Here’s some more wedding photography from Waleska and James’s Leeds Castle Wedding at the Maidens Tower in Kent, which I photographed back in September (still a long backlog on the blog front, sorry!).
Leeds Castle (whether you are getting married in the main Castle or The Maidens Tower) is just such a stunning, iconic Kent wedding venue. Once the Castle is closed to day visitors you have the place to yourself (or at least you and the one other wedding that happens to be there – more of that later) and it comes alive even more so than during the day.
I was excited to hear Waleska and James’s plans for their day (and also from their very excited daughter who was going to be a bridesmaid) and to photograph my first Anglo-Brazilian wedding!
I started the day at the Maidens Tower (well, after catching my breath after the 2 mile walk with half a ton of photography gear from the car park that is!) capturing the details and awaiting the arrival of the bridal party. We then made our way upstairs for bridal preparations – Waleska, her mother and what seemed to be about 10 tiny, excited flower girls! Lots and lots of chatter (half in Portuguese) and noise while I photographed the details, hair and makeup and the general, happy story that was unfolding around me.
In a small lull in proceedings I nipped out to meet James as he greeted wedding guests, then set about photographing candidly as the guests enjoyed the sunshine in the garden of the Maidens Tower.
All too soon it was time to go back upstairs as the dress had gone on, so just time to photograph those last minute preparations (and some amazing bridesmaids shoes!) before it was time for the bridal party to make their way way down the staircase and around to the rear of the building for their grand entrance.
The bridesmaids came in first throwing petals (lots of discussions had been had earlier about who should have the most petals in their baskets, I assisted in ensuring everything was fair and everyone had the same!)before Waleska made a stunning entrance into the ceremony room.
What followed was a lovely service – and great to photograph – little ring bearers, a poem read by the couples daughter and 2 others, a few tears when it all became too much to bear and then happy again on being up front with mum and dad – so cute!
After the ceremony Waleska and James made their way out into the garden to enjoy drinks and canapes in the sunshine. After a few quick group photos, I whisked the couple away for a few quick photos – Leeds Castle provide a golf cart so we all jumped aboard and went round to the front of the castle for some scene setting shots.
Couples pictures (part 1) in the bag, we scooted off back to the guests. I nipped into the Maidens Tower to photograph the table settings and wedding breakfast setting, before the guests came in, quickly followed by the happy couple.
The whole wedding had a great musical theme – the musicians who’d played during the ceremony and drinks reception now played in the wedding breakfast room, much to the delight of all the kids who danced with each other (I thought boys and girls hated each other at that age!) which was great to photograph!
Once the meal was finished, I took the couple out again into the courtyard which was now of course closed to the public. We shot some sunset photographs, then made our way down to the gatehouse for some more pictures. By the time we’d finished the session it was now getting dark, so a nice bit of off-camera flash was used to really make the colours pop. A bit of creative framing allowed me to use Waleska and James to cover up the van that had very helpfully parked right outside the main castle for the other wedding that was taking place…
After the one, very quick speech from the Bride, the second musical act started – a lovely solo singer/pianist serenaded the guests over coffee.
there was no official first dance so the dancing just kind of organically grew out of that, before the last (and biggest) band of the evening kicked off with some cracking tunes – great fun to photograph. I’m pretty sure there was some Madness going on, with signature dance moves from the men ‘of a certain age’ (I would have been one of them!).
A lovely wedding and great fun to photograph – congratulations to Waleska and James! Here are my favourite wedding photographs from their wedding day!
If you’re getting married at either The Maidens Tower or Leeds Castle itself, do please Contact me to discuss photographing your wedding.
All wedding photography copyright David Burke Photography 2016