Harriet & Tom's New House Farm Wedding
I've photographed a fair few weddings around the Lake District, but there are some venues that make you want to keep your camera out all day. New House Farm is definitely one of them.
Tucked away in the Lorton Valley near Cockermouth, you've got the old farm buildings, the gardens, the surrounding countryside and the fells beyond. It's a pretty special part of the Lake District, and it makes a brilliant setting for a wedding.
Harriet and Tom's wedding was a proper good one.
There was loads going on throughout the day, but it never felt rushed. People had time to actually enjoy themselves, catch up with each other and make the most of being together, which always makes my job easier.
A wedding at New House Farm
New House Farm has a really nice feel to it.
It's not one of those venues where everything is polished to within an inch of its life. It's still got that feeling of being an old working farm, with the stone buildings, exposed beams and loads of character, but it's been done brilliantly as a wedding venue.
The Cart Shed, Hayloft and Milking Parlour give the day its different spaces, while outside you've got the gardens, fields and the Lorton Valley stretching out around you.
And you don't have to go far to get completely different photographs.
One minute you're inside with everyone, the next you're outside with the two of them, and then five minutes later you're back in the middle of the wedding again.
That's pretty much my ideal setup.
Harriet & Tom
The best thing about photographing a wedding is rarely the stuff that's written on the schedule.
It's everything that happens around it.
The conversations while people are getting ready. Someone cracking a terrible joke at exactly the wrong moment. The look on someone's face during the ceremony. Friends who haven't seen each other for ages finally getting together. The stuff happening in the background while everyone else is concentrating on something else.
That's the stuff I was looking for throughout Harriet and Tom's day.
Obviously there are photographs that need to happen. Family photographs, some time with the two of them and all the important parts of the day.
But once those are done, I'd much rather let everyone get on with it.
And they did.
Lake District wedding photography at New House Farm
The setting around New House Farm is pretty hard to ignore.
You're surrounded by the Lake District, with the fells and Lorton Valley providing a backdrop that doesn't really need any introduction. The venue itself sits across around 15 acres, so there's plenty of room to wander around and find somewhere different for photographs.
But I don't think wedding photography should become a sightseeing trip.
I'm not going to disappear with you for an hour just because there's a nice view.
Give me ten or fifteen minutes and we'll get some great photographs of the two of you. Then we'll get you back to your mates, your family and the drinks.
The rest of the day can carry on around us.
That's where the good stuff usually happens anyway.
The photographs you'll forget happened
I always think it's funny looking back through a wedding gallery.
The couple will remember the ceremony. They'll remember the speeches. They'll remember the first dance.
But then I'll show them a photograph of something that happened for about three seconds in the afternoon and they'll say:
“Oh my god, I completely forgot about that.”
That's the point.
You don't need me to photograph things you already know happened.
You need somebody watching everything else.
That's what I was doing for Harriet and Tom.
Keeping an eye on what was happening around them, getting stuck in when I needed to and keeping out of the way when I didn't.
New House Farm wedding photographer
If you're planning your own wedding at New House Farm, Harriet and Tom's wedding should give you a good idea of what the place looks like when it's actually being used for a wedding, rather than just when it's empty and perfectly tidy.
It's a brilliant Lake District wedding venue, particularly if you want somewhere with plenty of character and a relaxed atmosphere.
I'm based in Lancashire and photograph weddings throughout Cumbria, the Lake District and across the North West, so New House Farm is right in the sort of area where I spend a lot of my time.
If you like the photographs below and think we'd get on, drop me a message.
I'll bring the cameras.
You just need to bring everyone else.
