Coming down the driveway at Holdsworth House on your wedding planning quest, you’d be forgiven for missing it, tucked away around the corner. Grand, yet cosy and intimate at the same time, Holdsworth House has a much-storied history.
There is evidence of a Medieval building on the site dating from 1272, though the present Grade II Listed Jacobean manor dates from 1633, featuring beamed ceilings and stone mullioned windows that evoke the Tudor and Elizabethan era just a couple of decades prior.
Since 1633 it has always been in private ownership and was bought in 1962 by the Pearsons, Freddie and Rita, who opened The Cavalier Country Club there in 1963. When accommodation began being offered the following year, Freddie’s connections with London meant some of the first guests were none other than The Beatles. Holdsworth was passed down to Gail and Kim Pearson in the ‘80s and continues to be run by a third generation of the family, now with 32 hotel rooms and several function rooms. Restoration of the stone gazebo in the ’90s was secured through National Lottery funding, and in 2020, over the pandemic, traditional techniques were used to restore the slate roof of the Stuart Room. Holdsworth had often been used for filming.
https://www.holdsworthhouse.co.uk/3d-tour-of-holdsworth-house-hotel/
Having parked, you enter the hotel through what is the rear of the original manor, so there is a sense of this historic building just keeping on giving, with more and more to reveal as you progress.
Please note, throughout, that many of my ‘snaps’ are screen grabs from my video below on planning for wedding photography here.
Although this is just one part of the hotel’s large dining room, and not the reception room for hosting your wedding, these deep stone mullioned windows give an idea of what could be creatively done by a wedding photographer here, with lighting for atmospheric, moody, timeless wedding photographs and portraits of your preparation, you as a couple, and throughout the wedding day. Magic for my creativity with off camera flash!
Imagine your wedding dress and bridal train here…
The Stuart Room is one of several options for planning with wedding ceremony space, as well as reception.
Smaller, intimate wedding ceremonies might be based in the Stone Gazebo (see the 3D Tour, link above) and there are some screen grabs here of smaller group reception rooms.
…as well as beautiful outdoor ceremony options…
…and spots for your evening reception guests to enjoy…
Here are a few examples of backlit portraiture captured as afternoon light falls on the grounds…
The Bridal Suite at Holdsworth House
Check out Champagne Shutter Photography’s video on planning for wedding photography at Holdsworth House below:
Champagne Shutter Photography
Tom Roberts, of Champagne Shutter Photography, is a wedding photographer and educator based between South, West, East and North Yorkshire. Champagne Shutter Photography offers comprehensive wedding day photography packages (and videography) from bridal and groom preparation through to evening reception, from elegant portraiture to an unobtrusive capturing of timeless photographs that feel natural and unorchestrated, leading to beautiful heirloom albums.
Tom Roberts
photographer
Venue: https://www.holdsworthhouse.co.uk/
Wedding & Events Manager - Claire Nicholl
Photographer – https://www.champagneshutter.com/
Champagne Shutter Photography – Tom Roberts
