Tylney Hall in Hampshire

Tylney Hall is located near Hook in Hampshire. It’s a lovely country house with endless grounds. From a photography point of view it’s a total spoiler, as the range of locations for photography are limitless. Sadly, time being like it is on a wedding day, I doubt many people see what this place has to offer. You just can’t capitalise on the potential of the scenery. Have a Google Map to see what I mean (if it’s green it’s probably part of the grounds).

I think I’ve effectively summed-up the main benefit of this wedding venue. Again it’s sad that you’ll never get to fully explore the grounds on a typical wedding day.

Ample Choice and Facilities

Tylney Hall isn’t a dedicated wedding venue, as it also operates as a hotel. However, from my experience of weddings at Tylney, you’ll be unaware of the hotel guests. There are several venues within the hotel grounds where you can get married, the first choice has to be the Tylney Suite (see photographs below). This large wood panelled hall is spacious, well lit and comes complete with a curtained stage and balcony. (Although I’ve yet to see the stage being used during a wedding!)

I would imagine this Hall could also be used during the evening, but with the wedding I photographed at Tylney we progressed to the Hampshire Suite which is tucked well away from the main Hotel. This suite is smaller and can’t boast a grade II listing, but I would imagine this suite exists to allow late night celebrations (without disturbing those sleeping in the Hotel).

One of the best wedding venues in Hampshire

All in all, this has to be one of the best wedding venues in Hampshire, simply because of the copious amounts of facilities and options for getting married. Having the venue operate as a hotel will aid guests travelling from further afield, and there is also the added bonus of an outdoor swimming pool for hot summer days. I’ve dropped that in as a feature – but there are many more.

Further information

The Tylney Hall website should give you all the information you need about holding your wedding. If you are in a rush here is a direct link to the Tylney Hall Wedding Brochure, which I think could do with an update (reminds me of the 80s) – http://www.tylneyhall.co.uk/assets/th_wedding_brochure.pdf

Hotel du Vin, Poole in Dorset

Hotel du Vin is a fairly new addition to the harbour area of Poole in Dorset. I was visiting for a small family wedding, with the bride and groom keen on reportage photography. This warm family wedding also featured a  second day on Brownsea Island, for a larger group of  friends and family (read more about this day here).

A Lucky Break with the Weather

Rain had been forecast, but thanks to a bit of luck the only things that fell from the sky were rays of sunlight. The bride and groom had two private rooms at their disposal, and a courtyard which was partially covered by a Millennium Dome type canvas (That’s a terrible and very inaccurate description to use!)

Due to the weather this is were most of my photographs were taken. I really had a photographers smile throughout.If the forecast rain had materialised,  the aforementioned rooms would have been harder to work in due to their cosy lighting and small size.

Discrete Wedding Photography

Later in the evening dinner was served, and I photographed the speeches and post-dinner moments. The room was candle lit, not photographically friendly, but perfect for the relaxed mood. With the small group size, I set my stealth abilities to full – not using flash was key to this.  Such environments are technically difficult to work in , but exactly the type of scenario where a professional photographer can really prove their worth.

Which raises an interesting point – always ask a photographer if they can work without flash – if the answer is a straight no, alarm bells should ring.  As I would argue this is a key skill any photographer should possess.

Further Information on Weddings at Hotel du Vin

Hotel du Vin own a chain of Hotels around the UK, although I’ve only visited their Hotel in Poole. You’ll find more information, and photographs of these on their website http://www.hotelduvin.com

The Fennes Wedding Venue

The Fennes is a Georgian Manor House in Essex, just outside Braintree.  Like many country venues,  you’ll get exclusive use of the venue by default. So you’ll avoid having awkward moments of “is this person a long lost aunty?”

My orders for this wedding put me in my preferred working style – staying subtle and blending into the background as much as possible. I also only photographed in black and white, which was brilliant as I’m a massive fan of this style of image!

The interior of the house is quite small, the front only consists of two small rooms. To the rear, a semi-permanent and seamless marquee is the main space for the wedding and wedding dinner.

Rain and Photography

As we discovered on the day, this small space can be a problem if the rain strikes! After the main wedding ceremony, a small army deploys to work on transforming the marquee area into a dining venue. Unfortunately during this period, there was nowhere to go apart from the front rooms, which were cramped. To be honest, from a guests point of view this lack of space is unlikely to be a problem. From a photographers point of view though, it was very difficult to move around. I love to fade into the wallpaper and let weddings flow without having to navigate through conversations, so my flow was subdued somewhat for 20 minutes.

And once we were able to enter the marquee – the sun came out!

Since The Fennes is out of my usual zone of Hampshire Venues, I won’t go into massive detail. But if you would like to know more, I’m happy to answer any questions you have. Get in touch!

The wedding venues website is: http://www.fennes.co.uk/

My relaxed approach to wedding photography allows you time to enjoy your day without hassle.

Thanks to my reportage style, I can take photographs that embrace the personality and emotions of everyone at your wedding. This approach removes the need for formal and group photographs, so I can work without disrupting or disturbing your day.

Prices

Currently. I offer a unique wedding photography package. This gives you the freedom to use your wedding photographs as you like. There is no need to pre-pay for albums or prints.

• Photographic coverage – from morning preparations until the end of your wedding speeches.
• Two personalised DVDs or CDs of your wedding photographs (see below).
• A DVD/CD Album (as below).
• Edited digital photographs at full resolution, which you can print to your hearts’ delight – and at no extra cost.
• Black and white and colour photographs.
• Piece of mind organisation, from a photographic plan to scouting of your wedding venue.
• Your own online, and password protected, viewing gallery.

For this service I charge £1000.

This price applies for wedding photography in Hampshire and Berkshire, but I often move beyond these counties at no extra cost. Every wedding varies, so I’ll do my best to deliver an ad-hoc service to you. For example I can also cover your evening celebrations after the speeches.

> Additional Information <

Professional Photographic Prints

These are often offered by wedding photographers as an additional extra, with premium prices that don’t match quality. Photographs are simply printed by high-street printers rather than professional labs. And yet you’ll pay a professional price.

Please avoid paying extra for this. With my services you are able to print and share your wedding photographs as much as you like, without any extra cost. That includes your friends and family.

Wedding Album Design

Due to demand, I now offer premium quality, hardback photo books, produced by Loxley Albums. These products are only available to professional photographers, so unlike prints they cannot be purchased on the high street. I charge a small fee for album design on top of the cost of production.

Flexibility

No wedding is the same, so if you have any particular requirements or requests, I am happy to try and accommodate them. If they are beyond my capability, I will try to help you find someone who can help.

Questions or Enquiries?

If you have any questions you can email me at Alex@afweddings.co.uk or phone me on 0118 9814117. You can also use the contact form on this website.