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 secluded beach on Brownsea Island

Brownsea Island, Dorset

Brownsea Island is a nature reserve in the middle of Poole Harbour, managed by the National Trust. It’s famous for it’s links to the Cub movement and for being a sanctuary to red squirrels.

I didn’t managed to speak to anyone directly involved with the Island, but I got the impression that as far as Weddings go we were pioneers.

Getting to the Island

The couple had wed the previous day at Hotel du Vin in Poole, so the nature of the day was very much orientated to enjoying the scenic surroundings whilst catching up with old friends.  Getting to the island was easy due to the proximity of the hotel to Poole Harbour (where passenger ferrys run regularly to the Island). Once we arrived some park rangers were on hand to transport older people and heavy items via Land Rover.

Choice of Venue

There are several buildings on the island, which I would imagine could be made available for hire. In this case the couple had selected a modern wooden building some 20 minutes walk from the landing bay (thus the Land Rovers were very useful). As the photographs below show, this building was very much in the style of a oversized Canadian forest hut. As the weather was brilliantly sunny, this venue worked perfectly. However if it had rained, we would have been fairly crammed inside. It’s something that crossed my mind repeatedly, as from a photography point of view, working in crammed conditions is very difficult.

A Private but Public Island

The island operates very much in the same way as a park would, so you do have the occasional non-wedding guest walking around, but with the location of the building in relation to the ferry dock, you should find the public are few are far between. Strangely enough, most of the public we encountered were nature photographers…wearing camouflage and looking very serious!

Later in the evening the wedding party and I walked to a small and deserted beach for sunset. Effectively we had our own private beach – something I would imagine is very hard to come by in regards to weddings.

Your biggest worry if you had a wedding on the Island, would be missing the last ferry back to shore, and having to camp out in the woodland with red squirrels lurking.

Further Information

If you want to find out about weddings on Brownsea Island click on the National Trust link at the top of this article. Through that page you should be able to find all the information you need.

The Ravenswood Hotel

I visited The Ravenswood Hotel back in March, when the forecasters were hyping about how warm and sunny the  summer would be.  I  want a refund for the disappointment dropped on me when they changed their minds. I probably talk about the sun and the rain too much, but it’s a large deciding factor in how I work. In this case, the wedding at Ravenswood was unfortunately a rainy affair.

Jazz and rain

When I visited the Hotel prior to the wedding there was a jazz lunch event on, which apparently this Hotel is famous for. I saw little of the surrounding grounds because, like the wedding day itself, the rain was falling like stones. However,  Photographs of the grounds can be found on the Hotel’s website

Inside Ravenswood

The wedding was held in a large octagonal hall at the centre of the hotel. Despite the rain the abundance of windows gave me plenty of light to work with, and so I didn’t need to use flash. As I was enjoying the light, the poor Bride had about 10 metres to dash from her car to the hotel entrance, thankfully a  network of umbrellas gave her an effective rain shield.

After the wedding a drinks reception was held in a smaller room, complete with a staircase and large fireplace. This room was, as I often say, “lit in a cosy way” which is my language for a photographers nightmare.  As a result I used a number of wireless flashes in this room, which helped me keep mobile and out of the way as much as possible.

This smaller room was very much used as a stop-gap, so that the Hotel could convert the main hall for the evening function. By this stage the windows provided only a moonlit scene, so I again used numerous wireless flashes strategically placed throughout the room.

Further Information

You may have found your way onto the Ravenswood Hotel website earlier with the photograph link, if not you can find it here: The Ravenswood Hotel.

The Clock Barn Hampshire

The Clock Barn is just outside the village of Whitchurch, Hampshire. The barn is tucked away amongst the Hampshire Countryside, and there is plenty of potential for photographs in the surrounding cornfields. Although you would need to put aside some extra time for this.

Venue Interior

The interior of the barn is divided into three sections. To the rear of the barn is a small function room, the rest of the barn is semi-split into two sections, with a large hall making up the majority of interior space. A smaller section  can be hidden from view by curtains or added the the already spacious main hall. Depending on the size of your wedding this smaller section can be used as the main wedding room or the larger hall can be deployed.

The exterior

As I mentioned above, the barn is located in a very rural area, however the barn itself doesn’t have large areas of exclusive exterior space. Immediately outside the barn is a small landscaped grass area, just beyond this is a larger un-landscaped field, which would hold large potential if you wanted extra marquees / staging / outdoor lighting.

Options in poor weather

Rain is always in my mind when I first visit venues. In this case the Clock Barn doesn’t have the variety or  choice you would find in most country hotels or houses. The main hall would most likely be converted for your evening reception, meaning that only one of the smaller rooms could be used for formal photographs . These rooms are visually the same, so again the choice available if dreaded rain hit, would be limited.

Further Information

Further information about The Clock Barn can be found here: http://www.wedding-venues.co.uk/clockbarn

If you would like to know any further information from me, either ask below or throw me an email.

Inside the Holy Ghost, Basingstoke.

The Holy Ghost Church, Basingstoke

The Holy Ghost Church in Basingstoke is awesome. Which feels like a strange word to use for a church- but I really was surprised by it’s grandeur. It is a hidden gem of Basingstoke. As you can see from the photograph above, the Church is lined with paintings and a splashing of gold (I know I should show this photograph in colour, but to contradict myself slightly, I prefer black and white to colour!)

The Ruins of the Holy Ghost

The Church also has the ruins of an old monastery within walking distance. Ruins – because Henry the VIII had his way with it – despite Henry, these ruins make a great photographic location.

Now, if you are wondering why there are no photographs of the ruins it’s entirely due to the unpredictable nature of public areas. In this case the ruins had become the playground of parkour/free runners. With numerous people jumping and diving around, we all decided it was best to head off to the reception venue.

Evening Reception

The Wellington Arms Hotel was the venue for the evening celebration.  This hotel is located (as the name hints) by Stratfield Saye, the home of the late Duke of Wellington (of Waterloo fame). If you look below, you’ll  notice a photograph of one of the entrance gates.

Internally the Hotel is split in two, the left side is a effectively a nice country pub and to the right consists of the Hampshire Suite which can fit approximately one hundred guests. There is another smaller room for around 30 guests, but I have yet to encounter this.

Outdoor photography opportunities

As far as photography goes the Hotel offers a medium sized un-landscaped garden to the rear. I always argue, all I need to take good photographs is a field full of people; however that scenario doesn’t always work. In this case, the grassed area is a little cut off. There is no seating or proximity to a bar, thus there is little reason for guests to naturally mingle there.  There is a small patio to the side, which fills both of these criteria, but the potential of the rear garden is unfortunately lost.

With these reviews, I  jump from a general perspective to a photographers perspective. Just above I talked about the lack of “outdoor investment”, which I suppose is my view as a photographer. However there are many venues in Hampshire which suffer from the same lack of landscaping, and frankly, especially in the winter – it doesn’t matter.

The Wellington Arms makes up for this by being a very warm and comfortable venue with excellent food – which brides, grooms, wedding guests and everyone who isn’t a photographer will probably find more important!

Further information

These wedding venue reviews could easily run for pages, so what you read here is condensed information of my opinions. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to post a comment below. Or to ask the Wellington Arms directly, visit their website: Weddings at The Wellington Arms Hotel.

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.