A High House wedding in the Essex countryside at Althorne — a Grade II listed barn dating to 1750, an orangery, six acres of gardens and meadow, and a lake at the bottom of it. Abi and Sam had the whole site to themselves, which is how High House does every wedding.
I photographed the day documentary-style from start to finish. Nobody was arranged, nothing was repeated for the camera, and the only forty-five minutes of direction were the three short portrait slots. What follows is the day in the order it happened.
The morning: farmhouse rooms, and six acres to spread into
High House sleeps up to twenty-seven across the farmhouse bedrooms, the courtyard rooms and a separate retreat in the garden, so the morning happens on site rather than in a hotel down the road. That is worth more than it sounds — nobody arrives flustered and nothing is done in a car park.
I arrive about three hours before the ceremony and take almost nothing for the first twenty minutes. That is deliberate — I am working out where the light is coming from, which window is worth waiting by, and where I can stand without becoming part of the morning. After that I stop being noticeable, and the room forgets I am there.
The ceremony at High House
The restored barn dates to 1750 and keeps its oak beams and exposed red brick, and the orangery gives a completely different, much lighter option. Whichever you choose, I work the sides and the back quietly on a silent shutter.
I photograph reactions at least as much as I photograph the couple. The vows last about four minutes and there are usually twenty photographs worth having in them, of which three or four are of the two people getting married. The rest are mothers, best friends, and a small child who has entirely given up on the whole thing.
Confetti, and the one bit I do organise
There is a good long run outside the barn for confetti — two lines rather than a ring, walked slowly, and it only needs doing once.
Ushers hold everybody until the couple are properly into the gap, the walk is slow, nobody looks at me, and it happens once, properly. Then it is done and everyone goes back to a drink. It is the only moment of the day I take charge of, because confetti is over in eight seconds and it is very easy to waste.
Portraits, and the forty-five minutes I ask for
The directed part of a High House wedding comes to about forty-five minutes, and it is always split into three fifteen-minute slots rather than one long block — straight after the ceremony, again before dinner is called, and once more late on when the light drops. Nobody wants to be taken away from their own party for an hour, and you do not photograph any better in the fiftieth minute than you do in the fifth.
The gardens run down to the lake and the meadow beyond, and that is where the late light is. Ten minutes down there at the right moment does more than an hour anywhere else on the site.
Speeches, and the people listening
Speeches are the richest twenty minutes of a High House wedding for a simple reason: nobody can leave and everybody is reacting. So I work the room rather than the top table. Half the frames I want are of the person listening, and specifically of the two or three who are trying not to cry and losing.
The evening, and why I do not leave at the first dance
A lot of photographers stop at the first dance. It is a tidy place to finish and it saves two hours, and it also removes the best hour of your own party from the story. The first dance is a formality; twenty minutes later the floor fills and the shoes come off, and that is the actual celebration.
The barn takes a full dancefloor, and the orangery gives everyone who has had enough somewhere to sit without leaving the party. I stayed until it was properly going, which is how I shoot every High House wedding. There is no overrun charge for that, because I do not sell hours and nobody is counting them.
Planning your own High House wedding?
If you are looking at High House, the venue’s own site is highhouseweddings.com — they handle their own bookings and I am not on a commission arrangement with them, so nothing here is a recommendation I have been paid to make.
Everything I know about shooting a High House wedding is written up in more detail on my High House wedding photographer page, including a suggested timeline and what I think the site does well. There is more of my work in the portfolio, an explanation of how I actually work on the day, and the price is one figure with everything in it.
Abi and Sam got a gallery of over eight hundred images, with more than a hundred previews in their inbox the morning after the wedding. If your date is free I would like to hear about it — send me your date and we will have a call.
High House wedding photographer FAQs
Where is High House?
Althorne, Essex — an exclusive-use venue set in six acres of landscaped gardens and meadow, built around a Grade II listed barn from 1750, with an orangery and a lake.
Has High House changed recently?
Yes — the venue has had a refurbishment, so older photographs of it online are out of date. Everything in this gallery is from after the work was done.
How much does a High House wedding photographer cost?
£2,500, all in. Unlimited hours, over eight hundred edited images, previews the next morning, travel included and drone where the rules allow it. There are no packages and no hourly rate to run over.
How long do you need for group photographs?
It depends how many you want. I advise eight to ten groups, which takes fifteen to twenty minutes with a list agreed in advance — then everybody goes back to their drink.
Do you travel to Essex?
Yes, and travel is included in the price. There is no mileage charge and no overnight fee if I come the night before, which I often do.
