RUTLAND HALL WEDDING

A Beautiful Lakeside Wedding Venue in Rutland

If you’re looking for a wedding venue overlooking Rutland Water, with lakeside drinks, beautiful views and plenty of room for a proper celebration…

Then I’m pretty sure Rutland Hall Hotel should be on your wedding venue list!

Set just outside Oakham, in the heart of Rutland, this lakeside venue made a rather brilliant backdrop for Margarete and Rahil’s wedding. But what made this day really special wasn’t just the setting. It was the coming together of two families, two cultures and a whole lot of love, laughter and dancing.

And when I say a whole lot of dancing, I mean it.

The groom and his groomsmen enjoying champagne together at Margarete and Rahil's wedding.

Margarete shares a smile with two young flower girls in pink dresses on the balcony.

Margarete and Rahil exchange vows during their Catholic wedding ceremony at the Church of the Divine Infant in Syston, Leicester.

Margarete X Rahil: A Catholic–Hindu Fusion Wedding at Rutland Hall

Margarete and Rahil brought their Irish and Indian heritages together for a wedding that was all about family, tradition and celebrating the best bits of both.

We started the day with separate preparations before heading to the Catholic Church of the Divine Infant in Syston for the ceremony. There had already been celebrations the night before, including the Chundri festivities at The Holiday Inn, Wigston. So by the time the wedding day rolled around, there was plenty of excitement to go around.

Both families threw themselves into the celebrations, and you could really feel that this was about more than just two people getting married. It was two families coming together, sharing their traditions and making the day their own. Both sides took turns for readings up at the alter and everyone got involved with the proceedings.

And that, for me, is what makes these weddings so special. There's no one-size-fits-all way to get married. You take the traditions that matter, bring your favourite people together and create something that feels like you.

Once the vows were done, it was time to get everyone on board and head over to Rutland Hall Hotel.

Literally. There was a bus-full of Irish family ready to roll!

Margarete and Rahil walk hand in hand through the gardens during their Rutland Hall wedding.

Margarete and Rahil pose with his extended family for a group photograph at Rutland Hall.

Margarete smiles in between her parents during the outdoor family portraits.

Getting Married at Rutland Hall Hotel

Rutland Hall’s Lakeside Terrace is a pretty impressive setting, overlooking the waters of Rutland Water. It's the sort of place where you can enjoy the views, grab a drink with your favourite people and actually take a moment to soak it all in. For Margarete and Rahil, the celebrations continued with drinks, canapés and live acoustic music by the lake before we snuck away for a few photographs of the newlyweds away from the crowd.

I love this part of a wedding day. It’s a time chance to relax and breathe after the ceremony, and any pressure/nerves that had been felt on the run up to it. So, now the formalities are out of the way, and we can get some natural photographs without turning the whole thing into an elaborate photoshoot.

Of course, we couldn't hide away for too long, so we got as much as we could in about 15-20 minutes, which was absolutely enough time. We used the gardens at the back of the main house, which offers lots of different backdrops and textures to feel like moved around much more than we did; I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better location. This pair in their finery, the addition of the designer shades and with Rutland Hall’s idyllic backdrop, even managed to give an editorial vibe to my chilled photography style. The best of both worlds, I’d say!

There was a terrace full of guests waiting for group photographs, and organising a large family wedding party is always an adventure in itself!

Let's just say that getting over 100 people looking vaguely in the same direction was a team effort; a shoutout to the wonderful Rutland staff for the help here.

Margarete and Rahil dance into their wedding reception together in a black and white photograph.

Margarete gives a speech as Rahil reacts beside the champagne tower at their wedding reception.

Guests laugh during a wedding speech at Rutland Hall, captured in a candid black and white photograph.

Champagne, Fireworks & Getting Absolutely FERAL on the Dancefloor

Once the group photographs were done, it was time to get the party properly started. So off we headed to The Pavilion, Rutland Hall’s grandest setting for large celebrations and CLEARLY, unforgettable evenings! I believe it can hold up to 450 guests.

There was champagne, a wedding breakfast that catered for a whole range of tastes, some rather good speeches and fireworks entrance which was simply sublime.

The two families were clearly there for a good time, and the celebrations and the atmosphere just kept building as the day went into the evening…

Then came the dancing.

I spend a lot of time quietly watching what's happening around me at weddings. The little looks, the reactions to speeches, the relatives who absolutely cannot be trusted once the music starts. Those are the moments I want to photograph just as much as the big, obvious ones.

And Margarete and Rahil's wedding had all of it.

By the time the dancefloor got going, the day had gone from a heartfelt ceremony to one seriously lively celebration; exactly as it should be.

I will never forget the ROAST Rahil was handed in Margarete’s speech, and they’re also some of my favourite photos of the day. I was with this pair for nearly 12 hours and I could have stayed all night. That’s when you know that

[ADD: Your favourite moment from the speeches, fireworks or dancefloor. Was there a particular dance, guest, reaction or moment that made you laugh? A specific anecdote will make this section much stronger than general descriptions of the party.]

KIND WORDS FROM THE COUPLE

“Words aren't enough to say how amazing you've been.

You answered every mad question and ran with every mad idea I came with…

A true artist who takes the simplest of landscapes and makes it look breathtaking.

Thank you for your calmness, no BS style and for making us nerds look cool!“

- Margarete & Rahil

💖

LET’S CHAT ABOUT YOUR WEDDING

Like the look of these photographs? Planning a wedding at Rutland Hall, or somewhere completely different?

Get in touch and we'll have a little informal chat about your plans, what matters to you and whether I'm the right photographer for your day.

No pressure. No awkward sales pitch. Just a proper chat about your wedding.

FLING ME A MESSAGE!

Margarete & Rahil's Rutland Hall Wedding Photos

From the morning preparations to the last of the dancing, I photographed Margarete and Rahil's day as it unfolded, with all the people, traditions and wonderfully unpredictable moments that made it theirs.

My full-day coverage included part of the bridal preparations, the tail end of the groom's preparations, portraits of the newlyweds, the celebrations at Rutland Hall and the party later in the day.

And the final gallery? A whopping 864 photographs.

Getting this preview down to fewer than 100 images was genuinely difficult. There were just so many moments worth keeping!

That's the thing about documentary wedding photography. It's not just about the handful of photographs you'd expect to frame. It's also the look on someone's face during a speech, the family interactions happening off to one side, the little details that might otherwise pass you by, and all those moments you didn't even realise were happening.

The big stuff matters. So does everything in between….