A winter wedding at Tower Hill Barns in Wales, is always a treat to photograph.  The venue environment and atmosphere make it a stunning place to work and capture a couple’s wedding day.  For brides and grooms it’s the cosy, rustic appeal that makes them fall in love with Tower Hill Barns.

I was really happy to be revisiting Tower Hill Barns in North Wales for Abi & Pauls wedding, held in December of 2023.  On the day of their wedding I arrived nice and early to be sure I wasn’t late. The venue looked spectacular, it was glazed in a white frost.  I immediately sent the drone up as I could see the sun was rising past the horizon and I wanted to capture the cold frosty landscape. These turned out great and really show Tower Hill Barns beautiful location and its presence in the Welsh countryside.

A Winter Wedding at Tower Hill Barns in Wales

After unloading all my photography gear and greeting the staff, I made my way into the bridal suite where Abi, her mum, sister and Paul’s daughter were relaxing and preparing for the day ahead.  Poppy, the makeup/hair artist, was just getting started so I introduced myself to everyone and then headed back outside to capture more of the frosty, wintery scenes and details to tell the story of their wedding day.  

The venue offers so many great places for couple portraits and space to capture wedding guests enjoying themselves.  Including an outdoor ceremony space underneath an old railway bridge to an 18th-century converted barn, firepits and fairy lights brought everything to life at night.  It really is a gem of a wedding venue and recently won ‘Best Wedding Venue In North Wales’.  Working here as a wedding photographer is always a pleasure especially as the wedding team is just so friendly and accommodating making my job even more enjoyable – oh and not to mention the delicious food!!!

Tower Hill Barns Wedding Photographer

After taking all the pictures I wanted outside and losing the feeling in my fingers, I decided to see where the bridal party was up to and spend some time documenting their preparations.  Abi’s mum was busy steaming all the bridesmaids dressing and MUA was well on her way dressing hair.  I always enjoy capturing pictures during the bridal prep as there’s so much going on and it’s nice for the groom to see these after the wedding.  Champagne eventually broke out and there was plenty of laughter and a nice relaxed environment was present – not just because of the champers 🙂

I knew Paul would be arriving soon so I headed downstairs to get all the reception details and room shots out of the way as these were all completed already.  I do love it when wedding venues have all this wrapped up early as it frees me up later on.  I caught Paul arriving out of the corner of my eye and placed myself in a good position to capture his arrival alongside best man Jonas.  I was greeted by happy faces and a very chilled Paul, it was great to meet him face to face as well as our only communication up to this point had been over a Teams Call.  Moving between Abi and Paul I documented everything that helped tell their unfolding story.

One moment, in particular, was dad seeing his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time, this was a lovely moment to capture and was emotional for all involved.

Storytelling wedding photography at Tower Hill Barns 

Soon the bar area was starting to fill with guests and I was in my element capturing the coming together of families and friends.  It wasn’t long before the announcement was made for everyone to take a seat in the ceremony room.

Paul and Jonas took their place at the front, taking a moment to pull a couple of funny poses for my cameras, similar in comedy value to the movie, Zoolander.  After a few minutes, it was clear that the bridal party were about to walk into the ceremony room.  Abi’s bridal party broke the room’s anticipation by walking in first and then it was Abi’s turn accompanied by Dad.  Paul did turn and take a glance as Abi gracefully walked in, they soon faced each other giving that first look glance that I love to look out for 🙂

The ceremony was full of laughter and tears of happiness. It was lovely to capture the atmosphere and hear their personal vows read to each other.  These two truly are soul mates and after the kiss celebrating their marriage, there’s one picture that really sums this up! You’ll know when you see it!

Abi & Paul walked out to their family and friends blowing bubbles, this made for some stunning pictures and it’s a fun eco-friendly alternative to confetti – an idea that I highly recommended.  Me Abi & Paul decided that as the light was starting to fade we would disappear for a few moments to have their portrait session. We mainly focused on nearby locations as it was cold, not that they were fazed by the weather.  The railway bridge was a real focus for me, we even got a flutter of snow!

Just from that one location, I managed to create and capture so many different natural poses that showcase their personality.  That’s important to me when I photograph my couples, you need to allow them to be themselves, no direction and their personality will come out in the pictures.  

After a few groups, it was time to head inside and get warm where everyone was enjoying live music provided by Han&Stu.  I really enjoy photographing this portion of a wedding, it’s when the bride & groom relax more and have time to enjoy their family and friends.  Helping the atmosphere along were some amazing cocktails and delicious canapes.

The day had flown by, and the next thing I knew Abi & Paul were being announced into the reception room where they entered on the balcony, arms raised and laughing, overlooking all their guests who greeted them with loud applause and cheers.  

After some delicious food was served, for myself too 🙂 It was speech time!

The speeches were all good fun and injected with funny moments and tales.  I managed to capture a few embarrassing looks from Abi, brought on by Dad and pure laughter from Paul as Jonas recalled some moments of Paul’s life.

The cake cutting took place around 8 pm, Abi & Paul sliced their beautiful cake surrounded by everyone cheering and then took their place on the dance floor where Han&Stu and their full band played them in.  It wasn’t long before the dance floor was full after an upbeat dance from Abi & Paul.  Again, another favourite part of a wedding for me is when everyone hits the dance floor and just sets out to have a bloody good time!

After I joined the dance floor – not to dance! Just getting stuck into photographing all the crazy moves being thrown down I set up an evening shot outside for Abi & Paul.  I wanted to incorporate the fairy lights and give them a really nice image to complete their story.  This turned out great, using a few camera flash techniques to get the final look I wanted.  Before leaving A&P I wanted to get one last shot toasting some marshmallows over one of the many fire pits dotted around Tower Hill Barns. This was great fun and was the last picture I took.

I packed up all my gear and found Abi and Paul to say farewell – what a wedding!!!.  For me everything came together perfectly, I was really happy with how I documented their day.  Abi & Paul were a great couple, so easygoing and fully trusting me to just get on with what I do.

Huge thanks to you both for including me and please be sure to let me know if you’re ever in the area 🙂