Wedding photography for Aimee and Richard - St Peter's church, Kirk Smeaton and Rogerthorpe Manor - 23 October 2010
As wedding photographers in West Yorkshire, we are regular photographers at Rogerthorpe Manor in Badsworth, near Pontefract, but today was very special and a bit more pressured too! It was a pleasure to be chosen as Richard and Aimee's wedding photographers because they are such a fantastic couple but as Richard is the manager of Rogerthorpe Manor and his dad, Roger, is the owner, we had a lot to live up to! We met up with Aimee at the couple's home in Carleton. Aimee had her gorgeous dress hanging up in the lounge window, all ready for photographs. Unusually, the bride had taken a back seat with the wedding planning, leaving Richard to organise almost everything, even choosing Aimee's dress! Now most brides wouldn't have entertained this idea but Richard really did Aimee proud with his choice. After we'd captured all the important details and some make-up shots, Aimee was in her dress in no time, allowing us to get some photographs of it being fastened and a few ready shots before we had to leave for church, arriving at exactly the same moment as Richard. Aimee arrived by a slightly different mode of transport - a red London bus - accompanied by her proud brother Darren. Following the wedding ceremony which was very personal and designed to include the couple's two fantastic sons, Logan and Ronnie, the new Mr and Mrs Metcalfe exited the church, spent a few minutes being congratulated by their guests and then hopped on board their red bus to travel to Rogerthorpe Manor. With the threat of rain looming, we managed to secure the group photographs quickly before spending some time with Aimee and Richard around the venue's beautiful grounds. Thankfully, the rain managed to hold off and we had a brilliant time with them both as they were so relaxed and easy to work with. Aimee was definitely up for striking a pose or two so that we could create something spectacular for her, even though a couple of her friends had a go at trying to sabotage the arty bridal photographs! Too much champagne perhaps! There were a lot of benefits to having Richard organising things - clearing the bar area for some contemporary wedding photographs was one of them and because Richard arranged it, no one could blame the photographer! After dinner, Richard did the honours with the wedding cake - cutting it up himself so that it could be served to all the guests with dessert which we thought was a really nice touch. It has to be said that Richard had organised so many things for the enjoyment of his guests and a huge priority for him was making sure that every one of them had a great day. One the things he'd arranged was lazer clay pigeon shooting to entertain his guests after the wedding breakfast and this proved really popular with the ladies and gents alike. In fact, one of the ladies was a crack shot... We often take evening photographs outside Rogerthorpe Manor but because the clay pigeon shooting was going on at the front of the wedding venue, we didn't think it was a good idea to get in the way! So we chose a different location and timed it for that perfect evening sky. Richard and Aimee took to the dance floor and soon afterwards, the band, Joe Public, entertained the guests. Thank you Aimee and Richard for allowing us to photograph your lovely family in the studio and for asking us to share your wedding day. We're just sorry that Aston Villa lost! Thank you also to Roger, Sheila, Ann and Darren for making us so welcome. We had an amazing day!
If you attended Aimee and Richard's wedding, please leave a comment - thank you.
