Hayley and Adams South Lakes Wedding in a 140 year old 5 Star Victorian House

Pre Wedding Shoot

For their Pre-Wedding Shoot I took Hayley & Adam to Beacon Fell on possibly the foggiest and frostiest day of the year!  During our two

hour bimble around the forest we got to know each other, captured some great images and they learnt to relax in front of the camera.  

The Villa Levens

Leaving the Fylde coast on a dark and wet morning I was not hopeful for many shots outside the lovely Victorian House that Hayley and Adam had chosen.  The drive up the M6 was pretty windy and at times I had the car wipers on the ‘Storm’ setting.  The Lake District is such a beautiful place but someone really needs to consider renaming it to ‘The Rain District’.

The Villa Levens is about 5 minutes off Junction 36 of the M6 and by the time I had travelled that far the weather had changed again, the rain stopped and the landscape was showing itself in all its beauty.  I drove along the sweeping driveway and The Villa Levens appeared from behind the trees.  I was met by the lovely receptionist and I took a quick look around and knew we were in for a great day.

Upstairs the girls were getting ready.  Bridal Prep in a big room is always a bonus.  Nobody wants to be tripping over each other, or me, and the light in this room was lovely.  Hayley popped the cork on some bubbly, the makeup artists were hard at work and as usual I tried my best to be as unobtrusive as possible whilst everyone got used to me being in the room.

Adam was having Groom Prep on the other side of the Hall in his own room.  I caught up with him and their Fur Baby, Holly.

Then it was a dash back across the Hall, through the maze of corridors and Harry Potteresque staircases, back to Hayley and some shots of her getting into her dress.

The Villa Levens has some great light, like seriously beautiful light coming in through the huge windows in the Bridal Suite.  I always like to capture a quick, simple portrait of the Bride before she sets off to change Miss to Mrs.

Hayley wanted her Dad to see her in her dress at the bottom of the stairs.  Dad’s always get emotional at this point and I find it is best to just grab a couple of shots then leave them to their moment.

Adam had already met with our super registrar and was not showing any signs of being nervous at all……

….until it was time!

Hayley was walked down the aisle by her Dad and met Adam in the gorgeous light from Villa Levens’ huge picture windows.

And in a flash it was all over! Rings exchanged, vows repeated and the most perfect of First Kisses!

Shortly after the ceremony we had a break in the weather.  Someone was smiling down on us for this because as soon as I took this single image it started to rain again!

Guests returned to the Villa for the drinks reception, relaxing in the beautiful house.

Occasionally the weather would break and the children would dash outside for fresh air and a run around, always watched by attentive Bridesmaids.

Emotions were on show during the speeches, laughter, tears and strangely enough, a hand puppet….

The Grooms Speech – Ha!  Lots of Grooms stick to the usual narrative of how lucky they are, how beautiful the Bridesmaids look and they thank the respective Mothers for raising everyone to be nice people…. Not Adam.  I quite often have a tear in my eye listening to some speeches, Weddings are a very emotional time and I’m only human, but listening to Adam’s speech I was literally crying with laughter!  All I will say is that it’s not often that Chieftan Tanks make it into a wedding speech. 

Straight after the meal I spotted another break in the clouds.  Quickly grabbing Hayley and Adam we raced outside for a 5 minute stroll down the driveway.

Villa Levens has a secret up it’s sleeve.  Just down the hill from the Main House is the Pavillion, perfect for larger weddings and decorated like a marquee with huge glass walls overlooking the gardens.  After the Wedding Breakfast and speeches the guests made their way down to be entertained by 24/7 a pretty amazing band from Morecambe.

Hayley and Adam took to the floor for their first dance as Man and Wife to the sounds of Lonestar ‘Amazed’.

Dads dance with his little girl.

Adam showed some skill when he joined 24/7 to jam.

Before I finished I took Hayley and Adam outside for one last image before bidding them goodnight and starting the drive home.

Quite often I end a Wedding feeling like I know the couple so much better than before, sometimes I leave feeling like one of the family, this was one of those Weddings.  I had an absolute blast with Hayley & Adam and just wish we could do it again this weekend!