Matty & Lottie at Casterton Grange

Casterton Grange is a Victorian house with a tower, at Casterton just outside Kirkby Lonsdale, in the bit of Cumbria that sits between the Lakes and the Dales. The estate is hired as a whole for a marquee wedding, so the house, the lawn and the field above were all Matty and Lottie’s for the day, and a stretch tent on the lawn did the job of a church. We drove up from Poulton early with the sky undecided, which is July up there.

Lottie got ready in the house. The bridesmaids were in sage, the bouquets were calla lilies, and the white hydrangeas along the front were out, so the first photographs of the girls together took care of themselves: stone, green dresses, white flowers, soft light off a bright sky. No reflector, nowt fancy.

The ceremony was under the stretch tent, cream canvas with fairy lights strung across it and a tall hedge behind. Cream canvas is kind. It takes the hard top light out and warms what is left, so faces look the way they do by a window. One of us stood at the front for Lottie’s face as Matty turned round. The other was at the back for the guests, and that is the frame with the front row in their hats and the whole tent clapping at the kiss. One photographer has to pick. Two don’t.

Confetti was on the gravel path outside, with the hedges either side funnelling everyone in. Then drinks, and a lot of time with the grandparents, which is our favourite part of any wedding. The frame of the two of them laughing with their heads together in the garden, in front of the hydrangeas, is the one we would print for the grandparents’ table.

We can tell you what the light did at four o’clock. The cloud thinned, the sun came through over the fells, and the hay meadow above the house turned gold. We walked Matty and Lottie up there for ten minutes while the room was turned round for the meal. The wind took Lottie’s veil, the house and the tower sat in the trees below, and the hills behind went light and dark as the cloud moved. That is the photograph at the top of this page. It was not planned to the minute, but we had looked at the field and knew which way it faced.

The one thing to borrow: if your venue has a field above it, ask your photographer to walk it before the ceremony. Ten minutes in the right spot at the right hour beats an hour anywhere else. The evening ran on under the lights along the garden path, and we stayed through the first dance.