Not every wedding needs a hundred and fifty guests. Susan and Matt came to the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey to elope, with Susan's mum and Matt's son as their witnesses and their dog Billy in attendance. They wanted the North Yorkshire countryside and a day with only their nearest in the room. It is one of the smallest weddings I have photographed and one of the most emotional.
"A wedding party of four, and by the end everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. Guest lists do not decide how much a wedding means."
The VenueWhat the Devonshire Arms gives you
- iWhere it sits. A 4-star AA hotel on the Bolton Abbey estate, thirty thousand acres of it, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and in the Devonshire family since 1733. You are photographing inside a country house, not a function suite.
- iiInside and out both work. That is rarer than it sounds. Plenty of venues give you one good room and a car park. Here there were more places to take a portrait than we needed.
- iiiIt suits a small wedding. Four function rooms, so an intimate ceremony does not rattle around in a ballroom built for two hundred.
- ivDogs. Billy was there for it. If your dog is part of the family, ask the venue.
A Real ElopementSusan & Matt, four people and a dog
A Yorkshire Dales elopement has no running order, no top table and no receiving line. They wanted it quiet, and that is what they got.
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Why they eloped
They wanted the countryside and they wanted it small, with only the people closest to them in the room. That was the whole brief.
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The witnesses
Susan's mother and Matt's son. Two people, which is the legal minimum, and both of them the right two.
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The ceremony
Everyone in the room ended up with tears in their eyes. A small room concentrates it in a way a hundred and fifty guests never quite manage.
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Portraits, with time to spare
This is the upside of a tiny wedding: nobody is waiting for you. We used the inside of the hotel and the grounds outside without ever feeling rushed.
"An elopement is not a smaller version of a wedding. It is a different thing, and the whole day belongs to the two of you instead of to a timeline."
PricingElopements and full days
A full day at the Devonshire Arms starts from £1,800, with no travel charge anywhere in Yorkshire, the Dales included. Elopements and small weddings usually need far less than a full day, and the shorter options are on the pricing page.
More Small WeddingsIf you are thinking of eloping
Stacey and Ian's Whitby elopement is the other end of the county and the same idea. For a registry office version, see Gill and Geoff at Hexham.
