The Great Barn Anyho Wedding- Rachel and Steve.

A spring wedding in a rural wedding barn venue

It’s nearly a year since we photographed Rachel and Steve’s wedding at the Great Barn, Aynho.

The 18th century Great Barn is a lovely venue for a wedding; as a dedicated wedding venue the couple have sole use of the facility. Set on the border of Oxfordshire and Norhamptonshire, and between the busy towns of Banbury and Bicester, the rolling countryside and rustic nature of the Great Barn make it a perfect destination wedding venue.  Over 250 acres of landscaped grounds gives plenty of opportunities for photographs and for the wedding guests to spread out.

As usual, Samantha and worked together as a husband and wife photography team. This meant I started with Steve getting ready at a Bicester hotel, whilst Rachel and the bridesmaids getting ready was photographed by Samantha.

We have photographed regularly at the Great Barn, so we were well prepared for photographing there. Like most barns, the lighting can be a challenge, with parts of the barn being much darker than others. However, our Fujifilm cameras as usual copied well.  After a moving wedding ceremony, the wedding party moved outside, to the rear of the barn, where the wisteria was blooming beautifully.  The early summer sun meant the wedding party were able to sit outside for most of the day, and enjoy the rural location.

Samantha and I photographed throughout the day, only pausing when Rachel and Steve, together with their guests, enjoyed their wedding breakfast. After some moving and genuinely funny speeches, the wedding smoothly moved onwards towards the bride and grooms first dance, and the all –important evening dancing and partying.

As usual, we stayed photographing well into the evening party, to ensure we were able to capture the whole of the day for the bride and groom. 

Rachel and Steve received their photographs after 4 weeks, and ordered a gorgeous Folio Albums fine-art wedding album soon after.

If you are getting married at the Great Barn, Aynho, and would like a husband and wife team of documentary wedding photographers, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us here.

Here are some more photos of their wedding day. 

Lains Barn Wedding- Charlene and Daniel

A Rustic Oxfordshire Barn Wedding in November

November 2016 saw us back at one of our favourite venues, Lains Barn, near Wantage, Oxfordshire, for the wedding of Charlene and Daniel. We are a preferred supplier at Lains, which does mean we work here more often than some other venues. However as our documentary wedding style is somewhat niche we do work a lots of different venues across the UK, which suits us fine....variety is indeed the spice of life. 

As usual, Katie and her team did a fine job of making sure everything ran like clockwork during the day; it is refreshing to work at a venue that understands how we work and isn't looking to boss us around, let alone the guests. 

For Charlene and Daniel's wedding, Samantha was with the bride and bridesmaids at the family home, whilst I was with Daniel and the guys at a nearby hotel. After a fun game or two on the Xbox (I declined the offer to take part),  the groom, his groomsmen and I headed off to the venue to be in place for the arrival of the bride. And fantastic she did look in a gorgeous dress! This was the first time we had photographed a wedding with a videographer, and a drone video  crew; the latter being expertly provided by Whirlybird Imaging. The late Autumn light, or lack of made photographing the ceremony in the barn challenging, but as usual our Fuji cameras performed admirably. 

Once more it was a pleasure to work and photograph at Lains, and are looking forward to our weddings there in 2017. 

If you are looking for candid, relaxed and unpressurised wedding photography at Lains Barn, or in fact at any venue, we would love to hear from you. You can contact via the details below, or with our contact form here. 

Steve. 

Lains Barn Wedding- Kelli and Elwyn

An Oxfordshire Barn Wedding in the Autumn

When we met Kelli and Elwyn at a Lains Barn wedding open evening early this year, we knew their wedding was going to be a pleasure to photograph.  They were obviously a really fun couple, and we hit it off with them immediately. They also understood straight away our documentary wedding photography style and knew that this was what they wanted. Lains Barn, near Wantage, Oxfordshire is a wedding venue we know well, we photograph their several times a year. Katie and the team at Lains do a great job of ensuring everything runs like clockwork, but without being too controlling and obvious. Of course, this suits us and our style perfectly! Kelli and Elywn's wedding had guests travelling from Australia (Kelli's family), Wales (Elywn's family) and guests from the four corners of the globe, so it was truly an international event.  Lains Barn and the surrounding gardens looked lovely with the late Autumnal colours. The highlight for everyone however was undoubtedly when Kelli's grandfather, a professional tenor in Australia, sang the accompaniment to the first dance of the newly wedded couple. A beautiful touching moment, which we captured in the some of the photographs below. 

If you are looking for Lains Barn wedding photography, or for documentary wedding photography at a similar rustic barn location, we would love to hear from you. Simply click on the button at the end of the photos!

Kidderminster Church Wedding-Hannah and Jack.

A Worcestershire church wedding

Hannah the bride arriving for her wedding at Stone Church, Near Kidderminster

As documentary wedding photographers, Hannah and Jack's Worcestershire wedding in September 2016 was right up our street.  It was the kind of wedding we love to photograph; a local church wedding at Stone, near Kidderminster, followed by a village hall reception in Rock, a lovely Worcestershire village. What was especially lovely about their wedding was how much of it they did themselves. The wedding cars were provided by customers of theirs (Hannah and Jack have their own business in custom car wraps), and much of the decoration of the village hall was done by them.  The vicar of Stone church was a pleasure to work with; understanding that we were there to provide photography, but also that we were not going to intervene or take control in what was after all a religious service. As usual, I positioned myself at the front and to the side of the church, out of sight of most of the church attendees. Samantha was able to go up to a balcony overlooking the church aisle. Once the service was over we all made the 20 minute journey to the village hall, where, despite some decidedly average weather, we were able to mingle amongst the guests as well as capture the speeches. Highlight of the day for me was the visit of an ice cream, and a voucher for us to both have a 99! 

If you are looking for wedding photography in Worcestershire, or would like candid wedding photography elsewhere in the UK we would love to hear from you. You can contact us here. 

Cripps Stone Barn Wedding- Lizzie and Sean

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A lovely Cotswold barn Wedding near Bibury, Gloucestershire. 

It was August 2016 when Samantha and I were the wedding photographers for Lizzie and Sean's wonderful wedding at the rustic setting of Cripps Stone Barn. Based on a quiet road of the main A40 between Oxford and Cheltenham, Cripps Stone Barn is a gorgeous venue for a wedding, with the rolling Cotwolds hills all around. It's also another venue where the wedding and the guests can completely take over the venue, without other events taking place at the same time. This of course helps with out our documentary wedding photography style, in that we know everyone we photograph is at the wedding!  

We first met Lizzie and Sean at a wedding fair at another wedding venue earlier that year. It was that time of the day when all the exhibitors were looking to pack away their stands, but we were still "open of business" when Lizzie and Sean came for a chat. They loved our approach and the idea of two photographers at their wedding, so we were delighted to get home to a message on our phone from them looking to book us!  On their wedding day, we started in our usual way; Sam was with Lizzie and the girls getting ready at home, whilst I met up with Sean and his guys at a local hotel. The venue was pleasure to photograph at; although the light inside was challenging (another grey August day!) our Fuji cameras coped well as usual. Lizzie and Sean's young son melted everyone's hearts in his little suit, and of course Lizzie looked absolutely stunning. We throughly enjoyed photographing their wedding all the way through to well past their first dance, and the partying that then ensued. 

If you are looking for wedding photography for Cripps Stone Barn we would love to hear about your plans. You can contact us here. 

Stratton Court Barn Wedding; Jemma and David

A rustic barn wedding near Bicester, Oxfordshire

Jemma and David's wedding in May 2016 was at Stratton Court Barn, near Bicester and was the second time we had photographed there. Built in 1872, Stratton Court Barn is a lovely rural wedding location, close to the M40 and A43, but is still quiet and peaceful. Its also another venue where the wedding is the only event being held on the day, which means the bride, groom and guests have it all to themselves. We also helps us work in our preferred, un-obstrusive and informal way as documentary wedding photographers.   Jemma and David's wedding was a delight to photograph. We have never seen a bride so happy, and laugh as much as Jemma did! She made sure she thoroughly enjoyed her wedding day, and, when all is said and done, surely that's what the day is all about. 

We were delighted to receive some lovely feedback from Jemma and David which you can read on our testimonial page here:

If you are planning to get married at Stratton Court Barn, or are looking for documentary style wedding photography elsewhere in Oxfordshire or beyond, we would love to here from you. You can contact us here. 

Steve Vaughan