Corfe Castle wedding – Lydia & Tim

Reportage wedding photography at a Corfe Castle wedding

A Corfe Castle wedding. Bit misleading in a way that phrase, the wedding wasn’t in the castle itself. Corfe Castle is also the name of the village that sits at the base of the ruins.

A strategic gap in the Purbeck hills, gateway to the Purbeck Isle. One of the most recognisable landmarks in Dorset (England, even) and one of the earliest Norman castles made in stone. Must have been some unruly local Saxons in the area? (My surname is Anglo-Saxon, so I might have been jeering the Norman builders too?) It was there to oversee and if necessary, block a route to and from the coast.

For Lydia and Tim, this wedding was far from their home in Perth, Australia. Guests came from around the world for this celebration. The weather, as it often does, decided to show them it’s less than perfect English summer setting. Cloudy. July is confused this year.

Coverage begins in the home of Lydia’s parents, in nearby seaside town, Swanage. The ceremony in the centre of Corfe Castle village, just a few miles away, in the parish church, St Edward’s (King & Martyr). It is named after St Edward the Martyr who was murdered in 978AD on the orders of Queen Alfthryth, his stepmother. The story goes that his body was hidden in a hovel where a blind woman discovered it. Her sight was restored when she found the body. This is where the present church stands. Pre-Norman drama. Pre the stone castle.

During the English Civil War, the Parliamentarians, laying siege to the castle, used the church as a stables. They blew up the castle and the locals grabbed bits to build their homes in the village. Nowadays, the church has something rare, a genuinely friendly and helpful CofE Revd. He even let me park my car in the driveway of his rectory during the service – big thumbs up!! 🙂

So to the wedding…

Lydia was late.

So by the time everyone came out of the church, did the confetti run, hugged the bride and groom and made their way to the red routemaster bus, another set of wedding guests were waiting to make their way into the church. No rest for the vicar. The bus took everyone to Kingston Country Courtyard, a B&B complex overlooking Corfe. Drinks outside ( some pictures near the coast) before the meal and speeches in the small barn and some very challenging light for natural reportage photography……

Dancing came later, after the English roast dinner.

Here are a few images from Lydia and Tim’s Corfe Castle wedding….