Oakham Castle wedding photography
Zoê and Chris had a winter wedding on the 27th December with the ceremony at Oakham Castle and the reception at The William Cecil in Stamford. I arrived to take some photographs of Zoê’s preparations at the William Cecil before driving across to Oakham. Both Stamford and Oakham are beautiful towns, the drive between them takes in views across Grafham water which was sparkling in the winter sun.
Oakham Castle has a long history, built around 1180, the section that remains was the Great Hall of the original building. The castle resembles a church in appearance and is licensed for civil wedding ceremonies. Entrance is through a gateway from Oakham Market Place. The building is owned by Rutland County Council. On entering Oakham Castle you can’t help but notice the horseshoes, all two hundred and thirty of them which cover all of the walls. A long standing tradition is that any visitor to Oakham should forfeit a horseshoe to the lord of the manor, although looking at most of the horseshoes I was left wondering if they had giant horses.
I found the groom Chris making some final preparations and putting out the orders of service before the guests started to arrive. With everybody seated I waited outside in the beautiful light for Zoê to arrive for the wedding ceremony.
After the ceremony Zoê and Chris greeted their guests outside Oakham Castle before getting in the car for the journey to Stamford. On route they stopped at the gatehouse to Burghley House for a couple of photographs as the sun started to set. We were incredibly lucky with the weather as a few minutes before it had been raining.
The reception was at The William Cecil in Stamford, last time I was here the wedding was in a marque in the garden on a warm summer day. Today the wedding was entirely inside the hotel. Guests gathered for drinks and were entertained by a fantastic magician. Dinner and speeches followed and my coverage ended with the first dance.
