I’m really lucky to photograph lots of weddings in London but rarely do these opulent venues offer much in the way of outside space. So when Katherine and Craig asked me to be their Old Kent Barn Wedding photographer I was praying, more than ever for a sunny day. Katherine and Craig’s wedding was not only sunny, but it was actually hot, yes hot. Not Caribbean style hot but hot for the UK in March.
This was the first time for me photographing a wedding at the Old Kent Barn which is perfectly positioned in beautiful Kent countryside and only 15mins from Canterbury. The venue is a family run business with an emphasis on the personal touch. And I genuinely mean that. I arrived early and was greeted by Claire, one of the owners, who immediately offered me a coffee. Hilary, the Events Manager was showing around prospective couples whilst Will and Roger were setting up the fabulous outdoor Gazebo area. One thing that immediately struck me was how efficient, calm and relaxed everything seemed.
After a quick tour I was excited by the venue and how well thought-out the venue is for weddings. Kat and Craigs wedding was going to be an outdoors wedding but if not, the New Barn would be also be a beautiful setting for a wedding ceremony. Put it this way, it’s a Kent wedding venue that I’ll be looking forward to shooting at again.
My assistant on the day Soven, had arrived before me… it’s a bit of a thing now between us, where we like to be the first to arrive…. I was excited when I parked up as I couldn’t see his car, so I thought I’d won this one but then a phone call came through from a smug Soven asking where I was…. Next time Soven, next time 😉
Whilst wandering around the grounds I bumped into Kat’s Dad, Terry… Terry had his camera out and was enjoying photographing the scenery. He told me that Kat had banned him from photographing at the wedding. This I think was a good thing as I’m sure he had his eye on my Canon 85mm 1.2 Lens to play with.
One word can be used to describe the scene awaiting me in the bridal preparation suite. Calmness. Seriously they were all so chilled out one would be mistaken for thinking it was a Spa day, not a wedding. But this to me summed up Kat. From the first email to the time we left she was lovely. A beautiful bride and a lovely person and a bride that was not stressing about anything but instead looking forward to her wedding day. I mentioned earlier about the personal touch offered by the staff at the Barn, well it was lovely to see Claire holding Kat and Craig’s gorgeous little 3 month old girl, whilst Hilary helped Kat get into her dress.
Whilst I was with Kat, Soven was wondering around the grounds getting some reportage photos of guests arriving. Today was the first day that Soven and I tested out our new 2-way radios, which I have no doubt other wedding photographers will laugh at but damn, did it work well. “Soven, I need a drink”, “Soven. I need my other lens”, “Soven, where are you”… “Iain, shut up and leave me alone…” What can I say, I like gadgets.
Anyway, enough of me waffling on, how about some wedding photos from Kat and Craigs wedding at the Old Kent Barn.
A massive thank you to Claire, Hilary, Will and Roger for their hospitality and Soven for his help, support and images which contributed to give the couple some amazing memories.
Of course, thanks to Kat and Craig for entrusting me with their wedding day and always agreeing to my, what seemed like strange ideas, on the day.
I hope you like the photos as much as I do and please feel free to leave a comment…
Finally, if you’re looking for a wedding photographer or know anyone who is, please do get in touch and we can have a chat about your ideas for the photos.
“Wedding Photography is not all the same….”
[separator top=”40″]
[content_boxes layout=”icon-boxed” iconcolor=”#333333″ circlecolor=”#ffffff” circlebordercolor=”#e67fb9″ backgroundcolor=”#f6f6f6″]
[content_box title=”Brides Blog” icon=”heart” image=”” link=”http://themeforest.net/user/ThemeFusion” linktarget=”” linktext=””]Kat writes:
Craig and I met 9 years ago through friends and whilst we both have great friends, we became the best of friends and have been inseparable ever since.
Craig asked me marry him in 2012 and of course I said yes!
We began planning the wedding a few months later and there were two main questions….. What date and what venue. We wanted to find the perfect venue for us and ruled out a number of ones that were local to us for various reasons. We decided upon The Old Kent Barn because it had everything that we were looking for, stunning gardens, a barn and plenty of photo opportunities. When we decided upon the venue, we looked at the dates available and it seemed perfect that Craig’s birthday (29th March 2014) was available.
I love photography and knew that I wanted a photographer who could give us some WOW photos to look back on as well as the traditional ones. There are so many photos that I have seen where I have honestly thought I could have done the same or better, and I’m no photographer! Iain was recommended to me by a fellow photographer and as soon as I saw his photos, I knew he was the one for us.
A year before the wedding I was very relaxed about the planning, especially as I knew roughly what I wanted and what Craig would love. However, that relaxed period ended in May 2013 when I found out I was pregnant and due 3 months before the wedding. Suddenly I needed everything to be in place a lot earlier.
Craig and I met with Iain and we knew that he was going to give us exactly what we wanted on our day, which made it really exciting. He didn’t even seem fazed when he knew that we had some family issues, a 2 year old bridesmaid and that we would have our baby with us.
The wedding day could not have gone better, despite a few hiccups prior to the wedding with other suppliers. The family issues were forgotten, the kids were fantastic and Iain captured it all. We were also extremely lucky with the weather, especially for March and were fortunate enough to get married outside in the Gazebo amongst our friends and family, which made our day extra special. [/content_box]
[/content_boxes]
