Wedding Celebrations in Yorkshire

We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous spring morning in Yorkshire. Today was the reason for our trip—the wedding of our friends Kate and Jimmy. We had some time in the morning after enjoying breakfast at the hotel (if you stay at the Hollins Hall Marriott, book the breakfast unless you want to drive all the way into town to eat), so we took a walk down the hill to Esholt, the neighboring small village. From what I understand, Esholt is famous for one thing: It was used as a location for a popular British soap opera, Emmerdale, from 1976-1996. The most famous location was the local pub, the Woolpack. But we'll get to that later. The other landmark we noticed was St. Leonard's Farm Park, a children's attraction.

The greenery was gorgeous. Peak England.

We'll see you later, Woolpack!

Wedding Ceremony

We took a cab to Bradford City Hall for the big event. It was a very practical ceremony, attended by their closest family and friends. It fit their personalities perfectly.

After the ceremony, they drove off in Kate's jeep for a bit of time together before we gathered later in the evening for the reception.

Bradford City Park

The courthouse was in Bradford City Park, which had a lot going on. I had considered touring the National Media Museum, but we weren't in a museum mood. There are fountains, theaters, and various attractions. By mid-day, it was a bustling place and families were enjoying the sunshine.

We needed some lunch, and I'd read that Bradford was the Curry Capital of Britain. We got a recommendation from Kate to go to Omar Khan's to get some Indian food. We were some of the first guests for lunch, and we each had their "early bird special," (available from 12pm-7pm on Saturday) Which was a starter and a main for £9.95.

I'm really racking my brain to remember what we ordered. I think our appetizers were vegetable pakora and paanch rang tikkia.

Then the naan came. So much naan! It made Aaron very happy. (The way to Aaron's heart is naan.)

For our mains, I believe we ordered rogan josh and makni. Everything was delicious. 

After lunch, we walked back through Bradford City Park and caught an Uber over to Esholt. No problem getting a car this time, thankfully.

Esholt Village Wedding Celebration

We had at least an hour before the reception started at the Esholt War Memorial Institute, so we stopped for a proper pint (or two) at The Woolpack. The weather was nice, so we grabbed a picnic table outside. This is a lively pub that the village clearly enjoys, but it also attracts a lot of visitors due to its role in the Emmerdale soap opera. The staff here are incredibly nice. After the reception, we asked for help calling a taxi, and the barkeep indicated he would drive us to our hotel had he not already had a pint!

After a few drinks with fellow wedding attendees (all of whom we were meeting for the first time), we wandered down the lane to the reception. It was great getting to know Kate and Jimmy's friends and family. It was a very casual reception, which gave Aaron a chance to pull his own cask ale. He also got to volunteer for some dish duty later in the evening, since the guests were drinking so much we were running out of glasses!

For dinner, we were ushered outside table by table to visit The Village Chippy, a food truck that served proper fish and chips with a new-to-me English staple: mushy peas! Seriously, have we reached Peak England yet?

After we'd had our fill of champagne, ale, and mushy peas, we wished the bride and groom well and returned to our hotel for the evening. Congratulations, Kate and Jimmy!

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