Ashley and James beuatiful Waterton Park wedding day - Yorkshire Wedding Photographer

We recently photographed Ashley and Jame’s beautiful Yorkshire wedding at Waterton Park Hotel. What a fantastic day! Below you will find some of our favourite images, all taken in our natural style – no posing, no staging, just Ashley and James and all their guess having the time of their life. Plus Ashley and James talk through how they planned their stunning wedding – thanks so much for taking the time to write such lovely words about your big day both of you!

How did you pick your venue? As soon as James asked me to marry him I knew I wanted to get married at Waterton Park. I had seen the venue a year or so beforehand and thought it looked amazing. But I wanted to let James have some input so we drove to a couple of venues and looked around the grounds and, without telling him my preference, I asked James to pick which one he preferred. I was secretly praying he would pick the right one and he did! We booked to attend their open day to properly look around and we just fell in love. We knew that this was the place that we wanted to spend our special day.

Tell us about your dress! My dress was designed by Enzoani from their Blue collection and I purchased it from Holmes & Co in Tickhill. This was the second boutique that I had visited and the day was arranged by my maid of honour. I had already chosen a dress at the other shop but tried to keep an open mind. When I tried the dress on it looked beautiful and adding the tiara and veil made it feel perfect. I knew it was the one as my mum was overcome with tears and had to leave the shop because she had become so emotional!

How did you two meet? James and I went to the same high school. He was a year above me. We didnt really know one another at school, although I knew who he was. I started working in my local working mens club and James started working for the partner of a good friend of mine. He would come into the club after work and on weekends and we eventually became involved in the same social circle. We almost got together at Christmas 2012 but life took over and things didnt work out. We went on our first date in May 2013 to a local restaurant. James had ordered steak and, as he had broken his arm, I had to cut his meal for him so that he could eat it. He tells me that he knew at that point that I was the person for him.

How did you plan your day? I was pleasantly surprised that planning the wedding was not stressful at all. I think it helped that we had about 2 1/2 years to plan it and booked the venue straight away. We booked the majority of our suppliers in the first year so all we had to do in the lead up to the wedding was confirm our choices. We also tried to book suppliers who were local which helped when meeting up to discuss ideas and plans. We knew the colour scheme was going to be navy and blush from the start which also made it easier to select decor and flowers.

The magician: we had a last minute hitch with the magician that we had booked but Darren stood in and did an amazing job (we have worked with Darren many times and we can concur – he’s an amazing magician!) Our guests were definitely impressed. The day itself was amazing from start to finish but just went way too fast. If we could do it all again we certainly would.

Your favourite moments on the day: James’ favourite moment of the day was seeing me walk down the aisle, although he wasnt keen on the waiting part! Mine has to be leaving the ceremony as a married couple and being introduced to our friends and family as Mr and Mrs Bradley. The best mans speech was also a highlight! Overall though, both of us feel that the best part of the whole day was seeing all of our family and friends celebrating together and sharing the enjoyment of our special day.

A special mention for some of Ashley and Jame’s fantastic suppliers: We had a wealth of amazing suppliers who all helped to make our special day everything that we had hoped. We must thank Sparkle and Shine for all of their hard work in dressing the venue so perfectly, Peri Bakes for her amazing cake and Buttercups Florist for my beautiful bouquet and flowers. We would definitely recommend all three.

Big thanks to Kayley Wright and Eleanor Moxon for making the bridesmaids and I feel a million dollars. It was a very early start! We also need to say a huge thanks to Darren Mac Magic for his amazing performance and for stepping in at such short notice.

We chose La Fox to perform at our wedding after seeing him on a night out. We knew straight away that we wanted him to entertain our guests and perform the song for our first dance. It was perfect and everything that we had hoped it would be. We must finally give a special mention to my cousin Daniel Watson who worked throughout the day filming our special day and my auntie Dawn whose craft skills were invaluable in ensuring we had invitations, place cards, table numbers and favours!

Ashley and James left us the following words as a testimonial for our images of their day: We cannot thank M and G Photographic enough for our amazing wedding photographs. We are simply overwhelmed with the quality and continue to see photographs in new lights every time we look at them. They are such a talented, professional and friendly team. They manage to strike the correct balance of blending into the background and being around when you need them. Nothing was too much trouble. We honestly would not have wanted anyone else to share and photograph our special day.