Curradine Barns wedding photography – Laura and Luke

Curradine Barns wedding photography – Laura and Luke

Cotswold wedding photography at Curradine Barns, Shrawley, Worcestershire.

Laura and Luke, picked a gorgeous venue, one of which I hadn’t visited before and was in June… yay, summertime! The week leading up to a wedding you constantly check the weather forecasts, although, sometimes it’s not much point as they change so quickly in the UK, but its good to get an idea of what a UK summer day may entail. So waking up first thing on the morning of the big day, the first thing I do is look out the window to see what I have been dealt.

Bright start

Most photographers are pretty laid back, but we are a little fussy when it comes to light. Ideally we would like a sunny day, not too sunny, but sunny enough with blues skies and big fluffy white clouds, not asking much hey?! Bright sunshine is not great (for a few reasons) and also what isn’t ideal is it being the hottest day of the year. What is great about those long summer days, is everyone wants to be outside, as warm and doesn’t get dark till late. Although, longer days normally results in more photos to edit! Laura and Luke’s wedding definitely had more photos to edit and below is probably the reason why!

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Beautiful on the outside

Curradine Barns is a photographer’s dream, lets start with textures, gorgeous red brick walled barns, rustic farm barns from the carpark wooden barn to the out-buildings in rusty corrugated sheets. Then you have the gardens and the little hidden areas, and if lucky enough to get a outdoor ceremony, the beautiful Arbour too, all stunning. It doesn’t end there ( i’m starting to sound like one of those shopping channels offering more gifts!) the surroundings around the barn are gorgeous, the fields, the lane and the position of the venue. Why the position? A lot of venues are great but lose the sun or don’t have the views to go with sunsets, and we all love a sunset. The position of Curradine Barns offers a fab backdrop to where the sunsets, the place just keeps giving! This place ticks a lot of boxes!

And On the inside

The inside is gorgeous too, I will let the photos explain that, but as with the venue, Laura and Luke couldn’t all be better matched… Beautiful on the inside and out. I arrived at the Barn greeted by the girls in the bridal suite, all in good spirits, organised chaos and slight technical hitch with a bridesmaid dress, but nothing was going to phase this lot. Laura was very laidback and before we knew it we were heading out in to the pounding sunshine, today was not a day to be wearing a suit jacket, not Laura, Luke and myself!

As with most weddings the groom can get a little hot under the collar with nerves, EVERYONE was hot under the collar today and the umbrellas were out to keep people cool. Apart from a little inevitable nerves from Luke he was cool as a cucumber and you could see the joy as Laura arrived down the aisle. The ceremony went without a hitch, well apart from the obvious wedding hitch and before we knew it we were baking ourselves under a cloud, wave, forest? of confetti! Only one way to cool down… beer and bubbles (alcoholic types!) At this point I normally leave the bride and groom alone to go and mingle with their guests, it allows me to capture some candid congratulations! It was also time to put some suncream on my head before I turned shining red beacon. As everyone was rehydrated, including myself (water not booze!), we ventured out in to the surrounding fields, in the shade of course, I mean it was 33-35 degrees!

Okay! Enough sunshine for now, Luke was still (bravely) wearing his jacket and we avoided photos with beads of water running down faces, so we headed back inside for food, more liquid and the formalities of a wedding breakfast… cake and speeches!

I love the speeches, not only do you get the animation of people during the jokes, stories and reactions of the bridal party and guests, but you also catch people doing some funny things. It’s either the “drunken” table and there’s always one of those tables at a wedding (normally where i am ready to snap) or children who are probably bored of the adult jokes. Napkins clearly make a great source of entertainment, or… it could be a new fashioned cooling garment, only time will tell!

Greens of envy

Formal shots aren’t the most exciting sometimes, but it wasn’t the case today. The light was gorgeous, as were the bridesmaids (and bride of course!) and the flower girlswere cute as a button. The greens in the gardens were amazing, all the colour co-ordinated so well, the glow of the sunshine breaking through, it really did sum up the day, everyone was beaming with smiles. I do like to try and get the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen photos done away from the family formal photos, so that they can have a bit more fun. This way you don’t end up with lots of photos in the same position or with the same backdrop, but with different people in. To finish off the group shots with a little fun, what better place to have a few dab photos in? Gotta use that black wooden barn, what a great backdrop with a sprinkle of lens flare, bride’s orders!

Time to shine

No pressure… the first dance! I love love love this barn for the first dance, it was very cosy with all of Luke and Laura’s guests, but that’s what makes it great. You can see everyone smiling as they dance, including everyone on that fab balcony, such great room! It was a tough night for the band, it was such a beautiful evening everyone wanted to stay outside, not surprising really as we savour those rare sunny evenings. So before the festivities really kicked off we had to make the most of the sun setting. This time of the year is AMAZING for photos in farmers fields, the crops are growing nicely (we only stick to the tracks in the fields, before I get beaten by a farmer!) and generally the fields are nice and dry so we don’t come back looking like we were mud wrestling, not a great look for white dresses! The views from the fields around Curradine Barns are beautiful and the barns themselves offset great against the greens with the bold orange/red bricks and roof! Smooching complete in the fields, what better way to prepare for a mass sparkler session? Yep, Light Sabre fighting, Star Wars style and pizza! Perfect combo! The courtyard is gorgeous, its twinkling lights looks magical and it’s an intimate space keeping everyone together, or could that be the outdoor pizza ovens! OMG the pizzas!

Last little sparkle

With the sun almost gone, and the gorgeous blues dusky skies, it was a perfect time to gather everyone for sparklers and a sing-song! This was such and amazing day, my first visit to the very cool Curradine Barn’s on such a scorcher of a day and Luke and Laura made it very special. The family, friends were treated to a very special day that couldn’t of been more perfect from start to finish. This was my cue to collapse in the car with the air-con on, i’m Curradone!

 

Curradine Barns wedding photography – If you are getting married at Curradine Barns and would like me to capture your big day here or in the Cotswolds, drop me a message with a few details via my contact page. We can then discuss availability and further information about your photography requirements. I look forward to hearing from you and finding out more about your wedding plans!

 

See Libby Blunt’s gorgeous video teaser

www.libbyblunt.co.uk