Happy Friday lovely!
I cannot quite believe it is Christmas next week!! Next week! I have majorly got some Christmas shopping to get on with! How are you getting on?
So I thought this post might be quite fitting as the end of the year is drawing close. I know a lot of photographers do a round up of their year, but I figured I would share this week my top 3 favourite wedding venues this year and why. Hopefully it may highlight some venues you never knew about if your still in the process of finding your perfect venue.
1. My all time favourite, FAVOURITE wedding venue this year was Pennsylvania Castle.
The Penn was such an amazing venue! For me it ticked a number of boxes. First the location, WOW! On the clifftops overlooking our amazing coastline, in Portland, Weymouth so only about an hours drive away from where I am based in Dorset.
The venue itself is pretty spectacular. A luxury private venue for you and your guests. Amazing grounds and beautiful rooms! The bridal suite was elegant, fitting for any blushing bride on the morning of her big day. The reception room with its amazing glass windows and roof, gave unbelievable light and perfect photographs during the speeches.
The venue also provides a variety different options on where you can have your ceremony. The wedding I photographed here was on a beautiful summers day, luckily not in traditional British weather style and it was glorious sunshine. Sarah and Dylan were married outside with all their wedding guests. This gave us the chance as photographers to really get an amazing perspective of their wedding by having the freedom to walk around giving lots of different variations of the ceremony. Sadly a lot of venues don’t allow the photographers to move around, you’re usually given one spot to stay at and you cannot move. However with outdoor weddings you have a lot more flexibility. So whilst still being very discreet in my photography style, having their ceremony outside gave the perfect opportunity for a lot more photographs during this very special moment of the day.
The venue also has several rooms you can get married in should you wish, or if the weather doesn’t go according to plan you have a backup.
Jo and her team at The Penn are brilliant, seamless and the day ran so smoothly. A really friendly team and I would highly recommend getting married there – it would definitely be my venue of choice!
2. Kingscote Barn
An exquisite venue based in the Cotswolds. This venue is another all in one venue!
A beautiful location, stunning grounds to take advantage of for your couple portraits, a lovely team of staff dedicated to helping you keep things on track on your day, Kingscote Barn would be a great choice of venue for your wedding. It’s rustic charm and original exposed stonework and wood beams make for a really authentic feel and are a lovely background for you wedding photography.
Kingscote Barn is a fairly small venue and not suited for huge weddings, but for intimate ceremonies it is the perfect venue.
A stunning venue with surroundings that are too beautiful! Richmond Park is a beautiful Royal Park in South West London. This Georgian house is the perfect venue for any couple looking to get married in London but tucked away from the City.
With two sections to the Lodge which can be used for weddings, this venue is perfect for any size wedding you are planning. If you have been following me for a little while you maybe catching on that I have a thing about windows! When I arrived I was completely in love! Big windows = lots of gorgeous light flooding in to help produce beautiful wedding images for you!
This wedding venue is high up on my list and I hope to shoot there again some day. The staff are incredibly friendly and the wedding co-ordinators on the day were AMAZING and totally on it! Everything you need from a wedding venue team. If you are planning to get married here, definitely take the short walk across the grounds up to the view point with incredible views over Surrey – and in the other direction you can see straight to St Paul’s Cathedral!
Thanks for checking in I hope you enjoyed reading about my favourite venues from this year.
Much love, Charlotte
