S & E’s Beautifully Stylish Wedding at Island Hall

A Beautifully Stylish Wedding, Told In Full

Island Hall has a way of making a wedding day feel like it belongs in a different century, in the best possible way. S & E’s day had all of it: a bedroom full of nervous laughter, a walk down a staircase that has seen two hundred years of family history, vows under a tree older than the house itself, and a marquee lit up on an island reached only by a footbridge. Island Hall is one of the venues I come back to again and again, it’s featured on my guide to the Top Five Wedding Venues in Cambridgeshire, alongside the rest of my favourite Cambridgeshire wedding venues. Here’s how the day unfolded.

Getting Ready In The House

S got ready with her bridal party in one of Island Hall’s bedrooms upstairs, a quiet, light-filled room that made for some of my favourite images of the whole day. When it was time, she made her way down the house’s ornate central staircase, the kind of architectural moment you can’t manufacture on a blank canvas venue.

Bride walking down the ornate staircase at Island Hall
Bridal prep · one of Island Hall’s bedrooms, then down the staircase
The house does half the work for you. My job is just to be in the right place when it happens.

Vows Under The Great Oak

S & E were married outside on the lawn, in front of family and friends, under the great oak tree that anchors the whole garden. Island Hall itself stood behind them as a backdrop, real light, real reactions, and a setting that needs no dressing up.

First kiss under the great oak tree at Island Hall
The ceremony · under the great oak tree, house behind

Over The Bridge To The Island

After the ceremony, drinks flowed on the lawn while the light softened. Then the whole party made the walk over the footbridge onto the island itself, where a marquee had been set up for the reception, private, self-contained, and genuinely unlike anywhere else I shoot. There’s something about crossing water to get to your own reception that changes the mood of a day.

Bride reflected in an ornate mirror before the wedding at Island Hall

A Stylish Reception On The Island

The flowers throughout the marquee were by Feather and Ferns, soft, seasonal, and completely in keeping with the setting, and the food came from Little Piggy Catering. Both know this venue well, and it showed.

Every wedding at Island Hall feels a little different, but the bridge always changes the energy of the room.

Portraits Through The Grounds

My favourite part of most weddings, and this one was no different: twenty minutes alone with S & E, walking through the grounds while everyone else had a drink. No posing, no lists, just following the light and letting them be a couple rather than a bride and groom for a bit.

S and E portraits walking through the grounds at Island Hall
S & E · walking the grounds
S and E leaving the ceremony through a confetti tunnel at Island Hall
S and E walking together by the lake at Island Hall
More From The Day
S and E laughing together by a tree at Island Hall
S and E sharing a quiet moment as the veil catches the wind at Island Hall

On The Day

Getting Married At Island Hall?

If you’re planning a wedding at Island Hall, or a venue like it, I’d love to hear from you. Take a look at my wedding photography packages to see how it works.