Lumley Castle Wedding

Jessica and Stuart were married at Lumley Castle, Chester le Street

they asked for totally unposed pictures.

this style is sometimes called reportage or photojournalism

some photographers interpret this as 'posed to look as if it is unposed . . .'

they'll say - 'oh - I know what you mean . stand over there and do this, pretend you aren't posing . . . '

which is soo o o o  wrong

unposed, means unposed.  simple.

like the pictures below . . . .

the pictures should tell the story - with little need for words . . .

Jessica looking out onto the courtyard of Lumley Castle from her room,
she's watching guests arriving for her wedding.

one wedding dress - and one bridesmaid. bridesmaid applying makeup in a mirror

the same bridesmaid . . . . using a little window light to check makeup . . .

Meanwhile . . . . Stuart arrives in his Helicopter.

Stuart is in the front seat - as you'd expect . .

and and this is our first glimpse of our groom. keeping head down . .
simply because it's probably a good idea not to stand up straight

it's definitely not a good idea to hop or jump about under those rotor blades . .

in order to get a picture of Lumley Castle from the air

I hitch a ride in Stuarts Heli

and this is what we came up to get . . . one aerial view of Lumley Castle.

taking aerial photographs isn't tremendously difficult

but if you aren't careful - they can be either blurred to bits because of vibration

or soft due to a slow shutter speed  . . .

fortunately - it's something I've done a few times . . (and greatly enjoyed !) so the pictures came out fine.

Stuart and I hop out - well - kinda ducking a bit as we exit the helicopter

then it takes off, leaving Stuart to explain to his friends the little trick
that the pilot has just played on the photographer.

you can guess from the hand movement in the picture below . .

yes . . the pilot asked the photographer if he had all of his pictures . .

then he asked if he was tightly fastened in . . .

then the helicopter went into a manouevre that I can only describe as

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH I'M GONNA DIE . . . .

I didn't . . but it looked like it for a moment . .

so . . the merry band now troop into Lumley Castle

below . . Stuart is buttonholed by the registrar,

who then explains how things are to proceed . . .

hmm . .

meanwhile . . back in the room where our lovely bride Jessica is getting ready . . .

two little bridesmaids are given their bouquets .

and now it's time to go down the corridor, through the depths of Lumley Castle, to the wedding

here we go . . this is real . . very real . . .

Stuart makes last minute checks with the registrar . . .

I mentioned that this is real . . you can see that this day means a great deal to this feller . .

gosh the tension is building . . .

Penny for your thoughts at this point . . . . . . 

the two little bridesmaids that we saw earlier
now walk down the aisle

they take their positions . . and compare notes . . .

Ah . . the bride has arrived

there's a lot going on in this picture.

in the centre . . there's a marriage being conducted by the registrar,

to the left  - another registrar is completing the paperwork

to the right . . an uncle, half hidden in the curtains . . is making a little movie on his camcorder . . .

I sometimes take some short ladders or find some furniture to climb onto in order to get this sort of image.

do you take this man to be your husband . . . !

an interesting filming style exhibited by the feller in the corner . . . .

this is a candle ceremony.

you can tell that the object in the centre . . is a candle

(lit by the two smaller candles, wielded by the bride and groom !)

I zoom out . . or step back . . . and show more of what's going on . . .

the registrar reads some wise words

and our couple listen carefully . .

then he just grabs her and gives her a whopping big kiss !

the lady in the centre is one proud mum.

at this point . . some registrars prefer to set up a little scene . . a tableaux if you will,

where it kinda looks like the couple are signing the register . . but they aren't . . it's just for the cameras .. .

this is because the registrars don't want anyone photographing the actual register . .

many reasons are quoted . . from data protection, to copyright  . to . . putting people off whilst they are signing.

anyhow . . what they do, is replace the register with a blank one, and in this case

give the bride a whopping big feather with which to pretend to sign the register . . .

so . . I photograph the guests photographing the couple . . .  :)

and . . that's it !       they really did it,

the pictures prove it !

a couple of are spoken by the registrar

then everyone hops outside.

at Lumley Castle, some of the staff dress up in period costume,

the lady below is 'Lady Margaret' she's organising everything today . .

and the guests are following her . .

  little bridesmaids rendezvous and start examining flowers . .

heck, this is a larger bridesmaid rendezvous than we'd thought . . they're all seated together

but the little ones are still working on the flowers . . .

I spot a Scotsman, who is eating drinking and taking photographs all at the same time . .  :)

I hop up some steps and spot our extremely happy couple below, enjoying a cool drink,

the breeze is just catching Jessicas veil . . it was that kinda day.

ah . I've made a posed picture . . you've spotted it . . .

and I'd explained that this wedding wasn't about posing . .

well . it's only one picture, and it isn't a really formal posed picture . .

Jessica and Stuart take a look at the room

the wedding breakfast is to be held in Lumley Castles garter suite.

during the meal - one of the waiters suddenly bursts into song . .

and before we know it - the whole room is being serenaded  . .

I hop behind Jessica and Stuart, to get a bride and grooms eye view of the proceedings . .

yes, you guessed it, this is arranged, pre planned . .

the bride and groom knew about this . . but the guests didn't . .

I switch to colour . . to show some sweeties which are lurking in the room next door . . .

(some things just don't look right in black and white ).

above, we see Jessica and Stuart,
definitely happy - and enjoying a giggle with the Lumley Castle wedding co-ordinator lady
(she is hiding behind their seats !)

Stuart begins his speech . .

and the best man replies !

(two bridesmaids occupy the floor in the background, drawing pictures . . ).

again - I switch to colour . . basically just to show the room off.

Jessica and Stuart then retire to their room to freshen up ready for the evening

do I look good ? of course you do !

Jessica whizzing down a Lumley Castle corridor . .

Jessica and Stuart in one posed picture . .

they like the old stonework around the castle - so I get one or two pictures

yes . . this is also a posed picture . .  .

for those who are counting . . . that's a total of 3 posed pictures on this page so far . .

(not bad though . . 3 posed out of about 60 unposed)

back to colour pictures again . . table decorations in the garter suite - - ready for the evenings dancing . .

NO you lunatic . . I didn't mean that the table decorations will be dancing . .

maybe it's the way I said it . .

Jessica and Stuart are now greeting evening guests

the tree with pearls etc in the foreground
is a wishing tree,

guests write little notes containing good wishes
onto little labels, then tie the labels to the branches.

one little bridesmaid - spotted retrieving plunder, sorry, toys, from a carrier bag on a table

then we have music and dancing . . .

thank you Jessica and Stuart,

for allowing me to document your day

and especially - for allowing and trusting me
to follow you just about everywhere,

photographing all of those smiles and tears of joy.

unposed.