A Cornish Cave Wedding – Caroline and Ricky

This year I got to tick ‘wedding in a bat cave’ off from my list of ‘The 10 most unique wedding locations yet to shoot’! Down in the depths of the Cornish countryside Ricky wed Caroline witnessed by family, friends, and several hundred (admittedly snoozing) bats. The location itself posed several challenges, the main one being how would I produce fabulous wedding photos in such a dark, dimly lit environment where the use of flash wasn’t permitted for fear of stressing the hibernating bats. This was swiftly resolved thanks to the cave being fully equipped with an electricity supply; one very long extension and two studio lights later and the stage for was set for a beautiful wedding with a difference - not forgetting the sparkler exit! 

The cave was part of Carnglaze Caverns, a wedding venue with a twist. Formed from a network of old mining caves and now fashioned into the most extraordinary of venues Carnglaze Caverns sit with a constant all year round temperature of 10 degrees, the warm cider and soups served helped combat any chills, as did the immense amount of love felt between the bride and groom although on a January day the cave was actually a couple of degrees warmer than outside! 

The ceremony itself was warming and heartfelt, full of emotion and the strength of the love between Caroline and Ricky was positively radiating from their smiles, it certainly raised the temperature in the cave at least another degree or two! 

Caroline and Ricky's cave based nuptials were finished with a flourish. A sparkler exit though hard to orchestrate (getting those sparklers all lit at the same time takes quite some co-ordinating!) is a wedding photographers dream in terms of providing a beautifully photogenic moment as the newlyweds walk back up the aisle (watching said wedding photographer in action is not quite so photogenic as navigating a tunnel of sparklers backwards whilst photographing the proceedings in front requires some serious concentration!). 

And then it was off to the gorgeous Trevenna Barns to celebrate with family, friends and party the night away with local folk legends Mad Dog Mcrea. A beautiful and unusual wedding, certainly one that will stay in the memory bank. Thanks Caroline and Ricky, and wishing you many happy years together.