Jewish Wedding Photography Harrogate at The Old Swan Hotel | Dalya & Josh | Part One!

Jewish Wedding Photography Harrogate. Dalya & Josh were married at The Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate on a sunny Sunday in September. This was my first Jewish wedding and I absolutely LOVED it. All of it! Dalya & Josh’s friends and family were so welcoming, and the whole day was full of noise, laughter, and just so much emotion. It was wonderful to see and an honour to capture.

I spent the morning with Dalya and her mum and sister getting ready at the hotel, and then followed them down to wait for the Bedecken. The wonderful Bhavna Barratt was assisting me for the first part of the day, so she joined Josh and the men for the Ketubah signing whilst I was with the girls. Then we dashed into the Grand Ballroom to catch Josh and his parents walking down the aisle to the Chuppa, followed by each of the grandparents, and finally Dalya and her parents. The Chuppa itself was a thing of beauty, constructed from silver birch trees and decorated with garlands and pomanders of gypsophila.

Once the glass was broken, Dalya & Josh had their first kiss as husband and wife, and then all heck broke loose with family and friends crowding around the newlyweds to congratulate them. Hugging, tears, smiles, laughter and just, NOISE! It was so different to the ceremonies I’m used to, and I loved being able to just jump right in and photograph it all. Then the signing and dancing started and everyone piled out and down the hallway so that Dalya & Josh could sign the legal documents and have some time alone together, whilst the guests headed off to enjoy some drinks and canapés in the garden.

So, at the end of Part One Dalya & Josh were danced and sung down the hallways of The Old Swan Hotel to sign the marriage register. I joined them for this and then left them to have some time alone together. Meanwhile my lovely assistant Bhavna was capturing the guests enjoying a drink in the gardens.

I documented the rest of the day solo, staring with some portraits of Dalya & Josh in the early evening sunshine. We then whipped through a few family line ups and I nipped inside to photograph the ballroom set up for the wedding breakfast and the evening reception.

Dalya & Josh got the party started with a confetti gun entrance and then the Israeli dancing (Round 1!) began. It was madness! Completely standard for Jewish wedding, but I had never seen such a packed dance floor! It was amazing to see so many people join in and create so much mayhem and noise. After a while everyone took their seats for the Father of The Bride speech, and the wedding breakfast. Then there was Israeli dancing Round 2 where things got even crazier before Josh’s brother, Dalya’s best friends. and then Josh himself gave some very funny and moving speeches.

Once the speeches and blessings were done Dalya & Josh got up for their “first” dance (probably not the right expression here since they’d been dancing for hours :-D) and soon beckoned everyone else to join them I stayed to capture yet more dance floor action and then left them to party the night away (which I’ve no doubt they did in spades!).

Enormous thank you to Dalya & Josh and their families for trusting me to document such a special day. And to Bhavna for her second shooting skillz, and Juliet Shenderey of Shenderey Events – wedding planner extraordinaire! – for keeping the day running smoothly. If you’re looking for a photographer for your Jewish wedding at The Old Swan, or anywhere else for that matter, please do get in touch! x