studio 12 Goose Hill, Morpeth, Northumberland. NE61 1TL

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tel (01670) 783357

Lumley Castle

Lumley Castle, Chester le Street, was the venue that Clare and Ricky chose for their wedding

but first . . preparations . .

Clare, our bride, is doing some kind of bride thing on the floor

and that huge white thing . . that's her veil !

we find a bridesmaid, playing with a kitten

Clare enters the dress . .

I was going to write - Clare gets into her dress

but she kinda entered it, from below . . . . .

and in the dress, various bridesmaid types do bridesmaid things . .

adjusting bits of dress, fiddling with stuff . .

so I grab a quick picture . .

Clare looks extremely happy here !

and the bridesmaid who was playing with the kitten earlier,
she's now in her dress . . still bafefoot . . ( you noticed, didn't you !)

More bridesmaids appear.

and oddly enough - so does a bride . .

I nab a quick picture of Clare . .

she's ready in good time.

which helps immensely !

off to Lumley Castle,

where we find Ricky and his best man Sean ready and waiting.

They're still chatting, probably about Groom and Best Man stuff . .

so I take a picture of some chairs . .

a vintage car swooshes into view . . .

(you did guess that it contains a bride, didn't you . .  ).

a hat is spotted lurking on a table in Lumley Castle

the hat belongs to the groom . . you didn't think I'd photograph some random hat, did you ?

Ricky and Sean, still amiably chatting . . no stress . . . yet . .

though the Scarbrough State room at Lumley Castle,

is filling with guests . .

did I say no stress . . . ?

heck - it's a hot day . .

that's it . . it's a very warm October day, that will explain the handkerchief . . .

OK then. serious bits

extremely serious bits . . there's a ring involved . .

ah . . but if you give a girl a wedding ring . ..

you get to give her a kiss

(sundry guests applaud in the background).

Married !

as we wander outside

the veil does it's own thing . .

we quickly take a picture

heck . . we couldn't not do it really . .

pictures taken . . it's laughter all the way

(unless you have the really serious job of carrying the back of the dress . .

and balancing a bouquet on your shoulder . . .)

little bridesmaid type character

has been given bubbles to play with.

(I suspect that this is part of  a cunning plan to keep children occupied)

we nab another couple of pictures of our bride and groom around Lumley Castle

that veil is doing it's own thing again . .

it was the breeze, you see . .

Hah . veil still blowing in the breeze . . camera goes click again . . got another one.

these two are simply occupied with each other,

which is

a) nice to see

and

b) the way it should be !

another quick picture around Lumley Castle - and then everyone hops inside for a meal in the Barons Hall

I mentioned the Barons Hall,

in case you're wondering, the picture above is the Barons Hall.
Lumley castle has several rooms, each capable of hosting a wedding breakfast . .

the Garter suite . . the Barons Hall . . the Scarbrough State room . .

it's a big place, Lumley Castle !

table deccies . .

little cupcakes, in boxes, with silk ribbon attached,

embroidered with teh couples names . .

one soldier bayonets a cake

poor feller . . the speeches are coming up shortly . . .

I notice Ricky learning his lines . . and nab a quick picture whilst he isn't looking.

and whilst he's learning his lines,

Clare does some kind of 'I'm gonna poke you in the head' thing.

Clares Grandfather Tom,

(he was the feller who gave her away) . . makes his speech.

learning those lines paid off.

Ricky, our groom, delivers an excellent speech. .

do we see a projector screen . . . . ?

I should be helpful here and explain that this is another view of the Barons Hall at Lumley Castle,

the grooms speech is ongoing, and the guests are listening . . 

and this is a flower arrangements eye view of the Barons Hall at Lumley Castle . .

ok, I'm only joking . ..

I take lots of pictures of little details because . .

well . . just because . . .

if I see something and it looks good, I photograph it . . that's what I do . ..

Sean, the Best Man (we encountered him earlier) delivers his speech

you will note that he is using no notes.

you have to respect him for not using notes !

( I'm not sure that I could address a room as big as this without referring to scribbles on bits of paper).

I clamber back to the rear of the room to get a general view

and the bridesmaid who earlier was playing with the kitten  . .

then posing barefoot at the foot of the stairs . .

is now outside in the cool evening air,

the younger bridesmaids now have colouring books to occupy them ..

did I mention a cunning plan to keep the children occupied ?

we'd like a picture in the Courtyard at Lumley Castle, explain our couple . .

ok then . . since we're passing that way . . stand there . . click . . done . .

we hop inside of the castle and grab a couple of pictures . . as one does . .

and we take one more . . outside of the Castle

the wedding reception . . dancing thingymajig . .is in the room behind Ricky

(the Barons Hall is pretty much at the centre of Lumley Castle).

ah . . a flower arrangements eye view . .

( I got you with that one earlier, didn't I !)

some feller bangs a cymbal with a stick

and another feller, I think his name is Jeff Dingle

( that can't be right . . I must have that mixed up somewhere . . he doesn't look like a Jeff Dingle . .

but that's what I have on my notes . . . . . oh well, I'll wait for the complaints ).

'hey - you got my name wrong . . '

seriously . . if the guy is called something else . . let me know and I'll amend this.

but Jeff Dingle will do for now.

Ah . . now I remember . .

there's a story attached to the first dance . .

it was all connected with the music for the first dance . .

for some reason, the DJ didn't have the music . . I can't remember the exquisite detail of this situation,

(it was late .  I was tired)

but . . it turned out that Ricky, our groom, had the music on his mobile phone . .

so he was able to send the music, from his mobile phone, to the electronic gadgetry of the DJ

after which, it was blasted through speakers for the first dance.

I thought this was rather clever. . .

I know that I'm sometimes easily impressed  . .
but, give credit where it's due  .. .

this was a pretty resourceful approach to getting the music to the DJ . .

he's happy . . she's happy

this was a heck of an emotional day . .

thank you Clare and Ricky, for allowing me to document your wedding day.