When you’re on the North Yorkshire Moors and the mist rolls in, you can’t help but hum the tune to Wuthering Heights repeatedly. In fact I’m humming it again now….
When I headed North with Pete to be Katy and Ross’s Danby Castle wedding photographer, we arrived to find fog so dense you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. That combined with lambs springing out of the fog and across the road every few seconds made for some pretty hairy driving.
We were really, really hoping the fog would hang around for the wedding day. I know it’s not what most couples have in mind when they think about their summer wedding but there’s something so atmospheric about mist and the moors looked mysterious and beautiful.
To see more of Katy and Ross’s Danby Castle Wedding photography, scroll down and here’s what they said about their photography:
“Laura and Pete were a dream team! Ross and I are not naturals at getting our photo taken and we were more eager to have the more natural, emotive shots that we’d fell in love with in Laura’s portfolio. To get these types of shots meant Laura and Pete were very much in the background with no staging, it all felt very natural and unobtrusive. It was great that we’d done an engagement shoot beforehand as it felt we already had a trust with Laura and we knew more what to expect during the couple shots. We’re so honoured to have had her and Pete capture our special day”
Scroll down for more of Katy and Ross’s Danby Castle Wedding Photography scroll down to read more about the day in their own words.
The Venue
We knew we both wanted somewhere with an outdoor element and not too formal. Our guest list had people coming from all over the UK but the bulk of them were my family which meant something in the north east would be easier. I loved the idea of coming to the venue from my family home and we both loved the idea of showing some of our southern friends the nice bits of the north. We fell in love with Danby Castle as soon as we saw it, it had so much warmth and charm, as did the amazing staff.
The Outfits
Before I started dress shopping I thought I’d want something understated and definitely no veil. But then you start trying them all on and I remember thinking I’m never going to be able wear a big dress like this on any other day and I loved wearing a veil. I loved the swishy skirt of the dress and how comfortable it was, the detail on the back was my favourite (as well as the pockets!). The shoes were a splurge but they were the first heels that haven’t given me blisters or been kicked off half way through dancing!
Ross was keen to have the men in normal suits rather than anything too formal. I found a lady on etsy to make the bridesmaid dresses, I really didn’t want them in a block colour as we didn’t have a proper colour scheme. In the end we went for a dusky pink with a cream lace overlay and kept them knee length for twirling! The most fun were the page boy outfits, we knew my nephews would want to run around and be in t-shirts by the speeches so didn’t want to bother with a full suit. They ended up loving the braces and dicky bows we got them but they still didn’t last very long, the chickens were too appealing!
The Flowers, Decor and theme
We visited Danby castle on an open day when Audrey had dressed the room with lots of wild flowers in different trinkets. We booked her straight away. I draw a lot of flowers for my job as an illustrator so I knew I wanted peonies and sunflowers for their colours. For the rest we wanted it to look like we’d just scooped them from a nearby meadow. Ross wanted a ‘non wilting’ button hole so the waxy flowers were a great remedy for this. A lot of decoration was provided by Danby castle but Ross and I managed to have fun with a few bits. Ross made the reserved tags for seats, we did hand drawn table setting labels for all the guests. We picked local wildlife for the table numbers, which I drew, then we did a make shift notice board with hand written table names.
The Ceremony
We spent a long time online looking for readings and really struggled to find ones we hadn’t heard already and that weren’t too soppy. In the end Ross’s sister read “all I need is you” from the Juno soundtrack (one of the first songs Ross and I both liked) and our dear friend Izzy who works in children’s books like me read two shorter extracts from Roald Dahl’s “the twits” and A A Milne “Winnie the pooh”.
We both loved exchanging vows, it was such an intimate setting with the fog outside and my youngest nephew snoring throughout! We wouldn’t have changed a thing.
The First Dance
We chose Ain’t No Mountain High Enough so Ross could do lots of twirling! We both love the song and didn’t want to shuffle around the whole time to anything too slow.
The Entertainment
My old friend Jon from school is now an amazingly talented guitarist, we asked him and his band “the stuntmen” to play on the evening. They were a big hit!
The Words of Wisdom
I wouldn’t change a thing! Try to not lose perspective, as long as the two of you do your vows and get married the rest is one big happy bonus. Pinterest is a wonderful but dangerous thing. Spend too much time on it and it can steal all the joy from your wedding planning!
The Credits
Esk Valley Weddings // Lynsey Dominiak’s Hair Studio // Flowers by Audrey, Audrey Foster // The Stuntmen // The Bridal Lounge, Northallerton // Rachel Simpson
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