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East Riddlesden Hall Wedding
Sarah and Rorys wedding at East Riddlesden Hall,
you might find some spooky pictures at the end of this page
no special reason . . . . .
Assembled items of wedding kit are found lurking conveniently posed.
click. got picture - move on . . .
Ooh - that's another wedding tradition . . . drinkies . . .
Cute baby. . cute mum . . baby looks cute, does cute things for camera . . .
it's too good to be true isn't it . . .
yep . . sure is too good to be true . . well, what's a nose for anyway ?
OK . mums nose removed (from the vicinity)
& young whippersnapper then goes into super cute mode.
Time flies . . I zoom down to East Riddlesden Hall and find Rory (the groom) lurking at the front of the hall
awaiting his lady, and being serenaded by two serious looking characters with violins
(note to the blind. these are not violins. they are actually guitars)
thank god I brought backup.
the ladies above are my assistants. . . so if my pictures don't come out
at least I'll have something to give the couple.
Sarah arrives - the curtains are drawn - she swooshes past - preceded by sundry bridesmaids and stuff like that
various things happen. y'know - wedding things.
words are said. solemn vows and all that kind of thing.
then the man kisses the woman and I guess that does it. You're married my friend !
a totally unexpected confetti moment occurs,
guests just happen to find themselves in the right place,
at the right time . .
there's always one person who is extremely generous . .
here - have the box . . . .
(box hurtles through the air . . everyone hits the deck . . . )
Anyhow - enough of such high jinks . .it's time you saw a little of East Riddlesden Hall
so Sarah and Rory take a wander around the back (well this is the side actually - but I'm not being pickyl
Oh yes . . in the meantime . back at the reception venue - a kind of huge barn shaped thing,
(I think it's a barn - probably a posh one, listed building and all that . . )
anyhow - it's been made to look rather swish, candles everywhere, tables, smell of food being prepared . .
(which was, incidentally, lovely)
In the entranceway - there's an interesting looking board with things stuck on it.
little picture frames, lists of names, dangling butterflies . .
wot ? butterflies ?
I investigate further and find that all of the tables have the names of obscure sounding butterflies,
the sort that you'd never heard of (but somehow knew were butterflies)
like . . . mildred . .
(only joking - a red admiral is a butterfly . . that sort of name - but not that one, different ones).
so . . alerted to this - my antennae are twitching and I go off in search of butterfly type things..
My observation powers immediately locate a butterfly cunningly dressed as a small child.
hah - can't fool me. I've seen this sort of thing before.
(it all starts as caterpillars and next thing you know they're sitting next to you and demanding a three course meal at a wedding)
the butterfly theme continues as one of the poor creatures finds a candle.
it's too cruel, i can't look . . .
Enough I hear you mutter, lets get serious again.
Sarah and Rory make their entrance via a huge white curtain,
which is pulled aside amidst witty banter, by the maitre'd.
they say every picture tells a story - I'd love to know what was being said by Rory
the maitre'd spins elegantly away on one foot, raises his chin in the air and grins like a clam.
I note that an entrance is being made - grins give it away - so I whizz round the other side of the curtain
and get a guests eye view
another guests eye view - this time - it's the speeches,
and Rory has them riveted.
Rorys achilles heel is his love letters,
written to Sarah ten whole years ago - and exhumed by the best man for the purpose
of general merriment. (did I tell you that there were four best men and guitars involved ?)
oh . . you'll find out.
Four best men above . the one with the incriminating love letter happens to be wearing a particularly fetching head dress.
Another guests eye view (there were lots of guests and twice as many eyes as guests, so I had my work cut out)
aw - Just for the heck of it, I sneaked behind the fab four whilst they were speeching
and took a picture which at one stroke, shows the magnificent barn roof,
and proves forever that one of the best men was not actually wearing a large leafy head dress with four candles in it.
The weather has improved beyond belief,
just before the wedding - there were spots of rain,
brollies were seen making guest appearances,
dark clouds hove ominously into view - then hove out of view again,
but if you wait around for long enough . . (my theory) it will get to be sunny sometime or other.
Sarah and Rory - strolling in the sunshine, so happy in this picture
you'd think they'd just got married or something.
that's the hall behind them.
my assistants decide to be photographed,
happy looking bunch, aren't they !
those pictures they took earlier had better come out though - or there'll be trouble.
she's hit the booze again.
forgot to mention. there were two little bridesmaids
Yes - you guessed it, the girls above are the little bridesmaids of whom I spoke.
well, whaddya know . . a special gift bouquet.
must have taken the florist ages to make this one . .
the bunch of flowers was given by a little girl - you couldn't refuse them, could you ?
(well I could, because I'm a bloke, and carrying flowers isn't really manly,
but if you were the bride, you couldn't say no, could you ?).
I'm starting to get the impression that these little girls are kinda hogging the limelight a bit.
shucks. they're enjoying themselves.
The Hall- Sarah and Rory in the foreground, trees all over the place, reflections in lake.
heck - do I have to spell it out to you. it's a pretty picture . that's all you need to know.
and in the evening, high jinks begin, light sticks are everywhere
I stupidly try to take a picture by the light of joined up light sticks.
well - maybe not totally stupid - but I had no idea whether it would work or not
if you don't try things - you'll never know. .
first dance. if you're really observant, you'll notice the heart shaped thing dangling from the curtain
this is the same heart shaped thing that was dangling above the same curtain that hung behind the couple gettting married
earlier in our story (look at the picture above - you'll see it there too)
what this means is - it's all came full circle - they've returned to the spot where they made their vows
and are now dancing tenderly together.
whaddya mean - I'm being sentimental. that's what it's all about isn't it ?
In fear of being called sentimental for including heart shaped things in pictures,
I seek another viewpoint. creeping across the stage area behind the curtain,
I hit upon the idea of poking my camera lens through a slit in the curtains - and find - hey presto,
I'm looking directly down on the bride and grooms first dance - and they can't see me (I hope).
Anyhow - more dancing ensued.
the odd looking contraption in the foreground seems to make all of the music
I look over the lake at the hall - and notice that it looks rather good reflected in the lake,
I know that there are fences here and there, to make sure that visitors don't stray over to the house,
but . curiosity got the better of me,
I remembered searching for East Riddlesden Hall on the web and finding spooky ghost stories about it.
I wandered over ( hey - us roughy toughy northern types don't get spooked easily)
and found myself walking around the building in the dark.
nobody else there . . just a quiet building . . nothing much to scare . . ..
oh bugger. I managed to spook myself and immediately legged it back to the party.
but by then the idea of some spooky pictures had planted itself in my pea sized mind
so I returned with back up.
in the form of our Gallant and fearless groom Rory and his bride Sarah (equally fearless),
we simply wandered about the quiet parts of the building,
looking for atmosphere and trying to get the atmosphere into our pictures.
you can decide for yourself if there's any atmosphere . .
really - I have to be honest . . although we had fun making some ever so slightly spooky and dramatic images
the main feeling that was really noticeable - was the general happiness generated by the party.
iand the final picture ?
it's the reception over on the other side of the lake.
still partying on.
at this point - I slid off into the night - to my luxuriously appointed hotel (well - sort of).
the end.