Real Weddings | Hazlewood Castle Wedding Photography | Emily and Harry’s Wedding
Emily and Harry’s summer wedding was at Hazlewood Castle near York. A fun and action filled day with a finale firework display near the marquee. Emily has provided more information about her wedingday, planning and all those things that made everything so perfect. read on for more
“Hazlewood Castle truly had everything we were looking for.”
You were married at Hazlewood Castle, what made Hazlewood Castle stand out for your wedding day?
“We looked at a couple of other wedding venues in and around Yorkshire, but when we visited Hazlewood Castle, it was exactly what we were looking for. From the picturesque grounds surrounding the castle, to the beautiful architecture and incredibly friendly staff, we instantly knew Hazlewood Castle was the perfect place for us to have the wedding day we dreamed off”
What was the theme for your wedding and how did you show this on the day?
“The theme of our wedding was timeless classic wedding supported by colourful floral arrangements. We showed this in our stationary, but also our cake from Dominique at Poppy Pickering. Dominique created a cake which perfectly encapsulated our theme, with a floral meadow of sugar flowers including roses, scabious, cosmos, stocks, rosebuds, sweet peas, and lisanthus.
The extra details of the white monogram of E&H and navy silk ribbon to match the tone of the bridesmaid dresses couldn’t have tied everything together more completely.”
Please tell me about the proposal, who proposed and where did it take place?
“Harry proposed just after I returned from a work trip from Berlin. 10th June 2023. We had dinner reservations out at our favourite restaurant, which I thought was just because of my week away. But little did I know, as I was getting made-up, Harry was getting the champagne ready. Once I came downstairs, he led me out into the garden where he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! It was perfect, we kept the news to ourselves for 24hrs before we begun to tell family and friends. “
Saying yes to the Dress – How long did it take to find “the one” and where did you find it?
“I didn’t have to look long and hard as I found my dress in the first bridal boutique I visited, Shade Bridal Boutique, Ruddington. I had done my research, and Shade was one of the places I felt was somewhere I’d find “the one”
Leading up to the appointment I was quite nervous. However, Emma, the owner of Shade, was so helpful and friendly at her luxurious boutique. I instantly felt at ease walking through her doors, making the whole day so fun and memorable.
In fact, I did not just choose one dress that day… I chose two – my main dress and my evening one! “The one” was the third dress I tried on, and I just knew when I looked in the mirror that it was the dress that I wanted to walk down the aisle in.
As Emma works closely with the wedding dress designers (Val Stefani), I was able to customise the back of my dress, turning it into a low V back, allowing my dress to be unique to me. My second wedding dress for the evening reception was very different to the first, a lot less detail, but equally as elegant and a lot lighter.
Both dresses were everything I could have dreamed of, but the uniqueness of the first was perfect for our romantic wedding day.”
Who provided your wedding flowers and what type of flowers / bouquet did you choose?
“Our wedding flowers were provided by Shindig Event Styling. Cristel and Joanna at Shindig helped bring our vision to life. While pastel colours were used for all the floor arrangements and centrepieces, hand tied arrangements of brighter florals made up the bouquets.
I wanted to make the bridesmaids bouquets a little more unique, with each bouquet made up of individual flowers representative of a flower specific to their birth months – bright pink carnations (January) and pink cosmos (October).
We were also able to have dog collars made up by Shindig, from the same fresh flowers as the bridal bouquet, for our two pooches that were able to be a part of our special day.”
What made your wedding day feel so personal to you?
When choosing anything for our wedding day, we tried to add personal touches to everything we included. From the unique bridesmaid floral arrangements, embroidered dog napkins, meaningful table names of those sat on that table, to a tablescape of previous loved ones on their wedding day, everything had a meaning and a place.
But if we had to choose, our favourite personal touch was having a live event illustrator, Katy Locke, sketch our wedding guests as wedding favours. We were able to ask Katy to sneak the pets of some of our guests into their illustrations as a little extra surprise.
Tell me about your first dance, which song did you dance to and why you chose it?
We danced to Ryan Mack, Forever and Ever and Always. This song was perfect for us as it effortlessly sums up our love we have for each other. It signifies a continuous and endless promise, loyalty, and love… almost replaying the vows we said to each other earlier in the day.
What were your highlight moments of the day and memories you’ll cherish forever?
The wedding ceremony was a dream, having all our closest friends and family being there in a beautiful space, full of emotion and the buzz of joy and love. It was very emotional seeing each other for the first time, the moment we had talked about, two years in the making. After the ceremony there was an “Wow, we are Married!” moment just outside the ceremony room as we clinched our glasses, when we realised, we were now husband and wife… we couldn’t be happier!
We had hired a Vintage Camper Van from Champagne Campers, which had an audio phone inside for guests to leave messages for us to listen back to later. Having the camper is a memory, I the bride will cherish forever as it was a surprise to my dad, who had the biggest smile on his face when he realised the camper was a surprise for him.
Another highlight from our perfect day was the Undercover Waiters – Michael and Adam. The performance captivated our wedding guests and had everyone on their feet, singing and dancing! It was so great looking around the room and seeing everybody having the best time! (montage of wedding photographs above show Michael and Adam at work with the guests joining in for their full performance)
To top off an incredible day, fireworks from the Fireworkers lighting up the sky over Hazlewood Castle marked the end to the most perfect day.
There are so many moments throughout the day that we will cherish!
Do you have any tips and advice for couples planning their wedding day?
When it comes to planning a wedding, everyone has opinions about how your wedding day should look. At the end of the day, it is your wedding day and you as a couple are the only two that should shape your dream day! Choose the things you want, make every decision together and love every second as it goes by very quickly. You only get to do it once, so enjoy every moment and celebrate every choice made. But do book wedding suppliers well in advance as the best ones get booked up!
Our biggest piece of advice however, to couples planning their wedding, is to focus on the things within your control. If something goes wrong or doesn’t go to plan, don’t dwell on them.
Your guests will not realise if there are certain things missing or different to what you planned –no matter what happens, you only get to do this day once which means anything and everything that happens makes it a perfect memorable day.
Your wedding gallery is quite big with well over 1000 photos to choose from, from which is your favorite and why?
It is nearly impossible choosing our favourite from our stunning wedding gallery – every photo has captured such a beautiful moment from our wedding day. If we had to pick one though, it is probably the one of us with all our bridal party.
This wedding photograph is particularly special to us as it captures all the love, joy and what mattered to us most on the day – being together with our favourite people. Our wedding day was made so special because of those who stood by our side.
Above: Emily and Harry’s favourite wedding photograph. A contemporary take on the bridal party wedding photo with the bride and groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen in the courtyard at Hazlewood Castle.
Wedding Photograph Album…
It’s always interesting to see what couples choose for their wedding photograph album cover. Despite only marrying recently, Emily and Harry have chosen the photographs fr their album and have this photo as the acrylic front cover
Emily and Harry’s chosen Wedding Suppliers:
Wedding venue: Hazlewood Castle
Wedding Photography: Chris Chambers
Emily’s Wedding Dresses: Emma @ Shade Bridal boutique
Venue Styling and Floristry: Shindig events
Camper Van and audio guest book: Champagne Campers
Wedding Cake: Poppy Pickering
Singing Waiters: Michael and Adam – The Undercover Waiters
Firework Display: The Fireworkers
A selection of images from Emily and Harry’s wedding day. Their wedding gallery reflects the style that Emily and Harry requested and the number of images (well over 1000) is indicative of the action packed day the couple and their wedding guests shared at Hazlewood Castle
