Dissington Hall Wedding Photography - Vicki and Lee's Wedding (the one on the radio)

So, the New Year was only a few days old, my Christmas decorations were already packed away and stored back up in the loft and we were still working our way through the last scraps of festive food and nibbles.  What's the perfect way to kick out the New Year sluggishness?  Yup, a wedding!


Vicki and Lee's wedding ceremony was going to take place at the beautiful St Bartholomew's Church in Newcastle followed by reception at the stunning Dissington Hall in Northumberland. In the run up to their big day, they had been a photographer's dream customer.  Plenty of ideas being thrown my way, open to suggestions from me and most of all very enthusiastic about their images.


I arrived at Vicki and Lee's house for the bridal prep shots and immediately found myself double taking.  Having been welcomed into the house by Vicki, she disappeared upstairs and then reappeared but had managed to get changed in the blink of an eye from her tracksuit into a dark blue gown. I was about to comment on the speed when I thought I was starting to see double!  Yup, Vicki has a twin sister!  "Meet my twin" she said with a chuckle.


Upstairs there was the usual commotion with all the bridesmaids getting ready and downstairs in the sitting room, Vicki's dad sat quietly, nervously working through his speech.  I gave my usual advice of "You'll be fine, everyone is on your side so just relax"....words which had helped me through a best mans speech the previous May.

With all the shots done that I needed, I made my way over to St Bart's.  The last time I had shot there it had been a summer wedding.  In the winter, the church looked just as beautiful, but the grounds looked bigger somehow without all the leaves on the trees.  Lee was already inside chatting to the vicar, who was introduced to me and said "You'll be Rev. Penfold's son."  So I had the vicar on my side straight away.  Lee was clearly nervous but with the ushers and best man arriving he started to calm down and began getting everyone sorted.

It was around this point when people started talking about hearing about the wedding on the radio.  Lee thanked me for the shout out...I honestly didn't know what he was talking about at first but then the penny dropped.  Earlier that morning I responded to Real Radio's Facebook status asking what everyone was doing that day.  I posted a reply saying I was photographing Vicki and Lee's wedding.  I didn't think for a second they'd actually read it out on air.  Seems like most of the guests heard it too.  


With everyone settling down inside the church, Vicki arrived.  The sun was shining as Vicki walked from the car to the church doors.  It was breathtaking as she stood in the doorway with the sun shining in from behind her, creating a superb silhouette.


The ceremony itself was quite simple with the usual mixture of laughs and warm heart felt moments.  There's something about St Bart'.  I always get lost looking at the woodwork of the ceiling and the stone arches.  And with the sunlight streaming in, it made it look so much more magical than normal.

After the ceremony, confetti and bubbles we headed over to Dissington Hall with me leading a convoy of 4 cars of guests.....on the A1 Western Bypass I did lose myself while singing along to Chesney Hawkes (on the radio, not my music collection).  I'd completely forgotten I had people following!!!!  Thankfully nobody got lost.

The Hall still had the Christmas decorations in place.  If you've never been to Dissington Hall before I suggest you go over and have a look.  It's amazing.  A Georgian style hall set in the middle of rural Northumberland surrounded by trees and parks.  And with the late afternoon sun shining on it, it looked haunting!  Mulled wine was on offer for the guests so there was the smell of cinnamon wafting around mixed with the smell of smoke from the open fire.

All the nerves had gone by now and the speeches were given before the meal.  There were a couple of head in hand moments for Lee in the speeches (I won't embarrass him anymore so won't retell the stories).  But the moment to savour for Lee during the speeches was a card being read out......from Alan Shearer.  His face was a picture.  Speeches done, Vicki and Lee settled down to the meal, beaming!

Vicki and Lee - I hope you had an amazing time on your honeymoon in Australia.  Thank you for asking me to capture your special day.  It was an absolute pleasure to get to know you over the months.  Have a fantastic future together

For more information about Dissington Hall please visit www.dissingtonhall.co.uk/ or go along to their wedding fayre on March 4th 2012 between Noon and 4pm.