Skipton wedding at Yorkshire Dale's Coniston Hotel
If you’re looking for a Yorkshire Dale’s wedding venue with stunning views, the Coniston Hotel in Skipton provides just that. Joe and Katie’s summer wedding was perfect! They wanted a laid back country wedding with documentary style photography to capture they’re wedding day naturally. They are such a lovely, likeable couple and was quite eager to get in the rowing boat on the picturesque Coniston lake. All this made it such a perfect day for me to capture too. I caught up with Joe and Katie after their wedding, here’s an interview about their Yorkshire Dale’s country wedding at the Coniston Hotel.
Tell us about the proposal
We got engaged at Catgill campsite near Bolton Abbey. A romantic proposal in summer overlooking the beautiful valley with a hot tub and log fire! Perfect!
To start off, do you have any advice for couples in the wedding planning stages?
Do exactly what YOU want to do as a couple. It is your day, nobody else’s, so don’t let anyone tell you how you should do it.
Why did you pick Kildwick Church and the Coniston Hotel?
We both really wanted a church wedding, so we chose our local Parish church of Kildwick. A beautiful old Church of England Chapel with Bells! Followed by a reception at our all-time favourite – The Coniston Hotel near Skipton. We chose The Coniston because the location is stunning, the food is amazing and the staff are fabulous, plus the grounds and lake reflect our love of the great outdoors!
How did you feel as you walked down the aisle/ waited for your bride?
Katie: I felt very calm and happy, and totally delighted to see so many familiar faces after not seeing some of them for over 2 years due to covid. An overwhelming happiness at spotting all my loved ones as I walked down the aisle, and then when I saw Joe, we just beamed at each other!
Joe: I felt incredible excitement waiting for Katie and was so lovely to chat to friends and family in the build-up. But of course, seeing Katie at the top of aisle beaming at me, was the best moment. We were both incredibly nervous at the church rehearsal the day before, but all nerves thankfully disappeared on the day!
Was there anything you wish you’d known before?
Katie: Not really. I wore my watch the entire day which meant I could keep an eye on the time and not feel like the day was running away!
What was the most important wedding investments for you and why?
Wedding Photographer!! We really wanted someone who could capture our day to reflect our relaxed personalities –which Gemma did perfectly. We also wanted a cracking band, so we had to choose the Marc & Abi band as Joe plays regularly with them. We knew everyone would have a great time enjoying their music and the dancefloor was full all night.
Often the aspect that makes a wedding original to the couple is the detail, tell us about the details of your day.
Joe: We really wanted a relaxed, country wedding with some modern twists on a traditional wedding. Katie walked down the aisle to music that I had composed, which made it super personal. We wanted the day to reflect our personalities, so we tried to ensure that nothing was over-planned and the day was relaxed. We chose local people and wedding suppliers, as we wanted to support our local area. Weddings can be very expensive, but we did as much as we could ourselves, whilst calling on some highly talented local people for flowers, band and of course – our fabulous photographer – Gemma!
One stand-out detail from our day was our decision to ask our close family to bake cakes for our wedding cake, instead of having one large cake. This idea went down a storm. Soon 6 requested cakes, turned into a bake off! It was a great talking point of our wedding and involved us cutting not one, but the whole table of cakes!
Is there anything you’d like to add?
We had the best wedding day – surrounded by our loved ones, our wedding photos fill our house and we love looking back over them. One word of advice – take some time out during the day as a couple, to enjoy the day together. We had a sweetheart top table, for just the two of us, which was a really nice way of just taking stock of the day together, whilst looking out at a room full of the people we love.
If you’re getting married at a Yorkshire Dale’s wedding venue or looking for a Yorkshire wedding photographer, do say hello
Wedding suppliers:
Yorkshire Photographer: Gemma Suckley Photographer & Second Photographer Kirsten Platt Photography
Wedding Venue: The Coniston Hotel
Florist: Flowers Abloom
HMUA: Beauty in bloom
Band: Marc & Abi Band
Location: Coniston Cold in North Yorkshire