Langley Castle Winter Wedding

Langley Castle was the venue for Sara and Liams winter wedding

ok. full address : Langley Castle, Langley on Tyne, Hexham, Northumberland

and if you like the place from these pictures,  you can visit the website at

LANGLEY CASTLE WEBSITE

or you could just call in and visit . .       I'm sure they wouldn't mind . . .

I arrive and YES - you noticed it . . there is snow

what's more- it's deep and it is still falling

those little white spots on the picture

(and dark spots against the sky) are not bits of dust on the picture

they're the genuine santa claus white stuff.

fortunately the Langley staff had put about 300 tonnes of salt on the steep bank leading up to the castle.

inside - I find a lady getting into a wedding dress.

it's Sara. (and her mum helping !)

Sara takes a peek outside of the window

it's all white

(all white . . get it . . . alwhite . . . alright . . ?)

never mind . .

Sara is waiting to be called downstairs for the wedding ceremony

I lunge forwards and take a picture.

then lunge somewhere else to take some more . .

Sara then swooshes about the room.

(brides do a lot of swooshing in dresses like this one)

ah . . I locate the guys

you will note that two of them are in some kind of uniform

the groom (Liam) was in the Army - until the day of his wedding that is,

after which - he wasn't in the army . .

but I think that perhaps Sara thought the uniform might look cool - so he wore it for his big day.

the other feller in uniform is the grooms brother.  (Royal Air Force). .

another uniform is located inside the nice warm castle

brrr. it was a little chilly out there

this feller is David Bailey - a Northumbrian piper

he was whistling and tootling on his instrument

keeping the guests amused before the wedding

(not sure how you'd describe the sound - I just went for whistling and tootling)

if you know the correct term . let me know

it might be something like tootling.

so . at this point. the man is still single,

and sharing a joke with his brother

flipping heck.

that happened  suddenly !

one Bride arrives

Sara swooshes up the aisle with her father

father says - here's her hand - she's yours my friend

and that's it !

well - that's nearly it - there's a small matter of a wedding ceremony to get through at this point.

yep - it's the right girl !

the purpose of the hat, is not to protect the mans head from snow

it is to carry the wedding rings.

like so

here's a ring - you're married

applause all round.

a fringe benefit at this point

is that he gets to kiss his gal.

two hats lurking on a shelf

kapow. they're married

the really observant people will notice such things

as a Christmas garland, slung from a convenient roof beam.

why is this - you ask ?

aw come on.

big clue : snow.

it is close to Christmas . . .

awe hop outside for 5 minutes

it really is just 5 minutes !

reason : the temperature is well below zero

as I recall - it was something like minus 6 degrees.

so standing around with bare shoulders for more than a few minutes

is a big no-no.

aw. you gotta love these guys,

the affection is almost infectious

(if you know what I mean).

you have possibly noticed my cunning tactic here

they haven't moved from that spot on the snow . . .

why ?  well, snow is clean

and wet, salty road, might actually make a mark on the dress . . . .

moving quickly here

(to keep warm)

I duck down to get some sunset colour into the background

Sara moves quickly

to give Liam a kiss

possibly also to keep warm ?

nah - she did it because she likes him !

no caption needed here.

no caption here either

although I will say

cool picture.

3 minutes are up and we have two minutes to go

before everyone turns into huge slabs of ice

and has to be defrosted inside the castle.

ah - another picture of the same couple

I have ran down the hill - to get another perspective

and at that point, noticed the large outline of a friendly wedding guest

who was standing a metre away from the couple - trying to take a picture and have a chat

but in the process - ruining this picture.

argh. drat. I then waste valuable minutes

tramping back up the hill

to politely ask him to move out of the shot

then run back down the hill to take this picture

if it hadn't been for that distraction - I could have produced more pictures for Liam and Sara

we're up against a 5 minute time frame, remember

and taking time out to run up and down hills to politely discuss moving over a bit

with guests, takes time.

wedding guest gone,

a magical tranformation takes place

Liam and Sara then simply act naturally

no audience . . . see . .

it makes a big difference when there isn't a bunch of guests saying

'do that again'  oh - I'll take that again on my mobile phone camera . .

oh . . my mobile seems to have switched itself off

wait a minute . . .

aaaaaagh we haven't got a minute. . . it's bloody freezing !!!

They wandered down the hill towards me

and luckily - I was pointing a camera in their direction at the time.

(I did kinda think of this - and took a camera with me . . . . as one does . . . )

I promise that I did not ask these people to do this

he just grabbed her

it looked good to me

I went click

and with no audience . . see ! people just act naturally.

one final picture outside.

then we absolutely must go in.

you can almost feel the cold in the picture !

o.k.

for students of Langley Castle - this is the Stuart suite

decked out for a winter wedding

one christmas tree lurks in the window frame at the end of the room

the Stuart Suite is the huge room at the top of the castle

aforementioned christmas tree lurking at the end of the room

a quick peek outside of the window - shows that the light is fading fast

I love the colours that you get at dusk when it is snowy

there's a whole range of blues and purples that just seem to come out at dusk . .

our couple are back inside the castle

and there's no way that they're coming back out

it's absolutely freezing.

and my suit isn't doing much to keep me warm.

I hop out for a couple of pictures

there's no way that I'm missing this light

one of this series of pictures

ended up as Sara and Liams wedding album cover.

to take this picture

I walked across the hard packed snow near to the wall

only to find that it wasn't hard packed snow at all

it had been shovelled or snow ploughed there

from the road

it kinda collapsed underfoot

and I ended up stumbling about knee deep in snow

soaking wet and freezing

happy memories . . . . .

but I got the picture.

it was almost too good to be true

I'd have stayed out longer

but - I now have soaking wet feet and I am freezing - it seems like a good idea

to head back to the nice warm castle

the ah - warmth . . lovely . . . . .

and wedding things are going on. 

caking of cuts etc

it's all

Liam stands on a step near to the window

and makes his speech

,

a little guest finds the speech fascinating

and takes her cuddly toy and mobile phone to the corner

so that she can concentrate a little better

this feller is the best man and also Liams brother

he's in the R.A.F. (hence the uniform).

hbecause it's cold - we aren't taking too many pictures outside

(although we did manage a few)

therefore - you will note that the picture above is taken

rather cunningly - indoors, where it's warm.

but. you know. you just can't hold this girl back

'can we go outside in the snow in the dark ?'

err . . yes . . . anything you like . . . It's your day !.

(main part of fountain has by now - frozen)

and in the dark.

well - not so dark when lit by huge lighting thingymajigs outside of Langley Castle

the snow takes on an almost unreal appearance

back inside.

and then dancing.

(you guessed that from the picture, didn't you !)

I prepare to go

and remember that just before Sara went back into the castle

she said 'ooh - look at the moon'

so I stick camera on a tripod

and take quick picture of the moon

to slip into the end of the wedding album

reason : it's a memory.

and as I'm leaving

I gaze down the driveway

and think . . this place is just so beautiful, it's almost untrue . . . .

oh - I can't let the picture go to waste . . .

I slam the brakes on . . .  hop out of the car

set tripod up - take picture of the driveway . . .

and that . . was the end of the day.

and the picture of the driveway - was the last picture in the wedding album.