Venues part II: Castle Wedding

A Comment on the Hammond Castle

Last November, Ashley and I had the opportunity to photograph Matt & Melissa’s wedding at the Hammond Castle in Gloucester, Ma.  Matt & Melissa had signed on with us early in January, so we had nearly 10 full months to psych ourselves up over this truly unique venue. http://www.hammondcastle.org

This wedding was one of the most enjoyable of the year. It certainly helped that the bride and groom and both their families are fantastic human beings and trusted our work and creativity throughout the day. The grounds hold so many opportunities for portraits it is unbelievable, I only wish we had more time, but isn’t that always the case.  The interior was definitely a challenge to shoot, especially the ceremony, which was held in the Great Hall and had very limited light, after all it is a castle. However, the curator, Linda, gave us full access to use some portable strobes to light the scene, and she and the whole staff were very helpful and gracious. Without the staff’s trust and willingness we wouldn’t have been able to make some of the images we made. And for that I will thank the Hammond Castle for an overall great experience.

This wedding at the Hammond Castle had a warmth about it that was almost unexpected. Although the Great Hall is enormous it didn’t have that museum feel to it and I think the guests would say the same. The candles and the medieval artwork gave the whole scene such character that was absolutely fitting to the fun personalities of Matt & Melissa. Such amazing people deserve an amazing wedding, and from our perspective I hope we captured that for them. As for us, we can’t wait to make it back there and use some more of the castle, hopefully sooner than later.

-Rich