Herefordshire was not a county I’d visited before for a wedding photography booking prior to Meredith & Iain’s gorgeous day. Bredenbury Court Barns is located about 35 minutes west of Worcester, in beautiful rolling countryside.
Like so many other stories of 2021 brides and grooms, Meredith & Iain had originally planned to marry the previous year, 12 months earlier to the weekend. Indeed, at the time of committing to the venue, it was still very much a construction site, and Meredith & Iain needed to take on trust that it would be as magical as the Bredenbury Court Barns team assured them it would be.
Bredenbury Court Barns – First impressions
In October 2021, as I like to do with all venues I’ve not worked at before, I met up with Meredith & her mum, Lorrie, to go for a wander and see exactly what we had to work with.
The gorgeous rolling Herefordshire countryside upon which Bredenbury Court Barns sits
Make no bones about it, Bredenbury Court Barns is stunning. It’s beautifully finished throughout, and the floor-to-ceiling glass panelling on two sides of the wedding breakfast room shows off the venue’s surroundings to its fullest. The big wooden beams are just lovely, too. It really has been done very well indeed.
Bredenbury Court Barn’s magnificent Oak Barn
The Big Day
Preparations
Fast forward a month to the wedding day itself. Having built in some slack to ensure traffic on the longer-than-usual transit to the venue wasn’t a problem, I arrived quite a bit earlier than scheduled. Meredith was very happy for me to start snapping straight away. Her and her girls were in various stages of readiness in the fantastically spacious bridal prep room. As well as quite a bit of natural light entering the space, there was also a wall of mirrors on one side and a few others dotted around elsewhere. It just made it a really nice, easy space for everyone to work in without being in one another’s way.
Meredith’s mother-in-law-to-be, Amanda, had put together a little package of gifts to accompany a modified-version of the Owl & The Pussycat poem, that she’d adapted
No sneak peeks allowed!
Meredith’s absolutely gorgeous flowers were supplied by Floral Roundabout
Meredith has her hair done
As bridal prep continued, the personal touches were being added to the ceremony and wedding breakfast rooms. Lorrie had created (with some electrical assistance from someone else) a number of amazing fake trees, which featured prominently in the day. The wedding breakfast room, in particular, looked incredible, with all of the lights reflecting off the glass walls.
A look of approval from Meredith’s mum
One of the many trees created by Meredith’s talented mum
Anastasia Grikinis applies the finishing touches to Meredith’s make-up
Iain’s grandmother assists him with his button hole
Final, final bridal preparations!
Picture perfect!
The Wedding Ceremony
Before we knew it, it was ceremony time. Bredenbury Court Barns also boasts a very light and airy ceremony room, with windows down one side and sky lights in the ceiling. Even on a rather grey autumnal day, as this one sadly was, there was no shortage of light to work with.
Bredenbury Court Barn’s very light and airy ceremony room
The Bride and her step-dad approach the Groom
Iain takes the hand of his beautiful Bride
There was no shortage of laughs during the wedding ceremony
Lovely crowd reactions
With this ring, I thee wed
Someone looks rather pleased with themselves! 🙂
Come here, you!
Formalities complete
Your Bride & Groom!
Group Shots
After the beautiful ceremony, and with daylight starting to fade, we headed outside for the group shots. The big tree in the grounds was still full of autumn colour, so it wasn’t hard to decide where to do those.
Meredith’s colour scheme worked beautifully for an autumn wedding
The Bride & Groom
The newlyweds and I then went for a little wander, though I was conscious that the temperature was dropping, and Meredith had only a shawl to offer her protection from the cold. Sadly, there was to be no sunset.
It was a shame the sun didn’t play ball for Meredith & Iain, but at least the rain held off!
The rich oranges and vibrant greens complement the deep reds in Meredith’s outfit
This beautiful brick archway was crying out to be utilised
The Confetti Shot
While we’d been outside, Olivia, the wedding co-ordinator, and her amazing team had pushed the chairs back in the ceremony room so that we could do a confetti shot. This is the first wedding venue I’ve ever worked at where you HAVE to do confetti inside! It actually worked really well. I used a combination of quite a slow shutter speed and a blast of flash to freeze the couple but also get motion in the confetti as it was thrown.
Indoor confetti shots at Bredenbury Court Barns
The Wedding Breakfast
Speeches
The fully-dressed Oak Barn looked incredible with the lights on
Iain was nervous about doing his speech, so I had encouraged he and Meredith to get them out the way prior to food being served during our initial meeting. It’s an increasingly common thing, and it saves nervous parties from sitting there panicking while they eat (or don’t eat!), rather than enjoying the day, which is what it should be about.
The Bride wanted to say a few words
Despite Iain’s nerves, he gave a great speech
It both amused….
….and brought tears
The effect of the lights reflecting off the glass walls was amazing
The speeches were all incredibly heart-felt and it was clear that the happy couple mean the absolute world to their families and friends.
Bridesmaid speech
Best Man speech
Sparklers!
Once everyone had eaten, we headed back outside, where it was now considerably more windy than it had been just a few hours earlier. Meredith had been very keen to do some sparkler shots, so that’s what we did – it was the day after Bonfire Night, after all! Again, Olivia was incredibly helpful in assisting us in setting it up!
Every Bonfire Night weekend wedding needs sparklers!
Portrait sparkler shot
Cake Cut & First Dance
Meredith & Iain cut their beautiful cake, which had been crafted by the, sadly, retiring Kerry Tucker, and enjoyed their first dance as husband and wife.
The gorgeous cake made by Kerry Tucker was sadly the penultimate one she would be making as a pro
Meredith & Iain reluctantly cut into the masterpiece
The First Dance as Husband & Wife
Iain looks longingly at his new Wife
The Bride & Groom P2
I’d got my portable studio lights with me, but given how windy it was, I didn’t really expect a positive response when I gave Meredith the option to go back out again for another play. I was wrong, though, and they fully embraced it once more. Slightly less wind would have made things easier and probably a bit more rewarding, but I think it was still worth doing.
A passionate embrace in the Bredenbury Court Barns darkness
The Bredenbury Court Barns pagoda
This edge-lit shot would have been infinitely easier – and possibly more effective – with less wind!
Silent Disco
Finally, Iain had organised a silent disco, which was quite good fun to photograph.
The concept of a silent disco is a little alien to some, but the guests at Meredith & Iain’s wedding loved it!
That’s a wrap!
And so my booking ended and with it my 2021 wedding season! It had been another very enjoyable day with genuinely lovely people, and this is just a tiny fraction of the images I could have shared.
Wishing Meredith & Iain all the very best for long, happy, healthy and prosperous lives together.
Further Information
You will find further information about my wedding photography services on the following pages:
My Wedding Photography Packages
How I Work – Wedding Photography by Karl Drage
A Typical Wedding Day – Documentary Wedding Photography by Karl Drage
Portfolio – Wedding Photography by Karl Drage
Why Can Wedding Photography seem so Expensive?
Questions you should ask a wedding photographer
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