A Hatfield Place wedding in June, at the Georgian country house at Hatfield Peverel in Essex. Nicole and Taylor had fifteen acres of mature gardens, a walled garden that most guests do not find until the afternoon, and a house that takes daylight extremely well.
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: a Georgian house, and a walled garden
Hatfield Place is exclusive use, so the morning belongs to you. The bridal coach house and the bedroom suites mean both sides can get ready on site, and the Georgian proportions mean big windows and a lot of usable light before anyone has to think about it.
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 Hatfield Place
The house is licensed in several spots, inside and out, which is worth settling early because each one gives you a different set of photographs. I work the sides and the back on a silent shutter, and I never ask anybody to walk back down the aisle again.
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
The drive and the lawns give you a long line for confetti here — two rows rather than a ring, held until the couple are properly into the gap, and done 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 Hatfield Place 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 walled garden is the thing most couples underuse. It is intricately planted, enclosed, and completely different in character from the lawns — ten minutes in there late on is worth more than half an hour on the front grass.
Speeches, and the people listening
Speeches are the richest twenty minutes of a Hatfield Place 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 ballroom takes a full floor, and the gardens outside it stay usable well into the evening in June. I stayed until it was properly going, which is how I shoot every Hatfield Place wedding. There is no overrun charge for that, because I do not sell hours and nobody is counting them.
Planning your own Hatfield Place wedding?
If you are looking at Hatfield Place, the venue’s own site is hatfieldplace.co.uk — 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 Hatfield Place wedding is written up in more detail on my Hatfield Place 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.
Nicole and Taylor 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.
Hatfield Place wedding photographer FAQs
Where is Hatfield Place?
The Street, Hatfield Peverel, Essex — a Georgian country house in fifteen acres of mature gardens, including a walled garden.
Is Hatfield Place exclusive use?
Yes. The house and grounds are yours, with a bridal coach house and twelve bedroom suites on site, which is why the days here tend to run slowly in the best way.
How much does a Hatfield Place 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.
