Alice and Jake’s wedding at Hanbury Barns was exactly the kind of day I love to photograph – relaxed, personal, and full of genuine moments.
Hanbury Barns is one of my favourite (and most frequent) venues, so it always feels a bit like coming home when I’m there. You can see more of my other weddings at Hanbury [here]. Their July celebration happened right in the middle of the summer heatwave, which only added to the laid-back, sun-soaked atmosphere. They were clear from the start that they didn’t want any posed or formal group shots – just the day captured as it unfolded, which was absolutely fine by me. Every detail felt personal, from the bride’s sister doing the makeup, to her own hairdresser styling her hair, and the flowers created by a close friend of one of Jake’s mates.
Here is what they had to say about their day:
What were your wedding ” must haves”?
In terms of wedding must-haves, we weren’t particularly precious over the fine details, we had just gone along with the whole wedding planning process in a very calm and collected way (or so we felt like we were, maybe our parents disagreed with several messages around whether they would like a buttonhole or not!). The must-haves for us were to have a day surrounded with family and our closest friends. We wanted fun, laughter and a whole lot of love in the room!
How did you search for the wedding venue?
Google was our closest ally. We basically put everything into the Google search engine we wanted (barn, accommodation on site, separate rooms for each part of the day) and Hanbury Barns appeared! We had been to a couple of wedding venues prior (2 in total), but as soon as we walked into Hanbury, we knew it was where we were going to get married. As Jake said in his speech, we picked a part of the country neither of us has any connection to just because it looked so nice!
Styling your wedding: how did you personalise your big day?
We wanted our day to be centred around those who we love the most, we wanted it to be our nieces and nephews knee sliding on the dance floor. We personalised our big day by having most of our suppliers being local to us from South Yorkshire. Right down to having my sister do my makeup, my own hairdresser do my hair, the florist having been a close friend to Jake’s mum, the cake being done by the godmother to our nieces and nephews. We wanted to keep it small and initiate having those who know us most style it out which they did perfectly. It really felt like we had to do very little.
Describe your wedding dress. Was it the style you thought you’d have?
I always knew I would want something simple. It was the third shop we went to, and it was booked only 12 hours before the appointment. As soon as I tried it on, I knew it was the one for me. High neck which made me feel like I wasn’t on display or would require any form of self-tan to be more vibrant, a long train which is something I always wanted, and it was stretchy enough to bust out some moves on the dance floor later. Jake was positively shocked it was the dress I chose (but I’m a good way so he says). It felt like putting that one piece of clothing on every girl has that they would describe as their comfort clothing, I would wear it around Tesco if I could.
Wedding Photographer : How did you find me/ choose me?
We looked at the recommended supplier lists from Hanbury Barns and as soon as we read your introduction we knew you were for us. We hated the thought of having hundreds of formal shots and wanted to capture the moments that we didn’t really know were happening. You were like a ninja with a camera!
What was the ceremony like?
We felt like our ceremony was so intimate. Every person who we shared it with was because we wanted them in the room. It was slightly nerve-wracking hearing your aisle music play and I honestly can’t remember walking down the aisle for the most part!
Tell me about your drinks reception, speeches and wedding breakfast.
We hired a pianist for our drinks reception which we felt worked so well with the lovely summer weather and also because Alice considers herself a keen pianist when she plays walking in the air once a year! Our wedding breakfast was a menu suited to us, burgers for a main course as we have never really been meat and two veg kind of people! The speeches felt so personalised with props from Jakes best man Jack and stories from our childhood – although the continuous mention of Alice’s geography skills or lack of is hopefully something people will forget! Friends knee sliding with the children at the end of the meal and chasing them around the room was hilarious.
What was your first dance song?
Why is that song special to you? Take my hand by Picture This. We have never really been good at the classic “love song or lovey-dovey” type of couple. We love that song as it felt like it got people up on the dance floor – Jake dancing around with our nephew George on his shoulders and having all our friends/family around us felt so special and was our type of vibe down to a tee.
What do you think your family and friends enjoyed most about the day?
We hope they enjoyed just having a good laugh, dancing the night away and taking advantage of the no corkage drinks supplied!
Any other things you want to mention ?
We booked our wedding in June hoping for a nice early summer day. We can’t complain about the weather as it was perfect but gosh it was warm! It was in the middle of the early June heatwave, bright sunshine all day to the point where Alice had to have sun cream applied during the drinks reception! Everything was perfect from beginning to end and just felt like a good laugh.
Here is a selection of photos from their day
