Eshott Hall Wedding photographs

Nichola and Bens wedding at Eshott Hall, Eshott, Northumberland.

the first thing I find are flowers. these ones belong to the bridesmaids.

there's a story attached. I might tell you sometime . . .

the next thing that I find, are two of the fellers,
the feller on the left, is Ben (the groom) and the feller on the right,
waving his hands around, is the best man -' don't take many pictures of me . . . '

yeah . . ok . .

:)

I go up to the bridal suite, and find a handbag

(at least - I think that's what it is . . )

so I photograph it . . and move on . . . .

I swivel my head and spot a little flower girl,

ah . she's worth a picture . . .

behind the little flower girl - the bridesmaids are getting last minute attention to their dresses

the flowers spotted earlier - belonged to the bridemaids

guess who this  bunch belongs to

sorry . . bunch isn't the correct term . . bouquet

guess who this bouquet belongs to ?

scanning around the room - there are yet more goodies for my camera lens

here we have . .

aw - it's written on the boxes . . you don't need me to tell you what this is . . .

ooh - that is one lovely dress.

(a pretty girl in the dress too !)

quick as a very quick thing,
Nichola, our bride, is in the dress and ready !

this is quite unusual - most brides are so late that there isn't much of an opportunity

to get a decent portrait picture before the wedding.

this girl was organised . . . !

I step back and notice - that not only a portrait works here

a full length thingymajig

errr . thingymajig . . wotsit . . you know the word I'm looking for . . .

picture !

a full length picture works quite well too.

hey - you get to see the bridal suite at Eshott Hall. very nice isn't it !

I use the copious amounts of time that Nichola has allowed, to make another picture

before hopping downstairs to see what the fellers are up to

here we see Ben, the groom chatting to the lady in red

the lady in red is the registrar - she's a good 'un. 

to be honest, there aren't many (or any - for that matter) bad registrars in this area,

I say that with the voice of experience,
having witnessed the craziness of the lady in xxxxxxxx who bans photographers completely from the room

and the nuttiness of the man from xxxxxxxx who allows 'one' picture during the ceremony.

ONE PICTURE !

what kind of planet is he on ?

if you ever get a chance to speak to me - I'll tell you which stone he lives under,
sorry - I meant to say - I'll tell you which county he works in . . . .

ooh - my little digression about registrars has taken too many seconds

time has moved on . . .

here we see the bride arriving - the groom is on the staircase to the left of the registrar

and the best man is a couple of steps down.

yes - you guessed it - the wedding is to be held on the landing, in front of a stained glass window

and because of the time of year - next to a rather large Christmas tree !.

I sneak about like a sneaky thing

and get a picture from a different angle.

and another angle . .

you can probably tell exactly what is going on here

the best man - on the left - is holding his hand extremely carefully

it looks like he is holding his hand up with his . . other hand . .

and in his hand is . . . aw . . you can see what's in his hand, can't you !.

rings exchanged  . . various words spoken

then downstairs to singe the register

sorry . . misspelled sign . .

sign the register - - then at this point . ..

the point at which the picture is taken . .

the registrar hands over a piece of paper to Nichola . .
congratulations . . you're married !

then we exit . . she's smiling

he's thinking . . that flipping photographer gets everywhere . .

wasn't he inside just a moment ago . . . ?

don't let the smiles and the warmth of this picture confuse you

that vaguely white - ish stuff on the grass in the background

is ice. this is winter. and it's verrrrrrryy  chilly.

some confetti to hurl / lob / project / throw.

then back inside to the warmth of the building

this is the room, set out for Nichola and Bens wedding.

the room is in the Lost Wing at Eshott Hall

I dunno why it' called the lost wing at Eshott Hall . . I found it easily enough.

never mind . . on to describing things . .

everyone sets out the room differently and has different tastes in table decorations etc

this choice of table centres - quite high up on big stalks

(I guess you'd call them candelabras .. or candelabrum . . )

is a good choice if you'd like some pictures of your guests

there's nothing worse (for a photographer) than finding that the person that you're trying to photograph

is concealed behind a mound of vegetation called a table decoration. .

but that's another story.

(if you visualise wedding guests hidden behind vegetation / huge table centre decorations
it makes wedding photography sound like wildlife photography . . . ).

like . . . in order to take a picture of this wedding guest . . we creep up, disguised as . . .

and this is your challenge . . .  .

read the big golden letters.

backwards

(you need to read backwards, because I photographed them from the brides viewpoint).

back to the guests . . let's see what they're all up to . .

above - Nichola lands a big kiss on the lips of a little flower girl

and a small feller stares in amazement - he's thinking - 'wow - did you see that !!!'.

I swivel to the left . .

and spot a little conversation piece.

a moment in time, frozen for posterity . .

wedding guests . . doing what weddign guests do.

and the lady on the right . . well, she's hypnotised . . .

moving onwards through the room

on a chair, laid out as in a still life,
we see the jacket of a tiny fellow

he's a page boy, aged about . . ( I dunno .. . but he wasn't very big less than one metre high)

and a bouquet . . . .

it kinda tells a story, a still life with a message

the page boy is the brides nephew . . and the bouquet . .

well that belongs to his mum .
(which makes his mum . . .the brides . . . .

I'm sure you can work that one out !)

and here's another little conversation piece.

the lady perched on the arm of the sofa,
is describing something to the brides father . .
( he's the feller standing with the wine glass).

the man in the shadows on the chair to the left ,
simply looks astounded - certainly fascinated by the conversation . .

and the lady on the right . . well

she's just noticed the camera .
and her gaze almost invites you, the viewer, into the converation

do I look too deeply into pictures ?

I don't think so . not when the pictures tell stories . . .

more grown up conversations are taking place in the study.
and two little people are in the doorway,
watching the grown ups . .

we decide to whizz outside before it gets dark

( remember, this is Winter, it's nearly Christmas)
. . and when it gets dark in Winter.

well . . that happens very suddenly,
and well before tea time.

one minute it's daylight, the next - you're fumbling about in pitch darkness . .

yaaay one bride and groom, outside of Eshott Hall

lit by the last rays of the setting sun

note . . our gal has a little furry shoulder thingymajig, to keep out the cold . .

and a husband . . same purpose !

I try to get a picture of the two of them simply looking at the camera

but they can't help but look at each other

I'm thinking . . sometimes this is even nicer than looking at a camera

so . . .click . . I take this picture . . you can see everything in it.

you can see that the girl is extremely happy

and the feller . . you can see the tenderness of his gaze. . .

back inside . .  into the warmth of the building
a picture of the back of the dress . . and quite a nice doorway.

I can't resist making a couple of pictures of Nichola and Ben

showing off the dress . . showing off the room . .

aw . nuts. I like to do this sort of thing.

and a picture with the tree.

lets take a picture with the Christmas tree !.

well . . ok . .as long as it isn't just a boring

'hello - this is me and a christmas tree picture. .'

so . .

tree to the centre, Ben to the left

and Nichola to the right, but Nichola is also in the centre of the picture

reflected in the mirror . .

ooh that's clever, isn't it !

this is . . well .  I'll leave you to read it !

Nicholas father makes his speech

and Nicholas mum dries her eye . .

Bens turn to speak . .

and a little flower girl, stands on a chair to watch Ben speaking

general view . . guests relaxing

what do you mean - that's not a very interesting caption . .

what did you expect me to write here

large meteorite strikes planet or something . . . ?

the little flower girl who was standing on the chair earlier,
has a go at drawing me.

and here we have another little flower girl,
by candlelight

I like this picture.

such images were were fashionable, long ago

(when there wasn't anything else to light houses up, excepting candles)

a couple of artists who did this sort of thing :

De La Tour (the king of France loved his work so much -
that he turfed out every other artists pictures, to replace them with De La Tours candlelit images)

and of course - the incomparable, Joseph Wright of Derby he did candlelight too.

but I digress . . .

and anyway - those painters did it so much better than I do . . . .

but in art, it's nice to be aware of what's gone before.

into the Library . .

conversations with friends . . Groom with a glass of red

laughter on the bottom right of the image

and in the centre . . a vision.

I offer to take pictures near to the tree

(not boring ones . . I'm trying to be a little creative)

these gents - find the whole thing hilarious . .

it must have been something I said . .

I take the picture anyway !     I like to see the smiles !

ah - one bride and groom in front of the Christmas Tree at Eshott Hall

well . those blurry out of focus things in the background are a tree . . honest . .

well I told you I was trying to be a tiny bit creative ..

it's a suggestion of a tree . .

I'm Christmas tree'd out . . and hop into the Lost wing again

ooh - the atmosphere has changed . . ready for the nights dancing

a quick picture shows you the roomthere

I wander about the building for a while
getting pictures of little conversations

and general views . . this picture shows guests in the Hallway at Eshott Hall,

making polite conversation . . a little chit chat,

before dancing the night away
when the band begins to play.

hey that rhymes !.

no caption needed for this picture,

a girl, as if in a dream, wanders through her wedding reception

aw . that was a caption .. . and you didn't need one did you !

the band begin to play

and we have dancing

well - no one dances before the bride and groom, of course . .

toward the end of the dance - the guests applaud

or take pictures

or just gaze

and our bride, well, our bride just smiles.

later . they dance under the chandeliers

I go walkabout again, and find all sorts of guests hidden in the strangest places

this is a page boy. located under a coffee table . .

oh well . . I take his picture . . . and move on . .

a final picture of our bride and groom

outside - and the building is lit up in the dark

little lanterns on stalks, also light the path

and that white stuff in the grass

it's still there . . it's ice . .  it's December . . and it's a little chilly !

good night you guys . .

I'm leaving Eshott Hall now

I'm very tired, I'm very happy, and I have taken lots of pictures,

there are many, many more pictures than you see on this page

but they are for Nichola and Ben.