Highfield House Wedding Photography - inspiration shoot

As a documentary wedding photographer, we’d never considered doing a styled shoot before. Our whole ethos is based on not posing and not staging moments – we just let weddings happen and photograph it all naturally. Our tag line is of course: Don’t Get Posed – Get Married! However, we wanted to showcase the alternative and contemporary stylings that some amazing local suppliers offer – also, we wanted to go back to The Highfield House, the stunning wedding venue in Driffield East Yorkshire. So, the idea for this shoot was born!

Though now based in Cottingham, East Yorkshire, we are both from and around Driffield originally. We both grew up with The Highfield House going through various incarnations, different owners and at times, periods of disuse. It was always the most grand and beautiful building in the town and it’s fantastic that it is now being used to it’s full potential. We photographed the first wedding when The Highfield House reopened a few years ago, but the inside of the house was still being renovated at that time (so it was a marquee wedding – what a day it was too!) Therefore this was our first time getting to use the inside of the house. And wow – it really is beautiful! We now have more weddings booked at The Highfield House and cannot wait to photograph them.

So, as documentary wedding photographers, how did we approach a styled shoot? Well for starters, we shot the day like we would do a wedding – we first captured some beautiful details, and then when photographing our model Zara, there was no posing or direction from us, we just let Zara do her thing! Just like at a wedding, we followed her around the amazing interior and exterior of The Highfield House as she stopped and looked altogether fabulous at every turn. This shoot was definitely more staged than a wedding, however, the way we shot it did not change.

Also, we stopped calling the shoot a styled shoot between ourselves – we called it an inspiration shoot instead! This is as we wanted to inspire couples by using bold colours, showing some alternative ideas and above all working with fantastic suppliers who we knew would inspire others – we find them all so inspirational ourselves after all. So we invited the following amazing contemporaries to be part of the shoot: Floral and Lace (florist), Belle Bijoux (venue styling), AG Hair (hair stylist), Kate Marshall (make up), Grace Eva Cakes (wedding cake), Halo and Co (jewellery and accessories), Deborah Moore Bridal (wedding dresses), Florida Marquees (rustic tables and chairs), Really Rosie (stationary). A huge thanks to everyone for getting involved – it really was a collaboration, every single one of the suppliers we worked with are so very talented and creative. We are so happy that everything came together as planned and we are thrilled with the results. We cannot recommend all of the above suppliers enough to any brides or grooms – if you’re getting married in Yorkshire, we really recommend you get in touch with them! You’ll find their instagram handles at the end of this blog.

The biggest thanks has to go to The Highfield House for letting us use their amazing East Yorkshire Wedding Venue and their beautiful grounds for the shoot. We can’t thank the team at Highfield enough and can’t wait to shoot at your beautiful venue again soon.

On the day, Hollie took care of 99% of the photography, with Patrick assisting (and looking after our youngest photographer and son, Harrison – at one, this was his first day at work with us, aside from all the hours he spends playing while we edit!) Here is just a small preview of the shoot. We hope you find looking through the images to be inspiring when planning your own wedding day! Hollie and Patrick Mateer – M and G Photographic.