Waterton Park is in my hometown, and I have photographed a lot of weddings there. It is really two places sharing one landscape: Walton Hall, the historic house out on the island, and the more modern hotel on the mainland. You can marry in either.
The hall was the home of Charles Waterton, the naturalist, which is where the name comes from. What matters to a photographer is simpler than that: there is water on every side of it.
"I photographed a wedding here during the Beast from the East. The pictures are some of my favourites from that whole year."
The VenueWhat Waterton Park gives a photographer
- iAn island, and a lake all the way round. Water on every side means open sky and a clean horizon in whatever direction the light happens to be doing something. Very few venues near Wakefield can offer that.
- iiThe hall from the drive. Georgian stone at the end of a gravel walk. Stand at the far end, put the two of you in the doorway, and the building does the framing.
- iiiThe iron gates. Ornate wrought iron worked into a tree pattern. Photograph people standing inside them and you get a frame within a frame without having to invent one.
- ivIt genuinely works in winter. Snow on the grass in front of a stone hall is a better group photograph than the same group on a lawn in July, and the lake at four o'clock in February beats it at eight in June. If you are choosing a date, do not write off the cold months here.
Two practical things worth knowing. Bridal preparations happen in the Gamekeeper's Cottage, which is its own building rather than a hotel room. And the venue will run a wedding for as few as six people, so this is not only a big-day venue.
The Winter OneThe Beast from the East
The set on this page is mostly from a wedding I shot in deep winter, during the storm everyone remembers.
The whole guest list came out and stood on snow in front of the hall for the group photograph. The bride wore a white fur cape over her dress and we walked down to the lake as the light went. It is the coldest I have ever been at work and it produced pictures I would not have got in better weather.
"Book the lake for last light whatever month you are in. It is the thing this venue has that the others round here do not."
PricingA full day at Waterton Park
A full day of Waterton Park wedding photography starts from £1,800, with no travel charge anywhere in Yorkshire. The pricing page has what's included and the shorter options.
SuppliersSeen at Waterton Park
- VenueWaterton Park Hotel & Walton Hall
- FlowersMichelle's Flowers
- CakeKelly's Cake Kitchen
- CakeDreamcatcher Cakes by Tracy-Anne
- StylingCushty Chair Covers
- CarsIvy Wedding Cars
