Sparkford Hall Wedding Photographer

Sparkford Hall is a stylish Georgian Manor House set in the countryside of Somerset. There are extensive grounds around Sparkford Hall, perfect for a portrait stroll. The interior of Sparkford Hall is very Babington House esque, lots of cool furniture and lounge areas. This was my first visit to Sparkford Hall although I enjoy a few West Country weddings every year as I’m originally from Somerset. There is a large marquee sited next to the main house which my lovely couple used for their wedding breakfast. A huge barn is also onsite which, in the case of this wet and windy August weekend acted as the ceremony space. Bales of hay lined the walls and lent a warn soft light to the interior, tres romantic!

Somerset Manor House Wedding Photographer

Katrina and Wyatt chose Sparkford Hall for their cool Somerset wedding venue. The manor house is basically a blank canvas that a couple can style themselves with a host of fabulous suppliers. The Somerset wedding was a whole weekend affair with the ceremony on the Saturday and a fancy dress pool party and barbecue on the Sunday. I arrived to find Katrina and her girls all in the final stages of hair and make up. A wedding dress was hanging and bottles of champagne were being popped. The stage was set for an epic wedding weekend. There is no shortage of space at Sparkford Hall so Wyatt and his posse of fellas were able to get suited and booted on the other side of the property. A games room with pool, table football and a dart board doubled as the groomsmen hangout and was where they did their button holes and grimaced at the evil looking shots doing the rounds.

Stylish Somerset Manor House Wedding Venue

The weather wasn’t ideal for this Somerset wedding. The original outdoor ceremony idea was abandoned in favour of the barn. The events team at Sparkford Hall shifted all the seating over to the barn with the minimum of fuss, with the help of a few kind guests. Katrina, her bridesmaids and dapper father all made their way to the front of the barn where Wyatt was waiting to tie the knot. I was working in tandem with a young videographer, a friend and guest as well as professional camera man.

[Side note] I’ve been asked to shoot friends weddings before ” Hey John, come along….maybe bring a camera…”. As you’re neither guest nor supplier it (for me) became awkward so I now say no.

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The sun decided to come out after the wedding and we were able to get confetti and some family groups done. Rain became a bit of a feature of the wedding but in no way impacted on enjoyment or photography. There’s a cute little copse behind Sparford Hall that was shelted from the weather. The bride, groom and I took 5 minutes for some gorgeous portraits, natural and unposed in my low key style.

Booking an Award Winning Sparkford Hall wedding photographer

The marquee was looking wonderful, bedecked with flowers. Speeches went by in a flash of laughter and emotion. A magical sunset hit us so I coaxed the ‘merry’ bride and groom out for a quick stroll. In my humble opinion its always worth a quick golden hour moment if the light is right. Its often a slight struggle to get a couple to commit to a second series of portraits, albeit just for 5 minutes. In this case Sparkford Hall and Somerset really stepped up with a dreamy yellow setting sun.

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The party moved from the marquee back to the barn. A talented singer CPC Sound got the party well and truly started and a DJ took over later in the evening. I was able to float about the barn capturing the guests having a proper knees up. This was one of those amazing dance-floor multi generational scenes where grannies were mixing it up with cool twenty somethings, I loved it. I left the party in full swing and look forward to a return visit to Sparkford Hall as soon as possible.

Commissioning a Sparkford Hall Documentary Wedding Photographer

Both Katrina and Wyatt are London based, as were their guests and me, their documentary wedding photographer. Hiring Sparkford Hall, 160 miles away from their homes in London seems a little daft but in actual fact its genius! A one stop shop for a stylish and self contained wedding makes a ton of sense. All the guests either stayed onsite in the glamping site, tee-pee/yurt style tents with fire pits which were in a field adjacent to Sparkford Hall or in the main house. I was booked into a very cool local pub and bed and break fast. If you are planning your own Sparkford Hall, Babington House or other Manor House wedding then feel free to tap me up for availability. You can email me through my Contact Page and read a little more about me in my About section. I hope we get to meet down the line, cheers!