Hornington Manor Wedding Photography

Hornington Manor sits in the countryside between York and Tadcaster, and the whole place is built around one idea: you don't have to pick a single setting. Vows under the open sky with fields behind you, or indoors under the chandeliers of the Russet Barn. Drinks on the lawn, dinner in a barn strung with fairy lights, and your guests asleep on site afterwards. I like colour and I like people as they are. This place gives me both.

I have no ties to any venue. I'm booked by couples, not by managers, and I'll tell you straight when a place makes my job harder. This one does the opposite. It keeps making me smile.

Barn wedding if you want one, country manor if you don't. You get both on the same day. That's the point of the place.

One of the finest country manor wedding venues in Yorkshire, and I'd argue the case for England.

The RealityWhat Hornington actually gives you

• iThe Russet Barn. Ceremonies for up to 150, under chandeliers, with acoustics good enough that the back row hears every vow.
• iiThe dining barn. 150 seated for the wedding breakfast, 200 for the evening, fairy lights across the back wall.
• iiiBeds on site. Eight en-suite bedrooms in the Manor House, the West Wing sleeping eight more, and the glamping huts.
• ivThe lane. Beside the glamping huts. Half an hour before sunset it turns gold, and it's where the photographs people frame get taken.

The CeremonyRusset Barn or open sky

Both work, and I've shot both. The decision comes down to the weather you're willing to gamble on and the light you want in the pictures.

Under the chandeliers

The Russet Barn

Warm timber, soft even light, no microphone needed. I shoot it without flash and keep the atmosphere the venue worked so hard for. Weatherproof.

Under the sky

The grounds

Fields behind you, the manor to one side, and the countryside doing the decorating. The pictures have depth you can't build indoors. Keep the barn as your rain plan.

The DayHow a Hornington wedding flows

• Getting ready, both sides

  The bridal party takes the West Wing: room for eight to get ready without treading on each other, and window light I never have to ask anyone to move for. The groom's side usually claims the pool room, pool table included. I'm not complaining. Some of my favourite morning pictures have come out of that room.

• The ceremony

  Barn or grounds, above. Either way I'm in position before the doors open, and the guests never see me move.

• The guard of honour

  Guests line up outside the Manor House door for the couple's entrance. Stand where I stand and you get the reveal, the faces and the house in one frame. At Chris and Lucy's the first people through that door were Back Chat Brass, an eight-piece band, who led the couple down the line.

• Drinks and lawn games

  The lawn is big enough for games to spread out, and a band playing during them works brilliantly. Chris and Lucy had Back Chat Brass on the grass in the sun, and it turned the drinks hour into the best set of candid pictures of the day.

• The lane, twenty minutes before sunset

  We slip away from the party, walk, talk, and come back with the photographs. Twenty minutes. Everything else happens around the day without pulling you from your guests.

• The dining barn

  Fairy lights across the back wall sound like a small thing until you see a first dance in front of them. The barn's size means the band, the dance floor and the bar all fit without anyone being pushed into a corridor.

PricingA full day at Hornington

A full day of Hornington Manor wedding photography, from preparations in the West Wing through to the first dance in the dining barn, starts from £1,800. No travel charge anywhere in Yorkshire. The pricing page has what's included and the shorter coverage options.

Real WeddingsSee it on a wedding day

Two full days at this venue, photographed start to finish.