I have photographed nine weddings at The Hundred House Hotel in Norton, with another already booked.
My photographs are displayed at the venue, some have appeared in its wedding brochure and I am one of its recommended photographers. More importantly, I have been returning for long enough to see how the venue has changed.
Weddings now move between the Oak Tithe Barn, the new Garden Room, courtyard and gardens. Everything remains close enough that the day can change spaces without losing guests or turning the photographs into a tour of the grounds.
The Hundred House has never stood still. The old marquee has been replaced, the flow between the wedding spaces has improved and recent changes inside the Tithe Barn have made both the ceremony background and natural light considerably better.
That continued investment is one of the strongest reasons I am happy to recommend it.
Some wedding venues build something once and then spend the next decade patching it. The Hundred House has taken a different approach.
The old marquee has been replaced by the permanent Garden Room, giving the drinks reception and turnaround between the ceremony and wedding breakfast a much better space. It has its own entrance and keeps the wedding connected without sending guests through the public areas of the hotel.
The Tithe Barn has changed as well. The bar used to sit directly behind the ceremony, which was never the cleanest background for the photographs. Recent changes have improved that view and brought more natural light into the room.
These sound like small details until you have watched a wedding move through the venue. They make the day easier for the staff, the guests and everyone trying to photograph it.
Most of the weddings I have photographed here began with the ceremony inside the Oak Tithe Barn.
Afterwards, everybody comes straight outside for confetti before moving towards the courtyard, gardens and Garden Room. That gives the venue time to turn the Tithe Barn around for the wedding breakfast without leaving guests wondering where they are supposed to go.
The Garden Room now has its own wedding entrance, so guests no longer need to walk through the pub as they did when the marquee was there.
The whole hotel is not exclusive use, but the wedding spaces remain close together and the separate entrance helps the day feel like its own event.
I have only photographed ceremonies inside the Oak Tithe Barn. I have not photographed one in the Garden Room yet, so I am not going to pretend otherwise.
The curtains are normally kept closed while the people walking down the aisle move into position. They are then opened for the entrance, keeping everybody hidden until the ceremony begins.
It is an old timber building with plenty of character, but it is also naturally warm in colour. Recent improvements to the light and ceremony background have made a noticeable difference compared with some of my older weddings there.
It now photographs better without losing the character that made the barn distinctive in the first place.
Confetti normally happens immediately outside the Tithe Barn.
The car park does not sound particularly romantic when written down, but it works. Everybody is already in the right place, the barn provides the background and nobody needs to be reorganised at the other end of the venue.
I normally take the family photographs beside the hotel or Garden Room, depending on the light. Both are only a few seconds from the drinks reception.
Every family photograph does not need to become a masterpiece that absorbs half an hour of the wedding. I organise the people, make a clean photograph and send everybody back to their drinks.
The herb garden is where I normally take couples for photographs.
It changes throughout the year, so the colour and density of the planting will depend on the season. There is still enough variety to make a useful set of portraits without walking around every part of the venue.
I usually take couples into the garden while the venue is seating guests for the wedding breakfast. Ten or fifteen minutes is normally enough.
You get the photographs without sacrificing the drinks reception or turning the middle of the wedding into a separate photoshoot.
The Garden Room has made the wet-weather plan considerably better.
The ceremony, drinks reception, wedding breakfast and evening can all continue under cover, and the main wedding spaces are close enough that guests are not constantly being sent outside.
I have not photographed a properly wet wedding there since the Garden Room opened, so I cannot honestly claim to have tested every option in heavy rain.
The principle remains the same. If we get a break in the weather, we use it for ten minutes. If we do not, the wedding carries on and I work with the spaces available.
After the drinks reception, the Tithe Barn is turned around for the wedding breakfast.
It is not a blank white room. The timber, brickwork and warmer colours give it character, particularly once the tables, flowers and candles are in place.
The warm walls can reflect quite a lot of orange light if they are handled badly. That is a photography problem for me to solve, not something a couple should need to think about.
The room also keeps everybody close during the speeches. Reactions happen all around the tables, and I can move between them without repeatedly standing directly in front of whoever is speaking.
The venue currently advertises space for up to 120 daytime guests and 140 in the evening. Those are the official capacities, but they are not necessarily the numbers I would use to describe when the room feels most comfortable.
From the weddings I have photographed, around 50 to 80 evening guests works particularly well. Once the number approaches 100, the room begins to feel much busier and movement around the bar and dance floor becomes tighter.
Some couples want a packed room. Others picture more space around the dance floor. It is worth deciding which version sounds like your wedding rather than choosing purely from the maximum capacity.
At the weddings I have photographed, the doors have remained closed because of the surrounding neighbours and the barn can become warm during summer. There is also a sound limiter.
If a very loud band or particularly wild evening is important to you, ask the venue and your musicians how the current sound restrictions work before booking them.
The Hundred House is not an exclusive-use hotel. The pub and restaurant can remain open while a wedding is taking place.
Across nine weddings, I have never seen that interfere with the day. The Garden Room’s separate entrance also helps keep the wedding guests and public areas distinct.
The restaurant can make the car park busier on a popular Saturday, so evening guests should allow for that rather than arriving at the last possible moment.
There is an upside to the hotel remaining a working pub and restaurant. You can return for an anniversary meal, walk through the gardens and revisit the place without needing to invent another wedding.
I am one of The Hundred House Hotel’s recommended photographers. My photographs are displayed at the venue, some have appeared in its brochure and the staff have seen me work there repeatedly.
It means the venue knows who I am and is comfortable putting my name in front of its couples.
It does not mean you should book me purely because my name appears on a list.
I used a recommended photographer for our own wedding (long before I was a wedding photographer and knew people within the industry) and learned fairly quickly that a supplier list is not a substitute for doing your own research.
Look at complete weddings. Read the reviews. Make sure you like how the photographer works as well as how a handful of photographs look.
No awkward posing. No staged moments. No turning your wedding into a photoshoot.
Most couples I work with want to spend the day with their people, not disappear for hours taking photographs. So I keep things simple. I document what’s happening, step in when you need me, and get you back to your wedding.
Big country house, registry office or somewhere in between, the job stays the same. Honest photographs of the people, atmosphere and moments that made the day yours.
Years from now, I want the photographs to take you straight back to it.