A Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding in high summer, in a quiet fold of the Hertfordshire countryside near Datchworth. Courtney and Taylor had the whole place to themselves — courtyard rooms round the back, an ivy arch by the house, a barn with the beams showing, and a lane that turned out to be the best confetti line I have walked all year.
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: courtyard rooms and an unhurried start
Every Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding starts the same way, and it is the exclusive use you notice first. There is no other wedding finishing off down the corridor and nobody chivvying anyone along. Both sides got ready in the courtyard rooms a short walk from each other, which meant I could move between them without losing either.
I arrived about three hours before the ceremony and took 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.
An ivy arch, and the walk over to the ceremony
There is an ivy-covered arch by the main house that a bride can walk out through on the way to the ceremony. It is the kind of thing worth knowing about in advance, because it happens once, at walking pace, and there is no second take.
Her father was waiting on the other side of it. That reaction is roughly a second long, it does not come round again, and the only way to have it is to already be standing in the right place with the right lens on.
The ceremony in the barn
The ceremony room used for a Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding has the timber showing and light coming in from the side, which is a gift on a bright day — it means I can work from the back and the edges on a silent shutter without a flash going 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 boy who has entirely given up.
Confetti down the lane
This is the one moment in the day I take charge of, because confetti is over in eight seconds and it is very easy to waste. At a Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding the lane running away from the buildings makes a natural line, so it works far better as two rows along the track than as a ring around a door.
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.
Portraits, the fields and a field of alpacas
The directed part of a Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding comes to about forty-five minutes, split into three fifteen-minute slots rather than one long block — straight after the ceremony, again before dinner is called, and once more at sunset when the light drops behind the barns.
There are also alpacas in the field here, and yes, people get photographed with them. It is not something I would ever suggest on my own, but if you want it, say so on the planning call and we will find ten minutes for it rather than improvising at the wrong end of the day.
The wedding breakfast and the speeches
Speeches are the richest twenty minutes of a Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding for this kind of photography, 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: a band, a barn and a full floor
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.
I stayed until it was properly going, which is how I shoot every Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding. There is no overrun charge for that, because I do not sell hours and nobody is counting them.
Planning your own Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding?
If you are looking at Coltsfoot, the venue’s own site is coltsfoot.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 Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding is written up in more detail on my Coltsfoot Country Retreat 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.
Courtney 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.
Coltsfoot Country Retreat wedding photographer FAQs
Where is Coltsfoot Country Retreat?
Coltsfoot Lane, Bulls Green, Datchworth, Hertfordshire SG3 6SB — tucked into the countryside within easy reach of Welwyn, Welwyn Garden City, Knebworth and Stevenage.
Is Coltsfoot exclusive use?
Yes. You have the grounds and the barn to yourselves, with courtyard bedrooms on site, which is a large part of why the day feels as unhurried as it does in these photographs.
How much does a Coltsfoot Country Retreat 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 Hertfordshire?
Yes, and travel is included in the price. There is no mileage charge and no overnight fee if I come up the night before, which I often do.
