Kaitlyn & Charlie's Searles Castle WeddingPhotography, Windham, NH

Vendors:

Venue: Searles Castle

Wedding Dress: Lace and Liberty

Officiant: Reverend Joy Caires

Master of Ceremonies: Zachary Haydanek

Photographer: Gregory Hitchcock

Florist: The borrowed Blossom

Cake Baker: Jacques Pastries

Makeup Artist: Charity Rose

Rings: Jens Hansen

Violinist: Brittany Stockwell

Horse Drawn Carriage: Whispering Brook Farms



A love Story in a Castle, up on a hill

Some couples pick a venue because it's pretty. Kaitlyn and Charlie picked one because it felt like home.

If you know them, you already know why. These two met in college, back when Charlie was the guy leading marching band by day and lighting up every party by night. Somewhere in there, Kaitlyn found her person. Somewhere in there, they also found out they were both obsessed with Middle earth. Dancing, cooking, throwing a good party, quoting Lord of the Rings at each other, that's them.

I got to know all of this firsthand back at their autumn engagement session at Borderland State Park, where we spent an October afternoon chasing golden light and picnic wine between the trees. So when their wedding day finally came, I already knew exactly who I was photographing. When it came time to pick a venue, they didn't want just beautiful. They wanted a real castle.

They got one. Searles Castle at Windham, New Hampshire, is exactly what it sounds like, a hilltop English Tudor estate with hand-carved stone, gargoyles, towers, and a driveway that corkscrews up the hill like you're arriving somewhere out of a story. This was my first time shooting a Searles Castle wedding, and I understand now why couples who love a little fantasy in their fairy tale end up here. You don't have to dress the space up. It already looks like it was waiting for them.

Getting Ready: A Dress Fifty Years in the Making

I started the morning with Kaitlyn, halfway through getting ready, and it was clear right away how much thought she'd put into every detail. Her dress was made from pieces of her mother's own wedding gown. Elegant, layered, covered in embroidery that took real time to make. And here's the part that got me: her mom knew Kaitlyn was using the old dress, but she'd never seen the finished result. Not until that morning. We caught the reveal, her mother seeing decades-old fabric turned into her daughter's wedding dress for the first time, and if you've ever wondered what a family legacy actually looks like in a photograph, that's it.

It's all in the details

The Lord of the Rings love showed up too, just quietly. Small golden dagger earrings. Bracelets with an elvish feel. Nothing costume-y, nothing loud. Just two people who know exactly who they are, worked into the details of the day.

A bridal Party made of lifelong friends

Her bridesmaids were a mix of childhood friends and college friends, the kind of women who've known each other so long that every joke lands and every tear feels earned. You could feel that history in the room all morning, easy laughter one minute, someone quietly wiping their eyes the next, the specific rhythm of people who have been through a lot of life together and know exactly how to take care of each other.

A Bridal party gift straight from the heart

Right after Kaitlyn put on her dress, she gathered them together for one more moment before the day really started. Her gift to them was a pin shaped like an elf leaf, small, quiet, and completely them. Not a grand gesture. Just a thank you, from a bride who clearly thinks of these women as family, given in the last calm minute before everything else began. Small gift. Big moment.

Getting Ready: The Guys, Formal and Not So Formal

While the ladies finished up inside, I headed out to the courtyard with Charlie and his groomsmen. Old friends, all dressed sharp, having the kind of easy fun that happens when a group has known each other forever. We got the formal shots. We also got the ones where everyone was cracking up. Both belong in the story.

A First Look with the bride and Her Dad

Right after the pins were handed out, Kaitlyn asked her dad to come in for a first look. He knew she'd be in the dress, obviously. What he didn't know was that it would happen right then, no warning, no buildup, just his daughter standing in front of him fully ready. For a few seconds he didn't say anything at all. Then came the tears, then the laughing, that particular combination that happens when someone is too full of feeling to land on just one reaction. Kaitlyn is exactly the same way, and watching the two of them cycle through tears and giggles in the same thirty seconds told me everything about where she gets it from. This family doesn't do quiet joy. They do loud joy, the kind that spills over into laughing at your own tears. It's one of my favorite moments from the whole day.

Bridal Portraits, Slightly Behind Schedule and Not Caring One Bit

Makeup ran long, which meant we were racing the clock by the time we got to formal portraits with Kaitlyn, her mom, and her bridesmaids. We found a sunroom just off the bridal suite, all arched, pointed windows and soft afternoon light, and it turned out to be the best spot in the whole castle for this.

Here's the thing about being behind schedule: it only matters if the people involved let it matter. This group did not. Everyone was laughing, nobody was stressed, and if I had to move a little faster than usual to catch the light before it changed, that's a small price for a group this relaxed. Good organization gets you far. A genuinely happy group gets you the rest of the way.

A Ceremony Built for a Storybook

Twenty minutes. That's how long the ceremony lasted, and somehow it felt like being pulled into another century entirely. If you're planning a Searles Castle wedding of your own, know this: the ceremony space does not need much help from anyone. It's already doing the work.

And then Kaitlyn arrived.

Not walked in. Arrived, in an "honest to god" horse drawn carriage, white and covered in real roses, the kind of thing you assume only exists in animated movies until you're standing there watching it come around the corner. I have shot a lot of weddings. I had never shot this. For a second I genuinely forgot I was supposed to be working, because every single person there, guests, bridal party, me, had their eyes locked on that carriage and could not look away.

Her father helped her down, took her hand, and walked her the rest of the way himself. Twenty minutes later they were married, but that walk down the aisle, carriage still visible behind them, is the moment I keep coming back to when I think about this day.

A fast but unforgetable ceremony

Twenty minutes. That's how long the ceremony itself lasted, and somehow it felt like being pulled into another century entirely. Officiant Joy Caires gave a warm, honest sermon about what it actually means to build a marriage, not just have a wedding. Rings were exchanged. A kiss followed that had the whole crowd cheering. And then, because apparently this day wasn't done being a fairy tale, they climbed back into that same carriage for their exit. If you're planning a Searles Castle wedding of your own, know this: the ceremony space does not need much help from anyone. It's already doing the work.

Romantic Portraits with a Horse Named Mac

Kaitlyn and Charlie made a smart call early on: quick exit after the ceremony, straight into portraits, so they'd still have real time left for their own cocktail hour.

Searles Castle backs up into heavily wooded grounds, and by late afternoon the light was coming through the trees at that low, golden angle every photographer chases. We had the carriage horse, Mac, along for part of it, more than happy to stand in a few frames like he'd done this before. Then we walked down toward a nearby pond and let the woods do the rest. These are the portraits that feel the most like them, not posed for a camera, just two people who like each other a lot, standing in a place that looked like it was built for exactly this.

A Reception That Never Slowed Down

The grand entrance set the tone, loud, joyful, the whole bridal party fully committed. Then Kaitlyn and Charlie's first dance, the kind that has half the tent reaching for tissues before the first chorus even hits.

The speeches told you everything about who surrounds this couple. Both sets of parents, clearly close with each other, each gave a toast. The bridesmaids told the real story, meeting Kaitlyn in college, admitting their early doubts about this guy from marching band, landing on one of the most honest wedding toasts I've heard from a bridal party. The best man and groomsmen followed with old stories about Charlie that had the whole room laughing.

Between dinner and dancing, Kaitlyn and Charlie made their way to every single table, thanking guests, catching up, posing for photos. Then came the parent dances, more tears, and after that, the two of them threw the formality out the window and danced like the rest of the night belonged to them. It did.

Wedding Reception Details

Grand entrance of the bridal party and couple!

First Dance as man & Wife

30 MInutes of fun after dinner

SPeeches & Toastes from loved ones to the couple

Father daughter Dance

MOther Son Dance

Let's open that dance floor!