A Vaulty Manor wedding in October, at the manor house and barn outside Goldhanger in Essex. Danielle and George married under the white gazebo on the lawn with the house behind them, and got the kind of low autumn light off the drive that you cannot order in June.
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 white house, and two sides of it
Vaulty is exclusive use, so the morning belongs to you. Both sides got ready on site, a short walk apart, which meant I could move between them without losing either — and the tall windows in the house do most of the work on the light before I have 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 Vaulty Manor
The ceremony was outside, under the gazebo on the lawn with the house as the backdrop and the chairs set out either side of a path. October is a gamble for an outdoor ceremony and it came off — but the barn is licensed either way, which is the reason to be relaxed about choosing one.
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 path back from the gazebo makes the confetti line here, which means it is already two rows of people by the time you turn round. Held until the couple are into the gap, walked slowly, and done in one pass.
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 Vaulty Manor 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 tree-lined gravel drive is the thing to use at Vaulty, and in October it is covered in leaf. Ten minutes down there late on, with the light coming through low, produced most of the frames on this page that Danielle and George ended up keeping.
Speeches, and the people listening
Speeches are the richest twenty minutes of a Vaulty Manor 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 the noise, and the beams and the lights do the rest once it goes dark. I stayed until it was properly going, which is how I shoot every Vaulty Manor wedding. There is no overrun charge for that, because I do not sell hours and nobody is counting them.
Planning your own Vaulty Manor wedding?
If you are looking at Vaulty Manor, the venue’s own site is vaultymanor.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 Vaulty Manor wedding is written up in more detail on my Vaulty Manor 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.
Danielle and George 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.
Vaulty Manor wedding photographer FAQs
Where is Vaulty Manor?
Goldhanger, near Maldon in Essex — an eight-hundred-year-old manor house and a restored seventeenth-century barn, on exclusive use.
Can we get married outside at Vaulty Manor?
Yes — Danielle and George married under the gazebo on the lawn in October and it worked. The barn is licensed too, so an outdoor ceremony here is a choice rather than a gamble you cannot back out of.
How much does a Vaulty Manor 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.
