At First Glance…

My favourite pho­to­graph from Matt & Nicola’s Eng­lish cas­tle wedding

I’m really excited about post­ing this wed­ding. Look care­fully at the pho­tographs… the details are not to be missed! Matt and Nicola were mar­ried on the 9th of May at Rip­ley Cas­tle in York­shire. The day was an exquis­ite, sophis­ti­cated affair, cap­tured with the per­fect mix of tra­di­tional and con­tem­po­rary pho­tog­ra­phy by Mark Skeet Pho­tog­ra­phy.

Rip­ley Cas­tle is a breath­tak­ing venue for a wedding

I’m really pleased that Mark Skeet has cho­sen to sub­mit this won­der­ful wed­ding to the blog. Mark’s approach to wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy is that of a sto­ry­teller: here he records the arrival of Nicola’s wed­ding car, and the groom and ush­ers strolling in… and their expres­sions are price­less. Yes — Rip­ley Cas­tle is as impres­sive as it gets!

The red car­pet wel­come, and a beau­ti­ful hand­made wed­ding dress

Nicola made a very beau­ti­ful bride, full of per­son­al­ity and unique style. Her gran made the wed­ding dress by hand — the sweet­heart neck­line and medi­ae­val style sleeves are just won­der­ful, and the bodice of the dress is criss-crossed with pale blue rib­bon detailing.

A moment Nicola will remem­ber for­ever, as the wed­ding ring slips onto her finger

I think these pic­tures of the wed­ding cer­e­mony are lovely. Nicola is incred­i­bly pho­to­genic, and these are just the moments to cap­ture and keep in the wed­ding album. As Matt slides the ring onto Nicola’s fin­ger, the pho­to­graph makes the most of those lovely sleeves on Nicola’s gown, and the gor­geous detail­ing on the bodice.

The qual­ity of these pho­tographs is fan­tas­tic — beau­ti­fully done!

I think the warmth of these two wed­ding pho­tos is really lovely. The soft day­light and nat­ural shade of the back­ground in the first, and the tex­ture and tones of the sec­ond, make for great back­drops to the wed­ding cou­ple. It also has to be said that Matt and Nicola make a really great look­ing cou­ple too!

Leav­ing Rip­ley Cas­tle for the wed­ding reception

This is one of a cou­ple of con­tenders for my favourite wed­ding pho­to­graph. If you scanned it quickly, fair enough: it’s a lovely, nat­ural shot, they look so good together, and it’s rain­ing a lit­tle. Look again and smile… it makes a refresh­ing change to see the groom with a pretty bou­quet of roses, and just how fab­u­lous are Nicola’s boots! More of those to come later — I love them!

Nice posed wed­ding pho­tographs of the bride and groom

Mark Skeet’s reportage pho­tog­ra­phy style is mixed effec­tively with nicely posed wed­ding pho­tos. For this very ele­gant wed­ding the com­bi­na­tion of fun, nat­ural pic­tures and tra­di­tional posed images works ever so well. Nicola’s swirly tiara looks fan­tas­tic as she smiles upwards from the stair­case at Har­ro­gate Masonic Hall, and Matt looks so proud and happy.

Details from the wed­ding recep­tion at Har­ro­gate Masonic Hall

The blue theme  of the wed­ding day con­tin­ues with the three-tier wed­ding cake, which has pale blue rib­bon and gor­geous blue flower dec­o­ra­tions. I love the twist of ivy around the cake stand — a nice touch for an ele­gant wed­ding like this one. The place set­tings are cute too, and the focus of this image is fab.

Wed­ding photo in the grounds of Rip­ley Cas­tle, Harrogate

I’m sav­ing the best until last. The final shot of the day could be this one, with Matt and Nicola walk­ing away together in the gor­geous grounds of Rip­ley Cas­tle. The back­drop is fan­tas­tic and this would make a great fin­ish­ing shot for any wed­ding album. But remem­ber those details I men­tioned? The boots?

Nicola is such a beau­ti­ful bride, and at first glance I loved these wed­ding pho­tographs for their clever mix of for­mal and relaxed imagery, for the way the light caught on Nicola’s lovely blonde curls and for the roman­tic feel of it all. But this last image is one of the best I’ve seen from any wed­ding, and for me makes Mark Skeet stand out from the crowd as an imag­i­na­tive and fun wed­ding photographer.

The boots, the stock­ings, the cam­era angle, the indi­vid­u­al­ity of this fab cou­ple — love it!

This is the side of mod­ern Eng­lish wed­dings I just can’t get enough of: I think the smiles have turned slightly cheeky in this final shot. Nicola, Matt — you’re amaz­ing. I hope you have many great years together!

Thanks to Mark Skeet Pho­tog­ra­phy for sub­mit­ting this wed­ding for the blog. Mark’s wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy web­site is well worth a visit (he cov­ers the York­shire area).

If you’re get­ting mar­ried in York­shire, meet Mark Skeet in per­son at the Har­ro­gate Wed­ding & Lifestyle Show, held on the 27th and 28th of Feb­ru­ary 2010 at The Great York­shire Show­ground. Fol­low Mark on Twit­ter and you may even see him offer­ing some free tick­ets for the event!

There’s another excit­ing and con­tem­po­rary real wed­ding for you here — I think you’ll love it!