Chippenham Park Wedding : Kayleigh and Ryan
Kayleigh & Ryan
A Day That Stayed Personal
I'd known Kayleigh for years before this booking. It mattered before I'd even picked up the camera.
Photographing a friend's wedding is different. Not more or less work, just different, and Kayleigh and Ryan's day stayed personal the whole way through.
Kayleigh got ready at her family home, surrounded by her parents, family and friends, properly peaceful before the day picked up pace. She moved to Chippenham Park afterward for finishing touches and stepped into her dress there. Ryan sent a beautifully restored Rolls-Royce to collect her, the kind of detail that tells you how much thought went into the day.
Getting Ready
Home first, then Chippenham Park, a quieter start than most weddings get.
"Every ceremony, I watch the groom's face, not the bride's. That's where the real reaction happens."
JuanThe Rolls-Royce
Ryan arranged this himself. It's the kind of detail that only means something if you know the couple, and I did.
The Ceremony
They married by the lake at Chippenham Park, shrouded by trees, with just enough breeze to keep things comfortable. I always watch for the same thing at this point in a wedding, the groom's reaction as his bride comes into view. Ryan's shoulders dropped the second he saw Kayleigh, that instant, involuntary relax that happens every time and never stops being worth watching for.
Golden Hour
Portraits among the blossoms, the kind of light that does most of the work on its own.
Into the Evening
Speeches, then dancing until the lights came up. Straightforward, and better for it, this wasn't a day that needed embellishing.
Photographing this one stayed personal the whole way through, not because of the venue, because of who Kayleigh is to me.
Thank you to the team at Chippenham Park for hosting another day like this one, and to the suppliers who helped it run: videography from Mark at White in Motion, and the selfie mirror from Lucie at Easy and Elegant Weddings.
Your wedding.
Your story.
Two ways to tell it, both documentary at the core. See which one is yours.
Explore The Two Approaches
Natasha & Toby's Engagement Shoot at Lanwades Hall, With Two Dogs and a Horse
Natasha & Toby
Two Dogs, One Horse, One Hour
Most venues won't let you bring the whole family. Lanwades Hall said yes.
Most venues won't let you shoot on site before the wedding. When Lanwades Hall said yes to Natasha and Toby's engagement session, it meant we could do something most couples don't get the chance to: bring the whole family. Two dogs and a horse.
Their wedding coordinator, Charlotte, ended up doing double duty as photographer's assistant and animal wrangler, holding leads, calming a nervous horse, generally making sure nothing bolted mid shot.
The Horse
The turning point came about twenty minutes in, once the horse settled and stopped being the main event.
"Toby's got a dog under one arm and Natasha's laughing at something the horse just did. Those are the photographs that will matter to them."
JuanThe Grounds
Tree lined paths and soft afternoon light that needed no help from us.
Natasha and Toby's wedding, also at Lanwades Hall, is coming very soon to the Journal.
Thank you to Lanwades Hall for opening the gates for this one, and to Charlotte for keeping two dogs, one horse, and one photographer all pointed in the same direction.
Lanwades is one of my favourite venues to shoot at, and if you're getting married there, ask me about the offer I run for Lanwades couples. And if you're worried an engagement shoot with your own animals in tow will turn into a three hour ordeal, Natasha and Toby's took under an hour, horse included.
Thinking about
your own engagement shoot?
A relaxed session before the wedding day, a chance to get comfortable in front of the camera together.
A & J's Trinity Hall Wedding | Juan Weddings
A & J
A Trinity Hall Summer
Gardens in full bloom, honey coloured stone, and a couple who could not stop laughing at each other all day.
A and J got married at Trinity Hall on one of those Cambridge summer days that makes the whole city look like it was built for weddings.
Gardens in full bloom, honey coloured stone everywhere you point a lens, and a couple who genuinely could not stop laughing at each other all day. It is exactly the kind of Trinity Hall wedding Cambridge does best in summer.
Getting Ready
A got ready with her team in a beautiful room at Trinity Hall, just a short walk through the buildings to the ceremony. Her family are Spanish speaking, which meant I could talk to them directly through the morning, I'm fluent in Spanish myself.
The boys arrived shortly after and we took a few moments for groom prep. It was a proper hot summer's day, the kind Cambridge doesn't get often enough.
The Florals
By Larkspur Floral Design, leaning into the garden setting rather than fighting it. Loose, textured arrangements that looked like they'd been cut that morning, which they had.
On the Cam
One of the things that sets Trinity Hall apart for weddings is that it sits directly on the River Cam. After the ceremony, A, J and I took a private punt tour, congratulated by other punters as we passed. King's, St John's, the Bridge of Sighs, all drifting by while A and J sat close and mostly forgot I was there with a camera, which is exactly what I want from that part of the day.
"As a parting shot at the end of the night, A and her netball team pulled off a full human pyramid on the dance floor. Nobody warned me. I got the shot anyway."
JuanThe reception ran long, in the best way. Speeches in Trinity Hall's grand hall, catering entirely in house and properly good, evening food from Boxed Events that disappeared within minutes of hitting the table. I stay until the dancing actually stops rather than packing up early, and it paid off. The evening ended perfectly in the heat of a summer's night.
If you're planning a Cambridge University wedding and want a photographer who'll stay for the pyramid as well as the vows, get in touch.
Getting married
in Cambridge?
More real weddings live in the Journal, if you want to see what a full day looks like start to finish.
Norfolk Pre-Wedding Shoot
J & R
J&R’s cool, chilled and beautiful Norfolk Pre-Wedding Shoot
J and R’s Norfolk pre-wedding shoot
We started in one of my favourite pine forests, that particular quiet you only get under trees, filtered light, the smell of it. J and R walked ahead of me for the first ten minutes before either of them noticed I was shooting, which is exactly how I like to start these.
J wore something soft that moved in the wind, R kept it simple, and neither of them tried especially hard, they didn’t need to. Somewhere in the trees R made a joke about the wind wrecking J’s hair, and the laugh that followed is one of my favourite frames from the whole shoot.
From the trees we moved to a stretch of empty beach. Same energy, just with wind and sand added, a mix of quieter portraits and a few looser, more playful shots once they forgot about the cold.
They also picked one image to go on a signing mount for their South Farm wedding, so guests can write messages around it on the day, a nice option if you haven’t thought about it and want something more personal than a guestbook.
Their wedding is at South Farm soon, one of my favourite venues to shoot at, and I’ll have the full story here once it’s done.
Thinking about your own Norfolk pre-wedding shoot, or wondering what else to add to your day? Our wedding photography add ons page covers everything from signing mounts to albums, and if you’d like to talk it through, get in touch.
More real weddings on the Journal.
Pre-wedding and engagement shoots in and around the UK and beyond!
To book your Norfolk pre-wedding shoot, simply drop me an email or fill out the form below.
Chippenham Park Wedding
Emily & Josh
A Wedding in the Formal Gardens
The gap in the hedge, a gasp from the garden, and a first dance in dog masks.
I'd already spent an afternoon with Emily and Josh at Brandon Park, their two dogs running ahead of us through the trees, before their wedding at Chippenham Park in September 2024. Some of that same ease turned up again on the day itself, just with better outfits.
They married in the Formal Gardens, closed in by hedges so old and so precisely kept that they gave real shelter from the breeze. It is one of three ceremony spots at Chippenham Park, and on a day like this one, easily the right choice.
Through the Hedge
Emily walked through a gap in the hedge with the house behind her, and the whole garden gasped, quietly, all at once.
"Josh's face when Emily came through that gap in the hedge. That's the frame I'd keep from the entire day."
Juan
Portraits, Mostly Left Alone
This session gave me one of my all time favourite images from any wedding. Emily and Josh just walked together and talked, and I gave them almost nothing to do. They looked happy and natural enough that I didn't want to interrupt them.
The Reception
The speeches were properly good, the kind that actually land rather than just fill time before the cake.
Chippenham Park doesn't allow dogs at the venue, so Emily and Josh brought theirs a different way. After an epic first dance, they pulled out two oversized cut-out masks with their dogs' faces on them and danced the rest of the night wearing them.
The Formal Gardens
Ancient hedges, closely kept, framing the ceremony from every angle.
Into the Evening
Fairy lights and a marquee, and by the end of the night, two very good dogs watching from a couple of cardboard masks.
This day was also beautifully captured on film by Ed Bray, a videographer I get to work with often and always look forward to sharing a day with.
Emily and Josh's wedding is exactly why I keep coming back to Chippenham Park. Fifteen years in, it still finds new ways to surprise me.
Your wedding.
Your story.
Two ways to tell it, both documentary at the core. See which one is yours.
Explore The Two Approaches
Emily & Josh's Woodland Engagement Shoot, With Their Two Dogs
Emily & Josh
Two Dogs and a Woodland Walk
A pre-wedding shoot that felt like an afternoon walk, not a photoshoot.
Emily and Josh didn't want a pre-wedding shoot that looked staged. They wanted an afternoon walk with their two dogs, somewhere quiet, somewhere theirs. Brandon Park gave us exactly that.
We met at the edge of the wood with both dogs already pulling at their leads, which set the tone for the whole afternoon. Nobody was going to stand still and pose. Emily and Josh walked the paths hand in hand while the dogs ran ahead and doubled back every few minutes to check in.
The Dogs Leading the Way
Half the best frames from this shoot happened because the dogs decided where we were going next, not me.
"Two dogs, one path, no posing needed. This is exactly the kind of afternoon I want more of."
Juan
Hand in Hand
The green everywhere made Emily's dress stand out without trying, but it was the easy way they walked together that made the frame.
One image from that afternoon ended up meaning more than either of us expected. Emily and Josh chose it as the signing print for their wedding at Chippenham Park later that year.
Thinking about
your own engagement shoot?
A relaxed session before the wedding day, a chance to get comfortable in front of the camera together.