The arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct against the setting sun, with a train crossing it and lichen-covered boulders in the brown moorland in front

Getting married in Yorkshire

Two national parks — the green limestone dales of the Yorkshire Dales and the heather moors of the North York Moors — with medieval York between them and a coast of cliffs, fishing towns and abbey ruins.

Photographers When to marry here

Yorkshire is big, open country. In the west, the Yorkshire Dales National Park covers some 2,180 km² of green valleys, dry-stone walls and stone field barns, with the limestone cliff of Malham Cove and the 24 arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct below Pen-y-ghent. In the east, the North York Moors hold one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in England and Wales, purple from mid-August, which ends in 42 km of coast: Staithes, Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby, with its ruined abbey above the harbour. Between the two lies York inside its medieval walls, and near Ripon the ruins of Fountains, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1132, with the Georgian water garden of Studley Royal — together a World Heritage Site.

Couples come for a wedding in a country house, a converted barn in the Dales or a medieval hall in York, or for an elopement and portraits on the moor, on a cliff path or among abbey ruins. As everywhere in England and Wales, a legal wedding needs a week’s stay before the notice, 28 days after it and a register office, an approved venue or a place of worship, and most couples from abroad also need a Marriage Visitor visa. So many marry at home and make their vows here.

Heather in flower across the North York Moors, purple among green grass, with a clump of bushes and a low sun on the horizon under heavy grey and pink clouds

The ruined Gothic church of Whitby Abbey reflected in a pond edged with dry reeds, with the sea on the horizon

The curved ponds and the canal of Studley Royal’s water garden among smooth lawns with a statue, framed by trees and seen from the slope above

Through the year

When to marry in Yorkshire

May to September is the season. At Leeming, between the Dales and the Moors, average highs climb from about 16 °C in May to 21 °C in July, the warmest month, and 1 mm of rain or more falls on only nine or ten days a month — this side of England is fairly dry, with about 650 mm a year. May is the sunniest month, with more than six hours of sun a day. The hills are another matter: at Malham Tarn, high in the Dales, July highs reach only about 17 °C, it rains on about 14 days that month and some 1,590 mm fall in a year, so a day on the tops needs a covered plan. April and October suit couples who don’t mind cool days, an earlier dusk and the odd frost.

January: Quieter
February: Quieter
March: Quieter
April: Good with planning
May: Best
June: Best
July: Best
August: Best
September: Best
October: Good with planning
November: Quieter
December: Quieter

SpringApril and May bring lambs to the dales and the longest run of bright days: May is the sunniest month of the year, and by mid-May the sun sets at about nine. The nights stay cold — frost is still possible in April, when highs are around 13 °C.
SummerThe warmest weeks, with highs around 20 °C in the vale, and the busiest. The Dales’ hay meadows flower in June, before the cut in mid-July, and from mid-August the heather turns the North York Moors purple into September. At midsummer the sun sets at about twenty to ten, and from mid-May to the end of July the sky never gets fully dark. Summer showers can be heavy — August brings Leeming’s largest monthly rainfall — so keep a barn, a porch or a church in mind.
Autumn and winterSeptember is often settled and still mild, around 18 °C, with the heather still in flower; October brings autumn colour to the woods and the dales. Winter days are short and cold: in December the sun is up only from about twenty past eight to a quarter to four, and frost comes on about eleven nights a month in the vale. A winter wedding works indoors, by a fire, with portraits in the low afternoon light.

In numbers

Hottest month, average high: July · 21.0°C; Met Office
Average high in the best months: May 16.0°C · Jun 18.7°C · Jul 21.0°C · Aug 20.5°C · Sep 17.9°C; Met Office
Days with 1 mm of rain or more, best months: May 8.7 · Jun 9.4 · Jul 9.3 · Aug 10.1 · Sep 9.1; Met Office
Sunset on 21 June: 21:40 (York); NOAA
UNESCO World Heritage: Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (1986)

Weather station: Leeming, normals 1991–2020 · Checked 26 October 2026

Places

Where couples marry here

The kinds of places — ask your photographer which ones they know well.

York
Inside some 3.4 km of medieval walls, open from eight in the morning until dusk: the Minster, the crooked timber-framed lanes of the Shambles and the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in the Museum Gardens. The city’s approved venues include the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, a medieval guildhall, and the walls and lanes make easy portraits on foot between the ceremony and dinner.
The Yorkshire Dales
Green dales of dry-stone walls and field barns, the falls at Aysgarth, the cliff and limestone pavement of Malham Cove and the Ribblehead Viaduct under Pen-y-ghent. Almost all of the park is private farmland — the National Park Authority owns less than 1% — so a shoot, and any drone flown for it, needs the landowner’s permission; in the hay meadows keep to the paths, as there is no right to roam. On the Bolton Abbey estate in Wharfedale drones are banned, professional photography needs written permission, and wedding photography is kept for couples who marry in its priory church or at a venue on the estate.
Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal
The ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1132 and, below them, a Georgian water garden of ponds, canals and lawns — a World Heritage Site in the care of the National Trust. Weddings are no longer held there, but couples in full wedding attire are welcome for a photo shoot booked in advance: one a day, with a charge for bringing a professional photographer. Drones of any size are not allowed.
The North York Moors and the coast
Heather moorland that flowers purple from mid-August, the steam trains of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway through Goathland to Whitby, and a coast of cliffs and fishing towns — Staithes, Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby, where the shell of the abbey’s 13th-century church stands on the cliff. English Heritage, which looks after Whitby and Rievaulx abbeys, books engagement and pre-wedding shoots at least 30 days ahead (sometimes two weeks) and allows drones only before or after opening hours, by arrangement. On the moors the National Park Authority gives amateurs no permission to fly drones from its land; elsewhere, ask the landowner.

Light

How the light falls

At midsummer the sun rises in York at about half past four and sets at about twenty to ten, out in the north-west; dusk lasts until after half past ten, and from mid-May to the end of July the sky never gets fully dark. At midwinter it is up only from about twenty past eight until a quarter to four, never more than about 13 degrees high — a low, raking light all day, lovely on stone. May averages more than six hours of sun a day at Leeming; on the many cloudy days the light is soft and even, kind to faces and to the greens and greys of the dales.

Travel

Getting there

Leeds Bradford Airport, with flights to some 80 destinations, is about 50 km from York and from Malham; Manchester Airport is about 145 km from York, two hours by road or by direct train. Direct trains from London King’s Cross reach York in about two hours, and an overnight ferry from Rotterdam docks in Hull. From York it is about 50 km to Fountains Abbey, 75 km to Whitby and 90 km to Malham. Drones: under the UK’s rules you need a Flyer ID for any drone of 100 g or more, and an Operator ID from 250 g, or from 100 g with a camera; fly below 120 m and at least 50 m from people. Check the Met Office’s warnings before a day on the moors or the coast.

Photographers