They got married on Valentine's Day. Well done, Euan, I said — there is no way that man is ever forgetting an anniversary. Then February handed them a clear sky and low sun, which is not what you plan for when you book a winter wedding in Halifax. You plan for rain and hope for this.
"I always know the singing waiter is coming. The groom almost never does."
The VenueWhat the house gives you
- iA Jacobean manor, and it looks it. Blackened stone, mullioned windows, ivy on the gable. The house dates back to 1633 and the front of it takes a picture without any help from me.
- iiGardens that still work in February. A flagged path runs straight out from the house between clipped box hedges and stone spheres, and there is a wrought-iron gazebo at the far end. Bare trees, but the structure is all evergreen, so it never looks like a garden waiting for spring.
- iiiWinter suits it. A winter wedding here is not the consolation prize. Open fires, stone fireplaces, small reception rooms and a quiet garden. There are rooms upstairs and parking on site, so nobody is watching the clock for a taxi.
- ivThe rest is in the guide. Ceremony spaces, timings, where I put people — that's all in my Holdsworth House wedding photography guide. This page is one day.
A Real Day HereSarah & Euan, February
Here is how it ran.
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Getting ready
Sarah at one of the old windows. The walls in a house this age are thick, so the light comes in from one side and falls away fast. I don't need to bring anything to a window like that.
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The walk in
They had dressed the flagged passage with arches of pink blossom and small lights, so the walk through it was already a picture before anybody moved. Pink ran through the whole day.
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Out into the sun
This is the bit February owed them. We went out to the path in front of the house first, then down to the iron gazebo with the sun coming through it. Winter light stays low, so the good light is long and soft rather than a short panic at sunset. Cold, mind.
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The singing waiter
Sarah had booked one and hadn't told Euan. He hadn't the first clue right up to the moment the man in the waistcoat put a microphone to his mouth. The look on Euan's face is on this page somewhere.
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Sparklers
Outside under the festoon lights at the end of the night, everyone in two lines. Both of them came through it laughing rather than posing, which is the only version of that picture worth having.
"Winter here means the light goes early. Put the portraits in the afternoon rather than after the meal, and the gardens do the rest."
PricingA full day at Holdsworth House
A full day of Holdsworth House wedding photography starts from £1,800, with no travel charge anywhere in Yorkshire. The pricing page has what's included and the shorter options.
Sarah & Euan's SuppliersWho made the day
Venue: Holdsworth House, Holdsworth Road, Halifax. Singing waiter: Julian Cannonier — the best I have watched do that job, and I have watched a few.
