If ever there was proof that you don’t need to have a big, lavish wedding for it to really count then Mo and Lisa’s intimate family wedding was surely it.

This was a particularly special wedding for me because Mo is my big brother whom, despite the incessant teasing as I grew up, I love more than cherry pie so it was an honour and a pleasure to photograph his wedding to his beautiful bride Lisa.

They had just 6 guests (myself included) and 2 witnesses but it was a day full of the same emotion, tears and laughs as a wedding 10 times its size.

We started out on my mum’s farm in Bowes, County Durham which is quite literally in the middle of nowhere – it really doesn’t come more rural than the moors of the Penine Way which made a perfect backdrop for his portrait shots. The ceremony was in the local Register Office in Barnard Castle before we moved on to the spectacular Bowes Museum for their couple shots. What a magnificent building that is for a wedding venue – I just love the shots around the stone staircases and the fountain in the middle of the grounds – all very romantic and I have to confess when I was editing their images my heart skipped a little beat – I’m so very happy for them both.

After that we moved on to Wynyard Hall, another beautiful wedding venue and hotel where they were to stay the night as the start of their honeymoon. We had a delicious lunch in one of the grand state rooms and had it pretty much all to ourselves as there was a big wedding on at the hotel.

The only other diners in there were an older couple celebrating their 43 years of marriage who had a helpful few words of wisdom to share with the newlyweds, bless them!

An extremely talented young pianist was playing a set of what seemed to be all my favourite indie rock tunes with a classical twist which really was music to my ears – even a cameo appearance from my 3 year old daughter on the piano didn’t detract from the romance of the occasion, although I think it will be a while before she knocks Liberace off his mantle!