Clearwell Castle - Kirk and Catherine
A bit of a cloudy start to what turned out to be a beautiful day for the second wedding of the weekend marking the end of July and the beginning of August. Kirk and Catherine’s wedding was on Monday, August 1st at Clearwell Castle.
The couple had opted for our “preparations to wedding breakfast” service (nominally five hours). Fran dropped Rob off at TudorFarmhouse Hotel in the village at 11.30am to meet up with the boys and then headed off to the castle to catch Catherine in the midst of her preparations.
Well … the boys (predictably) failed to make it past the pub on the way to the castle and headed in to the bar for a quick drink. Boys will be boys! After downing a swift one (or two) the boys headed up to the castle with lots of fun photos on the hoof so-to-speak.
Meanwhile up at the castle everyone was having the final touches made on hair and make-up prior to the ceremony at 2.30pm.
As her escort Catherine had her Dad plus two bridesboys as well as a bridesmaid and their daughter Eleanor (who was just the cutest flower girl ever).
This was the first solo flight for Kirsty, a new registrar to the team that cover Clearwell … Rob had to offer lots of reassurance that we weren’t going to ruin her first ceremony by clicking all the way through it and we agreed a happy medium that ensured we got the pictures that we need for our “documentary” coverage without being obtrusive to the couple or the registrar. We work to a strict code of professional conduct and if the celebrant says “No pictures …” then we have to respect and abide by that restriction. It happens from time to time unfortunately, but when it does we negotiate as hard as we dare!
The ceremony over, we took the big-group-shot-on-the-stairs followed by the throwing of the confetti, then the whole wedding party moved on to the terrace via the drawing room for drinks and canapes. Giving the couple plenty of time to say hi to all their guests is important and at this stage we like to circulate around with a long lens just capturing moments and head shots of the fun and enjoyment. The best man and ushers then started gathering the families for the “mantlepiece” formal shots followed by some time with ushers, bridesboys and bridesmaid.
With the call for dinner fast approaching we hurried out into the castle grounds with Kirk and Catherine for some “wow” factor shots getting back just in time for a quick cut-of-the-cake an receiving line in to the meal.
Thanks to Liz and her team at Clearwell for making us so welcome (as always).
