A Cranage Hall Wedding | Rachel & Andy

Rachel and Andrew got in touch last year looking for a wedding photographer for their big day at Cranage Estate Hall Hotel. We caught up over coffee and then Rachel and Andy asked me if I’d come along for the ride. It’s been a long time since I’d been to Cranage Hall so it was nice to return for this day.

Myself and Rachel share a keen interest in all things Disney and their day also carried subtle notes of it also. I think one of my favourite things was Rachel’s hen do at Disneyland Paris where her friends dressed her up as Cinderella pre and post-ball. Utter brilliance. Her wedding dress on the day only carried on this theme with the main criteria of “sparkle” bombastically fulfilled with a gorgeous dress from Roberta’s Bridal. As I said the rest of the day only carried subtle notes and one of them was their table and place names in Disney font from VM Bespoke.

How the Day Unfolded

I met up with Rachel, her family and her bride tribe at her home in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. With it being an early service at 12:00 I got to her parent’s home at 10:00. No matter how big her parent’s home it was still going to be small with this bride tribe about. With 4 Bridesmaids, 1 Man of Honour, 1 Maid of Honour and a Flower Girl there was action flying around everywhere as Mel from Glo Bridal worked her magic. I always love it a little more snug in the morning as everyone gets used to me.

Shortly after my arrival, I was off to meet Andy at Our Lady & St Werburgh’s. Dressed in Moss Bro’s suits and small sunflowers button holes from Possibilities Florist the guys were ready to go. I love the photograph I took between two Groomsmen framing Andy having his button hole attached. After the service, Rachel and Andy had signed the register in a very dark side chapel and were just waiting for their witnesses to complete their part. They positioned themselves in front of these stained glass windows and I couldn’t pass up the chance to capture the moment. It’s so perfect it looks staged.

Once arriving at Cranage Hall we had a little wander, a bit of ice cream and a good chit-chat before the wedding breakfast. Soon after the wedding breakfast had finished we went for another wander. As I always say this is my favourite point in the day to do this as the sun is at it’s a most interesting position. I saw a tree line as I was driving in and determined I wanted to do something with it. Approaching from under one of the biggest trees I could see the way the light hit the leaves and was cast down on the floor and I knew I just wanted to do something with it. Cranage Hall definitely has some bits where you think “Ooo that’d be nice for photographs” and the beauty of this shot is no one would ever look at this area and think it would be good for photographs. I like to think this photograph carries some subtle fairytale vibes which link back to the underlining love of Disney of Rachel. It sure does look magical after all.

Cranage Hall Wedding Photographer

Luckily enough Tom from Our Big Day on Film was also along for the ride on this day also. Rachel & Andy had looked for a videographer following asking me the ever popular question “Should we have video at our wedding?”

Personally it’s everyones own choice but I will provide some insight for my couples should they ever ask. It would obviously be a lovely thing to have but you have to be careful.

Luckily for me Tom was an utter pro and at times I could capture the candids more discreetly whilst everyone was distracted by him. Then the same also worked vice versa meaning we both got what we wanted from the day.

On the other hand this could have gone the other way. Had they hired an inexperienced videographer then being a Cranage Hall wedding photographer would have been made so much harder.