Beautiful rainy wedding photos at Orton Hall
/ORTON HALL WEDDING VENUE, ORTON LONGUEVILLE, PETERBOROUGH, PE2 7DN
If it rains, dance in the rain; if you trip over, laugh; if you feel emotional, cry without shame. Nathan and Danie's wedding at Orton Hall Hotel & Spa had this fantastically positive and relaxed vibe.
But I nearly never made it to their beautiful wedding and Nathan and Danie nearly saw each other before the ceremony…
Their wedding was potentially going to clash with our holiday overseas to see my in-laws. Nathan and Danie patiently waited for me to sort dates with the in-laws and get our flights booked.
In the end we managed to juggle some dates and booked it in. However, it meant I would be leaving for a month long holiday 3 days after the wedding - not long enough to edit all their photographs (Although I edited as many as I could before I left and a bunch on our hols too).
As with all things Nathan and Danie were so kind, patient and understanding and were happy to wait. If I could clone my weddings clients these guys would be ideal!
Speaking of ideal - Orton Hall in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire is a beautiful venue inside and out and it’s just 10 minutes from my house.
And so, onto the wedding…
Although the rain poured and so did the tears, we danced, cried and laughed with reckless abandon. Here’s how it went down…
When I arrived I called Danie to let her know I was photographing the details in Orton Hall’s Great Room where the reception would be. Danie said she wanted to run down and see me. 5 seconds after we hung up the phone Nathan arrived and started chatting with me. Eeek - I had to politely tell him to ‘do one!’ As I didn’t want to get blamed for Danie seeing him. Sure enough one of the groomsmen had to virtually rugby tackle Danie to stop her coming round the corner.
When I went up stairs the bridesmaids were still chilling in bed! I did say this was a relaxed wedding!
The highlight of the morning was seeing Danie’s dad getting so emotional when he saw her in her wedding dress for the first time. It turned out he’s famous for shedding happy tears and the guests were rather ruthless about this fact. For example, they piled tissues by his dinner setting and then told him they were running a sweep stake to see how long it would take him to cry during his speech. Whoever had 4 seconds would have won! But in fairness I’d like to defend my fellow crier! Tears show how much he cares and I’d much rather see tears than a look of boredom or a sour face.
The ceremony was in the Orton Hall conservatory which offers a lovely light and airy feel - ideal for a wedding in December on a gloomy day.
Though the ceremony Nathan beamed and Danie looked radiant. They just glowed with love, bless them.
One thing that wasn’t glowing was the sun. It set shortly after the ceremony and then it proceeded to rain like an apocalyptic monsoon! Luckily I got 90% of the group photos done before that happened, but finished them off inside except…
…we hadn’t done the bridesmaids and groomsmen or the romantic photographs.
Luckily I had a plan B - Orton Hall have a new pagoda for outdoor weddings so I used that. For a couple of the romantic photos I used my special vintage wedding umbrellas and the effect the rain made when combined with my elaborate lighting setup was probably better than anything I could have done on a sunny day.
It wasn’t easy though as it was pitch black and raining so hard I couldn’t see the settings on my gear and my lighting equipment was starting to malfunction as it was so wet.
But it was worth it and my gear recovered.
The funniest part of the evening was when all the guests did the birdie song right in Nathan’s face - he passionately hates that song!
I left thinking that this wedding was the perfect example of what’s important about a wedding. It’s not the weather or whether everything goes perfectly - it’s about the people. When everyone is determined to smile and enjoy themselves nothing can stop the positive vibes.
Below are some more of my favourites from the day. Please like and share and comment at the bottom of the page as it helps my Google ranking - I’d really appreciate it.
Oh and finally - Danie, I still have your moisturiser!
Don't ask people, don't ask...
A huge shout out goes to the following people:
Adam the best man who was an incredibly helpful legend all day;
Orton Hall Hotel. Here are more of my Orton Hall wedding photos.
Helen and Dilly & Taylor who made Orton Hall look even more stunning than usual.
Stephanies Flowers for the beautiful floristry,
Labelle boutique for Danie's rocking dress
Hannah Spendelow Bridal Makeup for the makeup (apparently there was nothing she could do for me! ;-)
The Purple Pumpkin Cake Company. Bespoke cake design for the gorgeous cake.
