Swallow's Nest Barn, Warwickshire Wedding and Events Venue
Kate and Matt’s Rainy but Gorgeous Engagement Shoot
Last week, on a somewhat rainy day in Warwickshire, I met with one of my July wedding couples for their pre wedding shoot. Kate and Matt, will be tying the knot towards the end of the month at their beautiful church, just a stone’s throw away from Swallow’s Nest Barn, where they will hold their wedding reception.
This was my first visit to this particular Warwickshire barn wedding venue (I love barns!) - I had seen and heard so much about the venue, it was lovely to finally have a little explore around whilst taking some warm up shots for Kate and Matt, otherwise known as an engagement or pre wedding shoot - Click Here for more about Pre Shoots
The barn itself is nestled within the beautiful Warwickshire countryside just on the edge of the Cotswolds and has been sympathetically restored to it’s former glory, with the addition of a contemporary glazed annex which compliments the more traditional exposed brickwork. I love this brickwork!! Did I mention I LOVE BARNS!!
There is ample space, within the main barns and the walled courtyard, which also has a wow factor whilst maintaining an intimate feel.
It’s no secret (really??) that barn wedding venues are high up on my list of favourite places to work! If my husband would marry me again it would surely be in a barn! Very unlikely that he will give in to me on that one, so I will make do with photographing barn wedding venues instead!
It had been two years since Kate and Matt booked me for their wedding, we had so much to catch up on. Kate in particular had expressed some apprehension about being photographed, so I knew it was important for me to put her mind at ease. I am a little bit of a sucker for a good love story and I loved hearing that they have been together since their school days and we chatted about the plans for the wedding day, laughed and giggled quite a bit.
Kate will be getting ready at the barn in their bridal prep area, then making the short journey to the church, before they return as a newly married couple to the barn for further celebrations with their friends and family, I would always recommend if possible that you minimise the logistics on your wedding day, Kate had decided that the journey from home was a little too far and coupled with any wedding days nerves might have made her feel a little bit car sick, I think by making the decision to get ready at the venue (where the space is perfect for your hair and make up specialists to work their magic) Kate will be able to relaxed and enjoy the morning of her wedding without worrying about journey times and motorway traffic.
“Helen is the most wonderful person and photographer. She was the most calming of souls when nerves were high .... During the day she was everything we wanted from a photographer... non-bossy, non-invasive, discreet capturing people enjoying themselves in a beautiful natural way...”
Here is a small snippet of images from the photoshoot, the rain was quite heavy at times, however armed with umbrella’s and the shelter of the barn, within five or ten minutes both Kate and Matt were relaxed and were working the camera like complete professionals!
Finding Your Perfect Wedding Venue
Perhaps you just stumbled across my page whilst looking for your dream wedding venue and now that you have begun googling wedding venues and suppliers it has become a little bit overwhelming! One piece of advice I would like to share about wedding venues and wedding suppliers in general, is that often the best reviews come from other wedding suppliers who have worked with venues or other wedding vendors. As an example, if I love to work at a venue because the staff are friendly and helpful and I think my clients are getting well looked after there, then I will be happy to recommend them, write about and share posts on social media from that venue or supplier, because I know that the level of service they are providing is more than satisfactory and also because I would love to photograph at these venues again. Who doesn’t love going to a gorgeous place of work!
Availability
Although I am no longer taking weekend bookings for 2019, I do still have some weekday wedding availability and I am now also booking for 2020 and 2021. Next year I am looking forward to working at a few more of my local venues such as Swallow’s Nest Barn, Pendrell Hall, Moor Hall Hotel, Hanbury Wedding Barn, Thorpe Constantine, Shustoke Farm barns, as well as The Ashes and The Mill Barns.