What a stunning wedding venue at Allerton Castle, Allerton Mauleverer North Yorkshire. This castle is set in the most stunning dramatic landscape and works perfectly for your wedding photography.
The Great Hall
You can see from the photo above that The Great Hall at Allerton Castle works perfectly for wedding portraits and wedding photos. The balance, symmetry and lighting all working well to create the perfect wedding gallery. As you can see from the wedding photo above that it works well for couple portraits but also the image below it also works well for bridal photos before the ceremony as part of the Bridal-prep wedding gallery.
Bridal-prep is such a special part of your wedding day that should not be overlooked. All good stories have a beginning, middle and an end so why should your wedding gallery be any different.
As a Wedding Photographer, I am there to tell a story of your wedding day. I will create a wedding gallery that you will look back on in years to come and it will tell you the full story from Bridal-prep right through to the first dance and cutting of the cake. Some people go one step further and have an engagement shoot which is then added to your full wedding gallery. This therefore tells a bigger story as you might have your engagement shoot at the location where you proposed for example.
Groom Prep
Groom-Prep is also another big part of your wedding day that often gets overlooked, but can also form a big part of your wedding gallery. For obvious reasons, The Groom and his entourage sometimes get ready at a different location to the bride and her bridal party. This is when a second photographer can come in handy as you can have one photographer working with the Groomsmen for their Groom-Prep Photos and another photographer with the Bridal Party doing the Bridal-Prep Photos. You don't always need to have two photographers to get both Groom and Bridal Prep Photos.
Allerton Castle is such a huge wedding venue that the Groomsmen can get ready in other parts of the Castle without ever bumping into the Bridal Party. The other alternative is you can get ready elsewhere and then have 30-45 minutes Groom-prep photo session. As you can see from the above photo this is the groom in The Billards Room at Allerton Castle. The low light in this room works perfect for Groom Photos as it as this dramatic touch to the photos.
Another photo from the Billiards Groom with The Groom before her went off to the front of the wedding ceremony hall to await his bride.
The Groom is stood in front of the large castle window in the Billards Room where he is lite with some nice soft natural light. The light then falls away quickly as it goes into the dark room. This room works so well for Groom-prep photos, you can get some stunning images.
Outside Photos at Allerton Castle
The location of Allerton Castle is absolutely stunning, even on a wet, cold winter day. The grounds are vast with hundreds of photo opportunities. Sometimes a location may not quite work one minute for one reason or another, maybe it's too windy for example. This doesn't matter because you can head to another area and do a different photo.
I absolutely love the external photo at Allerton Castle with the Bride & Groom walking down the Castle lane towards their stunning wedding venue. The huge size of Allerton Castle frames with the trees either side and the castle lane leading you up to the grand entrance to the castle is a must for any wedding gallery here.
Photo - Allerton Castle External Photo
Holding hands walking casually with unobstructed views of your wedding venue will tell a story of your big wedding day for years. Just in this photo, you will remember the weather, the season, the venue, the intricate detail on the back of your wedding dress. It's certainly a photo to go into your Wedding Album.
Photo - The Umbrella Photo in the Walled Gardens at Allerton Castle, Yorkshire
The Walled Gardens at Allerton Castle is another area which is a must for your wedding photos. The above photos is the famous Umbrella Photo which a lot of wedding couples want to see in their wedding gallery. These photos work best in the rain, however it wasn't raining on their wedding day in November 2023, but they still wanted the photo. This area of Allerton Castle is very sheltered from any wind as it is at the back of the castle and surrounded by walls and hedges. You can tell how still it is with the clarity in the pond water, giving some nice reflections of the wedding couple. To get this photo, there is a bit more planning involved as I have to set up a light at the back of the couple which is lighting up the couple and the umbrella making the stand out in the photo with the dark hedge row. The two stone arches work well for this photo too as it centralises the couple and frames them nicely.
Another photo that works well here in the Walled Gardens at Allerton Castle is the Veil Shot. For this the couple will remain in the same position as the Umbrella Photo but the bride will turn to face the camera slightly. I will then need someone to hold the wedding veil and throw it up into the air and run away from the photo. A little work is then needed in Photoshop to remove my assistant and their refection to get the final image. This type of wedding photo, really helps to showcase the wedding veil off. Most wedding photos the veil will just fall off down the brides back and isn't really noticed or detailed in any photos but the veil photo really shows it off in a dramatic and creative way. Telling the story of your wedding day.
Allerton Castle is just stunning and I will never get b bored of photographing wedding here. It is truly and magical wedding venue. The photo on the left is in the Castle Gardens and I have positioned the couple of the garden steps with the Castle in the background. This is the back of Allerton Castle which still has a stunning facade with the intricate details of the the building. No expense spared when they were building this....
I have positioned the bride of the garden steps holding her wedding dress, making it look big and showing off the detail. Having the wedding dress just falling on the stairs would work but I think for this shot holding the dress in both hands and holding it out makes a big impact. Obviously this photo will depend on the type and style of wedding dress, so this is where I will make the decision on the day.
The Silhouette Photo makes for a stunning photo for any wedding. It is a photo that I will look at getting at all the different wedding venues, but works perfectly at Allerton Castle. With this photo, you will a nice backdrop which is nicely silhouetted with the bright sky and somewhere to position you wedding couple. The location of this will differ depending on the time of year, weather conditions, time of day you plan your couple photos etc. There is a lot to think about when planning your wedding photos and fitting them in with your wedding day so that you can be with your wedding guests and not out all day having your wedding pictures taken.
One thing I always tell my wedding couples is, it is important that you enjoy your wedding day and have time to spend with your wedding guests. It is not a photo-shoot or a styled shoot which a lot of wedding photographers think it is. I've seen wedding photographers get mad because they want to keep taking wedding portraits but the couple want to go off and have a drink, relax and chat to their wedding guests. This comes down to planning your wedding day and allocating enough time for your wedding photos.
Have two Wedding Portrait Sessions.....
Depending on the time of year you are getting married will depend on what time of the day we will do your wedding portraits. Sometimes it's a good idea to split the session up into two parts, afternoon session and evening session. This works well for most weddings to be honest especially in summer and spring weddings. The days are longer so you can get out and do more photos after the wedding breakfast. You can also schedule in a sunset shoot too and get some silhouette photos.
Breaking your wedding portrait session in to two or even three shoots throughout the day stops you from getting photo tired and things becoming annoying for you both. The same can be said for lots of group photos.
Group Wedding Photos....
When you have a large wedding, my experience to to keep you group photos to a minimum. This is because, on your wedding day time is very limited and things can go on too long is everything isn't in place and working well. I've had weddings before where we have pages and pages with lists of different group photos they are wanting. This is ok but you need to realise the time this will take up on your wedding day and you will need to have a good think to see if this is worth the time. Organising your wedding guests is the big thing, you maybe naive and think your wedding guests will all wait around to be called out for their picture in the cold when all they want to do is go and have a drink. Being organised here is vital for this to go well. I will need someone to gather the guests around and have them in place ready for me to do the photos. Your wedding photographer will not know your wedding guests and can't go away from the camera to call in guests so this is normally done by one of your wedding party, normally a groomsmen or bridesmaid works well. Group photos is something that you will need to have a good conversation with your wedding photographer at your Pre-Wedding Meeting.
Evening in the Great Hall at Allerton Castle...
After your wedding breakfast it's good to head off and get some more couple portraits and The Great Hall is certainly a place to head to.
Photo - Dramatic Silhouette in The Great Hall
Again working with the amazing symmetry of The Great Hall at Allerton Castle this Silhouette photos works perfectly. Before the photos were taken on the ground level around the staircase but now we have come up to the balcony and taken the great vista. This huge space with tall ceiling makes it hard to photograph but using off camera flash gets the above photo for your wedding gallery.
I put an off camera flash unit on the stairs at the back the wedding couple lighting up all the back behind the wall. To get the shot I needed to warm the light up on the off camera flash using a CTO Gel to match the other lights in the Great Hall.
Allerton Castle is an amazing wedding venue with a huge amount of photo opportunities.
The photo on the left is another version of the landscape photo above taken with the same technique but at a different time of day.
Getting the most out of your wedding day takes a lot of planning to make sure you are not over doing things. You can plan as much as you want to but always leave scope for change and allow the day to unfold naturally. I have seen couples get disappointed when things run off their ridged schedule but it is always best to let things run as naturally as possible. This way when things do go off plan, it is not stressful for you and you can then enjoy it as your photographer will work with how things go and will therefore capture photos that you didn't think would happen.
How do you want to end your Wedding Day??
You might want Fireworks, Sparkler Exit or even Coloured Smoke but one thing to think about is how you want to finish your big wedding day with.
Do you want your guests to head outside for a Fireworks Display? The photo on the left was how they wanted to close their wedding day off before heading back inside Allerton Castle for the cutting of the cake and their First Dance.
If you are wanting fireworks then you will need to make sure your wedding venue allows this as a lot of wedding venues don't allow this. Some don't allow Sparkler Exits and Smoke Grenades. It's always worth discussing this before you get your heart set on something like this.
For fireworks we will need to know where the fireworks are going to be and then we can look at how we can compose some photos with you while the fireworks are going off in the background. A lot of wedding fireworks displays don't last too long so trying to get an image composed while the fireworks are going off is not possible. Planning this is key to getting the photos you are expecting.
I hope you liked this blog post from a wedding a Allerton Castle in North Yorkshire and you have gathered some nice pointers to help you with your wedding day plans.
If you are looking for a Wedding Photographer I would love to hear from you and discuss your ideas etc. Send me a message with your date, location etc and I will get back with my availability. If I am available then it would be great for us to discuss your wedding further either over a coffee or phone call.
Mark Stinchon
07377 631 016