A Spring Wedding at Ripley Castle, North Yorkshire: A Hazy Sunset by the Lake
After the speeches, we walked Caroline and Michael down towards the lake at Ripley Castle. The sun was sinking into a haze over the water and flaring through the trees. Caroline’s long veil was catching the light, and Michael, in his morning coat, had her hand in his. With a beautiful dress, a dapper suit and an awesome couple, there really wasn’t much more we could have asked for.
Ripley Castle: a 14th-century castle near Harrogate
Ripley Castle stands a few miles north of Harrogate, next to the estate village of Ripley. It has been in the Ingilby family since the early 1300s, when the estate came to Sir Thomas Ingilby as part of Edeline Thweng’s dowry. The castle is Grade I listed, with a gatehouse finished in 1450, a Tudor tower and rooms that look out over the lakes and the deer park. Oliver Cromwell even spent a night here after the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.
For years the East Wing and estate offices were run as a wedding and events venue, and for photographers it had everything: old stone, walled gardens and that lake. In June 2024 the family announced they were selling the estate, and all weddings from 2025 were cancelled. So this post is a look back at a venue we loved photographing.
A sunny morning at the Boar’s Head
Spring 2014 had already been far kinder to us than the year before. It’s very British to open with the weather, we know. But Caroline was getting ready at the Boar’s Head hotel in Ripley village, and arriving with the sun out, it was hard not to feel upbeat.
Caroline told me she’d be eating as much breakfast as humanly possible that morning, and I knew straight away we’d get on. Whenever we stayed in a hotel when I was a kid, that was an unwritten family rule: fill up until you can barely move, then head out for the day’s adventures. As it turned out, everyone we spoke to that day was the kind of person we got on with, which always makes our job that much easier.
Her dress hung on the wardrobe door beside the floral curtains, and she reached up to straighten it in the light from a tall arched window. Later she knelt at a long mirror in her dressing gown to finish her make-up. Michael pulled on his socks and settled his cravat while someone held out his coat.
A little visitor and a veil on the stairs
Caroline was soon in her strapless lace dress, with pearls and a sparkle in her hair. A little girl in a white cardigan came to inspect the white bouquet on the bed. Caroline bent right down to her level, which is exactly the kind of moment we love to catch.
Then came one of our favourite frames of the day. At the top of the staircase, Caroline paused with one hand on the striped wallpaper and the other on the banister. Her veil fell down her back, and her dress spilled over the steps behind her.
Golden light in the castle grounds
Later on, the grounds were glowing. The two of them sat on a wooden bench under the low branches of a huge old tree, with spring flowers along the garden wall and the lawn lit gold. We mostly just let them talk. Then we followed the path to the water as the sun went down.
Seeing them walk hand in hand towards the lake, it was easy to see why they had chosen the castle.
Why we loved a wedding at Ripley Castle
Looking back, here’s what made Ripley such a good place to photograph, and what we’d still look for in an estate wedding near Harrogate:
- Water and low sun. Saving portraits for after the speeches meant we caught the lake at its hazy, golden best.
- A village on the doorstep. Getting ready at the Boar’s Head, in the village beside the castle, kept the morning relaxed and the travelling to a minimum.
- Character indoors. Arched windows, patterned wallpaper and an old staircase gave us moody, beautiful pictures before anyone stepped outside.
- Spring is underrated. Flowers in the beds, the first leaves on the trees and a soft evening glow suit a historic estate perfectly.
Planning your own wedding near Harrogate?
See more on our Ripley Castle weddings page, find other venues close by on our Harrogate wedding photography page, browse our Yorkshire wedding photography, or get in touch to check your date.
