If there’s one thing that I love most about my job as a wedding photographer, it’s people. I absolutely love the human interaction that a wedding brings. There’s huge elements of fun in almost every part of every wedding that I photograph. From the moment I walk into bridal preparations or the grooms party right through to the drunken ending. Elements like the groomsmen struggling with ties, waistcoats or boutonnière. Or things like the inevitable shrieks as the maid of honor accidentally sprays champagne over a carpet. There’s hilarity, stress, laughter and tears at every point and they are all from people that as a wedding couple you’ll know and love. It is these human connections that as a photographer I love to capture. Harriet and Dave had one of the best weddings for this very reason, it was full of fantastic people!
This was amongst the first of Hanbury Barns weddings after the drama of covid 19. As a near brand new wedding venue I was impressed that they were as organized and well planned as seasoned professionals. The venue was spotless, well dressed and run with level headed experience. It’s no surprise to learn that it is part of Ensarb Estates Group that also run The Ashes (you can see one of my weddings from Ashes here), Foxtail Barns (you can see one of my weddings from Foxtail here), The Mill Barns and Pendrell Hall
Harriette and Dave had a civil wedding ceremony set in the Ceremony Barn and after makeup and hair preparations with Emma O’Regan Bride Harriet walked through to find a joyous and excited Groom waiting at the end of the aisle. In typical documentary wedding photographer mode, I juggled my two sony a9 cameras in a mixture of 35mm, 85mm and 55 mm lens combinations to find interesting compositions and bring to life the wedding in photographs. After the Bride & Groom exited down the aisle guests were ushered out into the courtyard in readiness for a fantastic confetti throw, followed by a very quickly organized group picture with all their guests. The Champagne and drinks flowed while the newlyweds mingled with guests and after a while when the time was right I asked my couple to join me out of the way for some portraits with just the two of them.
A genuinely rousing set of speeches given by father of the bride, Groom and best men; gave way to the evening party. Just before Harriet and Dave were swept away with dancing and drinking, I stole them outside for just a moment to catch the most glorious sunset pictures at golden hour (yes even in November it’s possible!). Kicking things off and getting the party started the Bride & Groom cut the cake and in addition a rather delicious pork pie. Their first dance was swapped out in favor of simply partying, but the excellent Alive Network had fixed the band and an amazing time was had by all.
