Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

I’d met Vicky at a couple of other weddings I’d photographed, and she’d liked my style and how I worked. So it was nice when she got in touch to enquire about my availability for her and Paul’s Falcon Hotel, Uppingham, wedding.

Their wedding, falling between Christmas and New Year, was at the lovely and historic Falcon Hotel in Uppingham, Rutland. Who doesn’t love a Christmas wedding, with all of the decorations and the (remote) off-chance of a bit of snow?

The Wedding Day Itself

Vicky was adamant that she didn’t want her bridal prep photographing, so I arrived about an hour before the ceremony time. Sharpe Faces from Peterborough had already finished Vicky’s make-up, and friends had helped with her hair.

The Falcon Hotel looked great, and the weather was OK, but only OK. It was pretty windy and there was the odd shower in the air, but it was supposed to be an improving picture.

Guest arrivals – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

A pre-ceremony drink – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Vicky was very much up for getting some pictures of the buttons being done up on her dress and some pictures with her girls and family ahead of the ceremony. Vicky’s dad, Andrew, took me on the winding route around the Falcon Hotel’s narrow accommodation corridors to the room in which she’d got ready.

The light in the room was really nice, and Vicky looked stunning and was incredibly chilled!

Vicky’s beautiful dress was another from Serendipity Brides in Weedon , who seem to be featuring a lot in my blogs at present!

Finishing touches to the bridal prep – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Vicky’s bridal bouquet, prepared by one of her friends

Wedding ready – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

A kiss for his daughter from the incredibly-proud Father-of-the-Bride – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The bride’s side of the family – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Back downstairs, all of the guests had arrived and everyone was about set!

Laughing guests – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Ceremony

The hugely talented Jess Orestano provided beautiful musical accompaniment to the afternoon, both prior to and after the ceremony.

Jess Orestano singing at the start of the Falcon Hotel Uppingham wedding ceremony

Jess Orestano playing guitar at the start of the Falcon Hotel Uppingham wedding ceremony

As a little heads up to other would-be Falcon Hotel Uppingham wedding photographers, just be aware that in the ceremony/wedding breakfast room (at the time of this wedding, at least) the lighting in use was producing very strange banding through the images. I fortunately noticed something was amiss at the time and changed how I was doing things a little (though I wouldn’t work out precisely what was going on until much later in the day – I initially feared I had a failing shutter on my hands. Given I carry three cameras with me to every wedding I photograph, this wouldn’t have been a huge problem, but I did start to get concerned when the effect was being replicated on those other bodies, too!). Greatly reducing the shutter speed to around 1/100^th of a second seemed to cure it.

The nervous wait – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The Mother-of-the-Bride adjusts her hat

Here comes the bride! – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

A very proud Father-of-the-Bride escorts his daughter down the aisle – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

That wasn’t my only distraction during the ceremony, however! Now, I always put my phone on to flight mode during a wedding ceremony (as I do overnight, and nothing EVER comes through until I take it back out of flight mode the next morning)…. As the registrar came to the official part of proceedings, the Google Maps lady chirped up with “In 50 yards, turn left!” Fortunately everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious (though I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me!). I guess the only thing that could have made it funnier was if she’d suggested turning around when possible! 😀 Note to self: Just turn the phone fully off for this part of the wedding day!

With this ring, I thee wed – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The bride’s turn – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The rest of the ceremony went smoothly, thankfully! 😀

You may kiss the bride! – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The registrar grabs a quick phone pic of the newlyweds! – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Canapes & Drinks Reception

Once everybody had had a glass and a nibble, we headed outside for a confetti shot. It had just about stopped raining.

Canapes – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding, Rutland

Congratulations! – by Uppingham wedding photographer Karl Drage

Confetti shot time! – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Back inside for a few group shots and a bit of a chill prior to the wedding breakfast.

Carefully picking the confetti out of the bride’s hair – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Selfie time – by Uppingham photographer Karl Drage

Informal group shots – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Boys being boys

Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Breakfast

The ceremony room had been turned around in time for the wedding breakfast, and it looked great.

The wedding breakfast room at the Falcon Hotel Uppingham

The wedding cake looked stunning and had been crafted by the super-talented Love Life Eat Cake from Oakham.

The stunning wedding cake from Love Life Eat Cake in Oakham – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Ladies and gentlemen, your bride and groom! – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Wedding day family photos – by Rutland family photographer Karl Drage

The bride does her rounds – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The food was amazing and was followed by three of the funniest, best received speeches I can ever recall hearing at a wedding!

The Father-of-the-Bride’s speech – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Brilliant wedding speech reactions

An amused Mother-of-the-Bride – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Paul takes a moment out from his speech to give his new wife a kiss – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Paul’s speech got his mum emotional – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The Best Man’s speech hits the mark – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

The Best Man strikes again! – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

After speeches, we had just enough time to squeeze in a sparkler shot before the evening guests arrived. The steps in the Falcon Hotel’s garden were perfect for setting that up.

Sparkler shot – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Sparkler kiss shot – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Falcon Hotel Uppingham Evening Reception

DJ for the evening was Ross Page from Big Bopper Entertainment, who kept the dancefloor jumping all night.

Vicky & Paul cut their wedding cake and then went straight into their first dance.

Cake cut – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

First Dance – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

Dancefloor action – Falcon Hotel Uppingham Wedding Photography

And that was me done for the day!

The above represents just a tiny fraction of the images delivered from Vicky & Paul’s amazing day.

Wishing the happy couple all the very best for the future.

SEARCHING FOR YOUR OWN WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER?

If you’ve not already done so, please take a look at my WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGES – Karl Drage, Northampton Wedding Photographer.

For more information on what happens when you decide you want me to photograph your wedding, please see: WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY by Karl Drage – How I Work

While every wedding is different, there are certain elements which are usually broadly similar. Take a look at a typical wedding day to get a feel for the primarily documentary wedding photography style I’m likely to employ for your big day.

There’s much more work involved in photographing a wedding than just rocking up and taking the pictures. I’ve put together this guide to explain why wedding photography can seem expensive but it’s really not.

I’ve also put together this wedding photography FAQ list and my responses – Questions you should ask a wedding photographer!