"No other guests. No strangers wandering through your photographs. Just a wedding party and a whole castle."
I have photographed a fair few castle weddings, Peckforton in Cheshire more than most, and they usually come with a catch: you are sharing the building with the hotel guests. Erica and Rob's Langley Castle wedding was different. They had the whole place, and it changes how a day feels from the first hour.
The Venue Langley Castle, Northumberland
Langley Castle is a 14th-century castle in the Northumberland countryside, a long drive north of my usual patch. The sun turned out for them, which up there is not a given. Inside it is still stone, and stone needs light of its own.
Exclusivity What Having The Place To Yourself Does
Venues sell exclusive use as a luxury. It is really a practical thing. Nobody queues behind you on the staircase. Nobody appears in the background of the confetti. You can take fifteen minutes in a corridor without a stranger walking through the frame, and the whole party relaxes because the building is theirs for the day.
The Evening A Country Rock First Dance
The evening reception was the part I would keep. The sun went down behind the castle and the room let go. After dark you are lighting stone rather than leaning on the sun, which is the bit I enjoy. The Country Rocks Band opened the first dance with country rock rather than the ballad everyone expects, and it set the tone for the rest of the night.
"A castle photographs itself in daylight. It is after dark, when you have to bring your own light to a room made of stone, that you find out whether your photographer can do it."
The day at a glance: ceremony and reception at Langley Castle, Northumberland, with exclusive use of the castle. Music by The Country Rocks Band.
One more thing: Gill was Erica's hairstylist that morning. Months later she booked me for her own day, and Gill and Geoff's Hexham Registry Office wedding is a few miles down the road from here. For another castle day closer to home, see Peckforton Castle.
