Oli & Joe

The wedding of Olli and Jo in late December at the Channels Chelmsford wedding venue, just outside of Chelmsford.

A venue I haven’t been to in a long time and to be honest, had forgotten about, since just about everywhere is a wedding venue nowadays.

A great venue from both a couple and a wedding photographer’s point of view. The working farm, 17th century restored barn, Laid to lawns, the golf course, albeit with golfers getting in the way of the shots.

Two ponds

Two ponds and if it’s raining the flagstone courtyard and paths to avoid those high heels sinking into the grass.

Being a December wedding the norm is for it to be freezing cold and normally raining.

Not on this late December wedding, bright blue skies and at least ten degrees could have been an early spring wedding.

As with any winter wedding, the available natural light can be very poor with long shadows from the low winter sun.

Off-camera flash was the order of the day. The simple single flash unit, remotely fired by pocket wizards, manual flash with a little help from a handheld meter, and we were off.

Nice romantic shots around the grounds, trying to avoid the many golfers getting in the way to avoid those nasty backgrounds

. Catching the sun going down at the end of the day is a must-have shot for any wedding couple, not always possible if the clouds are everywhere, but when it is out, really adds a romantic twist to any wedding.

With the light fading away, evening guests arriving, The superb live band who were truly very good and we were off into the first dance.

A great wedding thoroughly enjoyed by a great couple with great guests and even better blessed with great weather. What more can you ask for?

The Essex barn, Channels Chelmsford