Shottle Hall wedding

Beau­ti­ful bride Helen

Shot­tle Hall is part of Derbyshire’s mag­nif­i­cent Chatsworth Estate, a lux­ury wed­ding venue in beau­ti­ful coun­try­side. Helen and Paul’s wed­ding was an ele­gant affair, exquis­itely pho­tographed by Chris Han­ley Pho­tog­ra­phy. Brides to be and wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phers alike — you’re going to fall in love with these pictures!

Shot­tle Hall wed­ding venue, Chatsworth, Derbyshire

The sky clears and Shot­tle Hall is bathed in spring sun­shine. The lovely old tree adds a bit of magic to this photo, I love it. Shot­tle Hall is licensed for civil wed­dings and part­ner­ship cer­e­monies, and the orangery can accom­mo­date up to 90 guests for the wed­ding break­fast and up to 150 guests for the evening recep­tion with dancing.

A beau­ti­ful, tran­quil wed­ding flower photo

A pretty pic­ture sets the scene for the wed­ding, as renowned wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Chris Han­ley sees the poten­tial in the cham­pagne glasses for a radi­ant, sym­met­ri­cal photo, and pops a but­ton­hole rose in the middle.

A very pretty bridesmaid

This lit­tle brides­maid is all dressed up and ready to go… I love her hair, and her lit­tle out­fit is adorable. What a per­fect pic­ture for a lit­tle girl to keep.

The wed­ding dress is ele­gance itself

Sheer ele­gance, Helen’s wed­ding dress is under­stated and so very glam­orous. This pho­to­graph cap­tures the spirit of the wed­ding gown — but wait until you see Helen wear­ing it, she’s so very beautiful…

Chris Han­ley makes his brides look like top wed­ding models

Shot­tle Hall makes a gor­geous back­drop for wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy. This room in pale blues with a vin­tage four poster, ornate mir­ror and light flood­ing through the win­dows cre­ates a tran­quil scene. Helen looks like a model in a bridal fash­ion shoot, pos­ing for an amaz­ing pic­ture of the back of her wed­ding dress. I love the stripes of sun­light on the full skirt, and Helen’s strong and fem­i­nine pose.

Helen poses with a por­trait at Shot­tle Hall — love this!

Two fun pic­tures of the bride and groom: Shot­tle Hall has plenty of photo oppor­tu­ni­ties for wed­dings! Helen mim­ics the pose in the oil paint­ing behind her, you can see she has a great sense of fun…

Paul looks great in this one, what a fab idea!

… and not to be out­done, groom Paul keeps a straight face as he strikes a casual pose with the oil paint­ing down the cor­ri­dor. These are great wed­ding photos!

The wed­ding cer­e­mony calls for a happy tear or two

On to the wed­ding cer­e­mony now, and Paul looks so happy — Helen sheds a tear as they’re mar­ried and still looks incred­i­bly beautiful!

One of Chris Hanley’s shots that leave me lost for words…

Some­times I just don’t know what to say… this is per­fect. Sub­lime. Inspi­ra­tional wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy.… Add your com­ments at the end of the post below — just how stun­ning is this wed­ding photo!!

A colour­ful con­tem­po­rary wed­ding picture

A con­tem­po­rary wed­ding pho­to­graph of Helen and Paul, full of vibrant blue and red. Helen smiles directly at the cam­era as Paul kisses her neck… this is so roman­tic! Don’t they make a gor­geous cou­ple too — Helen’s slim fit­ting wed­ding dress flat­ters her slen­der fig­ure and Paul’s morn­ing suit with the lilac rose but­ton­hole, his ascot tie and hand­ker­chief just looks fab.

Lovely photo of a wed­ding table in nat­ural light

Sun­light from a nearby win­dow cre­ates a nat­ural spot­light for this wed­ding place set­ting with a printed menu. I think the details are lovely, the lit­tle rib­bons on the menu and around the can­dles, and rose petals on the table look great. The sparkles on the wine glasses and cut­lery, and the funny lit­tle shad­ows and reflec­tions are so pretty.

Won­der­ful lit­tle desserts make an impres­sive wed­ding cake

This wed­ding cake is made of indi­vid­ual desserts with white choco­late and fresh rasp­ber­ries. I love the swirls, and the beau­ti­fully lit cake stand. This photo has inspired me to blog about alter­na­tive wed­ding cakes later this week… come back on Wednes­day for alter­na­tive UK wed­ding cakes!

Helen tucks in, and can you blame her!

The cakes looked exquis­ite, but that’s no match for the plea­sure on Helen’s face as she tastes one. Bril­liant. Love the hair vine too!

A con­tem­pla­tive shot of the bride and groom

I think what I love about Chris Hanley’s wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy most is his imag­i­na­tion. The fab­u­lous carved wooden chair, Helen’s relaxed and con­tented pose, Paul’s grin and… well they’re out­side on a gravel drive as the sun sets on their wed­ding day. Inspired!

The last rays of sun­shine, and soft light­ing frame Helen & Paul

A tra­di­tional shot becomes excit­ing and arty as the sun takes one last peek between pur­ple clouds, Helen and Paul are framed by a lovely mature tree, and cast in pools of light for this pho­to­graph. If it took a while to set up, you wouldn’t know it from their faces — it’s as if they’re alone.

Soft light­ing, deep shad­ows… pure drama.

Another stun­ner. Helen wears her wed­ding dress so well, and this atmos­pheric blue pic­ture full of deep shad­ows and lovely tex­tures is like a moment in time.

Fly­ing lanterns make a lovely note to end on

A fun end to the wed­ding evening, as Helen, Paul and guests cel­e­brate their mar­riage with sky lanterns. Lanterns always make a great photo, and this is no excep­tion. I love the rich blues, and warm yel­lows of the pho­to­graph. It looks really striking.

Thanks to Chris Han­ley Pho­tog­ra­phy for sub­mit­ting Helen and Paul’s won­der­ful wed­ding for us. I hope you’ve enjoyed read­ing it as much as I enjoyed writ­ing about it! Con­grat­u­la­tions to Paul and Helen as well — you make a great look­ing cou­ple, you really do!

And now for some­thing a lit­tle different.…

Inspired by Chris’s fan­tas­tic pho­tog­ra­phy and by Helen and Paul’s lovely wed­ding details, there will be follow-on blog posts every day this week!

Come back to English-Wedding dur­ing the week for the­atri­cal wed­ding details inspired by the photo of Helen reclin­ing on that amaz­ing red four poster bed. Look at the gor­geous alter­na­tive lux­ury wed­ding cakes I’ve found online and see some spec­tac­u­lar art-inspired wed­ding invi­ta­tion designs.

Also, please share your com­ments here. Did you enjoy this post? I hope so. Claire x