Wedding Photographer Castleford | Amanda and Paul

As Castleford wedding photographers, it's fair to say that actually, we very rarely photograph weddings in Castleford, probably because our home town has very few wedding venues, but it was really nice to work locally on this scorcher of a day for Amanda and Paul.

Pontefract Register Office was where we started our coverage of this fabulous wedding, accompanied by Michael and Christine for Super Video Services who were such a pleasure to work with. Another friendly face was Rosalyn's, who conducted the civil ceremony and who welcomed us with a huge smile and a big hug.  As Pontefract wedding photographers, we often work with the area's registrars who are always great and very accommodating.  

All wedding photographers and all couples wish for a dry day but this was especially important because rain would definitely have had a huge impact, as the celebrations were held in the garden of Amanda and Paul's home, with around 160 guests joining them for a religious blessing and an outdoor party, following their low key civil ceremony to which Amanda, Paul, their children, close family and witnesses arrived in casual summer clothes to match the heatwave we were having.  

We caught up with everyone again at the house and set to work photographing Amanda's gorgeous dress and a pair of very eye catching shoes before we made the very short trip downstairs to take photographs of the boys.  

The attention to detail and the amount of work which had gone into decorating not only their garden but into turning their kitchen into a vintage style tearoom was amazing and credit must go to Dulcie Butterfly for doing such a spectacular job.  At every turn there was something else to photograph, including a pork pie cake which we understand was very quickly demolished!  

With the emphasis very much on family and with the couple's children, Samuel and Ruby, playing a huge part, this wedding was a joy and a privilege to be part of.  We know that we were recommended to Amanda and Paul by friends of theirs who we have also worked for and it was lovely to see several familiar faces among the guests who were greeted on arrival with a Limoncello toast.  

After the blessing, everyone gathered for a big group photo and it's not often you can fit 160 people in a front garden!  A happy, relaxed and laid back atmosphere was evident throughout the whole day and once we'd got all the group photographs in the bag, we left everyone to enjoy the sunshine whilst we went to Queen's Park in Castleford for a photo session with the family, Paul driving his bride and children to the park in a Mini convertible that Amanda had hired for the weekend as a surprise for him.  A big thank you to both mums for patiently looking after Samuel and Ruby whilst we photographed Amanda and Paul together.  The park looked beautiful with lots of lavender in bloom and we had a brilliant time with the new Mr and Mrs Darley, taking some romantic photos and fun shots.

We returned to the party where a magician amazed the guests, a caricaturist drew them and Farmer Copley's staff fed them with a delicious hog roast.  Matty, Paul's very talented close friend and best man, made everyone laugh and also brought tears to many an eye with his guitar playing and speech, which he sang and dedicated to the family.  We know that his wife Nicola worked with him for hours on the lyrics and what a lovely and very personal speech it was!

This wasn't the first time we've photographed a wedding in a garden but it was the first time we've photographed a first dance in one.  It was the perfect end to a perfect summer wedding and we are very grateful to Amanda and Paul for deciding that we should be the photographers to capture their big day.

If you are looking for a West Yorkshire wedding photographer, we'd love to hear from you.  If you were a guest at this lovely wedding, please feel free to leave a comment and please Like us on Facebook.

All images remain the copyright of Alex & Janet Durasow.