A Hutton Hall wedding in November, which is quietly the best month nobody books. Katie and Duncan married at the Grade II listed Georgian manor at Hutton, a couple of miles from Brentwood, with eight acres of gardens round it and a moat along one side.
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 low winter light
A November morning at Hutton Hall gives you something the summer does not: low, soft light coming in sideways through tall Georgian windows, and nobody squinting. The house has a grand hall, a library and a piano room, so there is no shortage of corners to get ready in.
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 Hutton Hall
The Grand Hall is licensed for civil ceremonies and seats up to ninety-five, which keeps everything close together. I work from the sides and the back on a silent shutter, with no flash anywhere near the vows.
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
Confetti at a Hutton Hall wedding works best in two lines out on the gravel rather than a ring at the door. In November the light goes early, so it is worth doing straight after the ceremony rather than saving it.
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 Hutton Hall 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 and the moat give you somewhere to walk that is thirty seconds from the front door, which matters on a short winter day. Ten minutes outside at the right moment is worth more than half an hour at the wrong one.
Speeches, and the people listening
Speeches are the richest twenty minutes of a Hutton Hall 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 evening reception room and the bar fill early in November, and the dancefloor starts earlier than it does in July. I stayed until it was properly going, which is how I shoot every Hutton Hall wedding. There is no overrun charge for that, because I do not sell hours and nobody is counting them.
Planning your own Hutton Hall wedding?
If you are looking at Hutton Hall, the venue’s own site is huttonhall.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 Hutton Hall wedding is written up in more detail on my Hutton Hall 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.
Katie and Duncan 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.
Hutton Hall wedding photographer FAQs
Where is Hutton Hall?
Hutton, Essex — about two miles from Brentwood. A Grade II listed Georgian manor house in eight acres of gardens, partially surrounded by a moat.
Is a November wedding hard to photograph?
No — it is one of my favourite months. The light is lower and kinder, and fast lenses plus no flash until the dancefloor mean I am not dependent on a bright day. This whole gallery was shot in November.
How much does a Hutton Hall 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.
