Gill & Stuart tied the Knott at the West Mill Derby. The old cotton spinning mill has been transformed into four stories meaning that the wedding can be split over the different floors at different parts of the day. The grade 1 listed building makes for some beautiful wedding photography both inside and out.
Split over four floors, the building offers unique and separate spaces for the civil ceremony, wedding breakfast and reception areas for drinks and dancing for up to 160 guests. The West Mill’s outside space includes a delightful south facing courtyard and garden, as well as a walkway running alongside the River Derwent providing an idyllic setting for your wedding reception and wedding photography. We made the most of this space with the couple having a short walk to capture the more traditional shots.
I started the day early with the bridal party on the top floor of the venue, which is adjacent to the ceremony room. Before shooting the groom and some guests arriving. The wedding photography tells the full story of the day, right up until some of the party after the first dance, using an off camera flash.
We did the group shots on the small bank by the river, with a full group shot in the courtyard behind the West Mill. It's a great place to provide wedding photography even if the weather isn't playing ball, with some fantastic internal spaces. I tried to capture the full range of emotions the guests showed through the wedding photography at West Mill, and hopefully you can see some of this below.
The speeches were shortly after the meal and proved emotional all round. With lots of laughter and tears. Through the day I mostly blended into the background to capture the raw and honest emotions of the guests, without interfering at all with the order of the day.
