work of Simon Mark Whitten - there, I've admitted it!). Caroline & Neil haven't opted for an all black & white album, it's just that I thought it would be nice to show that it could be done - purely a bit of self-indulgence on my part, really.
It always seems to be the black & white shots that everyone picks out as being their favourites from my sample albums, although whether anyone would be brave enough to go for an all black and white wedding album, I don't know. I've photographed a number of weddings where the colour scheme has been black and white, although most couples opt for something more colourful - one couple even had a bright cerise & orange theme, which despite what you might think, actually worked really well.
Let me know what you think about black and white wedding photography in the comments box below. Should it just be used as an 'arty' option on a few shots in a wedding album? Is it just a way for Photographers to rescue otherwise unuseable shots? Or is it still worthy of filling an entire wedding album, even now in the digital age?