Kings Croft Hotel Wedding Photographer

Hello, I’m Dave. I’m a documentary wedding photographer based in West Yorkshire, and Kings Croft is just off the road on the edge of Pontefract. If you are getting married there, this page should give you a feel for how I work.

Kings Croft is a country house hotel set in its own grounds, with lakes, a wedding pavilion and views out over the countryside. The whole hotel is licensed for ceremonies, indoors and out.

My Approach to Wedding Photography at Kings Croft

I photograph the day as it happens. Most of it you will not notice me doing. I will get everyone together for the family groups you want and find you both twenty quiet minutes for portraits, but the rest of the day is yours to enjoy rather than pose for.

I photograph weddings across West Yorkshire. My approach is documentary: I stay out of the way and photograph the day as it happens rather than staging it. You get 800 or more edited images back within three weeks, and there are 73 five-star Google reviews from couples I have worked with.

Kings Croft at a Glance

Photographing a Wedding at Kings Croft

There are six function rooms, each with its own bar, and between them they take anything from ten guests to three hundred. That range is unusual, and it means the place works for a small family lunch and for a very large day.

The outdoor pavilion is the part worth planning around. The hotel is licensed for outdoor ceremonies as well as indoor ones, so you can marry outside by the lakes if the day allows and move in if it does not.

With thirty-seven ensuite bedrooms on site, most of the people who matter can stay over, which usually means a better evening and a slower morning.

Because the whole hotel is licensed, the useful question is not where you are allowed to marry but where you want to. The pavilion by the lakes is the outdoor option and the function rooms are the indoor ones, and in practice that decision does not have to be made days in advance – which takes the weather forecast out of the argument. It is worth agreeing a cut-off time with the venue so that nobody is carrying chairs about at the last minute.

Portraits work best down by the water. The lakes and the lawns are a couple of minutes from the house and the open views over the countryside mean we are not fighting for a clean background. Eight acres sounds like a long walk but it is not – twenty minutes covers the pavilion, the lakeside and the front of the house, and you are back with your guests before anyone notices. If it rains, the listed house has enough character indoors that we are not short of somewhere to stand.

The House and the Grounds at Kings Croft

Kings Croft is a Grade II listed house, and it has been family owned and run for more than twenty years. That shows on the day: the people looking after you tend to be the same people year after year, which is not something every hotel can say.

The house sits in 8 acres of landscaped grounds with open views over rolling countryside, and there are 37 ensuite bedrooms including bridal and executive rooms. It is a mile from both the M62 and the A1, so guests coming from Leeds, Wakefield, Barnsley or Doncaster are not making a day of the drive.

Location of Kings Croft Hotel

Wakefield Road, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF8 4HA. It sits in its own grounds on the edge of town, with parking for more than a hundred cars, so nobody is hunting for a space on the morning.

Real Weddings at Kings Croft

Sarah & Luke – Kings Croft Wedding

You can see a full day at the venue here: Sarah and Luke at Kings Croft.

Why Choose Kings Croft?

Kings Croft has been family owned and run for more than twenty years, and that is something you feel on the day rather than read in a brochure. The people looking after you tend to be the same people year after year, and they have done this a great many times.

The other reason is range. Six function rooms, each with its own bar, taking anything from ten guests to three hundred; a licence that covers the whole hotel, indoors and out; lakes, a pavilion, eight acres of grounds and thirty-seven ensuite bedrooms. A small family lunch and a three hundred guest evening both fit without the day being reshaped around the building. And a mile from both the M62 and the A1, nobody is making a journey of it.

Kings Croft Wedding Questions

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