When planning your special day in and around the capital you may not at first think of having a London outdoor wedding, but there are a surprising number of places in our busy densely populated city that you can acheieve this. We have photographed outdoors from St Pancras station to ceremonies by swimming pools in St Tropez and always enjoy that something special of wedding vows and receptions in the great outdoors. For Katie and David’s Jewish wedding they choose a venue just outside London in the Hertfordshire countryside that gave them the space and freedom to plan their day, and reflect their relaxed and fun loving personalities.

Buckettsland Farm is a venue that we have photographed at previously, and this provided the backdrop for the big day in question. A large marquee was erected for the wedding breakfast and reception, and was also on standby as a plan B for the ceremony in case of rain! There was also another covered space for a “chill out” room which doubled as a venue for the “bedeken” which is a traditional part of proceedings where the groom will place the veil over his bride to be. The chuppah looked fantastic covered in flowers and nestled among small trees at one end of the large field space used for wedding hire, with little ornaments hanging from some of the branches.

Katie got ready in the farm buildings beforehand, and when the time came for the marriage ceremony she and dad accompanied by bridesmaids and pet dog walked across the field in the sunshine (whew – relief all round) to the wedding canopy and expectant guests. Live music accompanied the whole proceedings with some lovely traditional singing at the relevant points.

As usual in these circumstances Joanna and I took up different vantage points with myself close to the chuppah and Joanna focussed more on wider views and guests reactions, one of the beauties of having two experienced photographers. As well as a list of family formal shots we were able to grab a relaxed twenty five minutes with the couple for some photos of them alone.

Buckettsland Farm itself was built in the sixteenth century and is Grade II listed, and is a collection of unusual and interesting buildings. As is the tradtion on a Jewish wedding day the Israeli dancing was a fun and energetic highlight of the evening. Here’s a link to the farm itself and its hire: Buckettsland Farm

And for those of you planning a St Tropez wedding or just something outside or by a pool, take a look at this related blog post of ours:  St Tropez Wedding

This is Katie and David’s google plus review of the day: “David and Joanna did a great job with our wedding. They made us feel so at ease in front of the camera resulting in really natural, happy photos. They listened to what we wanted and delivered exactly that. Thanks so much for capturing and preserving the memories of our Big Day!”

By David Green