Wedding Photographer at Rivington Barn
Rivington Barn weddings are great to photograph because it is such a beautiful location to get married up in the hills above Bolton. Being from Bolton myself I have spent many days in my life “up Rivvi” as we call it. There are a few places to stop and get something to eat and various walks such as up to Rivington Pike and to the TV mast on Winter Hill which is close by. The television mast on Winter Hill is the one that looks down over Manchester and can be seen for miles, it’s always a sign that I’m nearly home.
The Big Day
I’ve been a Rivington Barn wedding photographer before, just last year. On that occasion it was the wettest day of the year but for Byron and Vicky’s wedding it was one of the hottest so a great day to get wed! I started the day bright and early at Vicky’s mum’s house, it was scorching! There was a great atmosphere in the house with the excitement of the wedding day ahead. Vicky’s niece was entertaining everyone with her Grandmother’s dog and everyone was relaxed, no nerves at all! I then traveled to see Byron with his groomsmen who were getting ready just around the corner. Again the vibe was good as Byron and his friends laughed and joked about the wedding and what was going to happen that day. I could sense Byron was a little nervous though! After a quick spell with the groom I went back to see the bride and gave her dad a lift over. When we got there it was time for Vicky to get into her wedding dress, she looked sensational! It was at this point that I captured one of my favourite photographs of the day. Vicky’s dad got very emotional when he saw her for the first time in her wedding dress and I photographed one of the best moments of the day as a tear rolled down his cheek and Vicky had her tears wiped away by her bridesmaid. These are the types of photos that I love to capture.
Rivington Hall Barn
Rivington Hall Barn is a big old barn, that pretty much sums it up! It has huge exposed oak beams that are an amazing feature of this wedding venue. The one downside to it is that there are no windows, literally none! This meant I had to push my photographic equipment to it’s limits. I shoot with Canon 5D mark 3’s and prime lenses so my gear can cope with this situation without needing to use a flash or lighting setup which would be very distracting for everyone. I used my Sigma 35mm f1.4 lens wide open and I managed to get a good exposure. A bit of fiddling in Adobe Lightroom meant that the resulting photographs looked as good as they possibly could.
The Ceremony of Matrimony
When Vicky arrived she was already close to tears and when she walked down the aisle with her dad it was extremely emotional. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house! The wedding ceremony itself was fantastic and then Vicky and Byron walked back down the aisle and out into the glorious sunshine. Everyone celebrated their marriage with drinks and canapes. The music was supplied by a string quartet. We headed around the grounds of Rivington Barn for some wedding photographs of the bridal party and then some of just the bride and groom. It’s a stunning venue and we got some wonderful photos. After a couple of hours of drinking and having fun everyone headed inside for the wedding breakfast and speeches and to top the day off the wedding band had everyone up dancing, it was a superb day from start to finish. There was one extra bonus of it being a summer wedding and that was the late sunset. It was around 10pm as I was about to leave and the sun was just about to set so we ventured out into a nearby field and captured some really special sunset portraits to finish the day in style. If you want to photograph a couple in front of a sunset the best thing to do is to close you aperture so that you expose correctly for the sky. This will have the effect of silhouetting the couple against the strong colours of the background. Then all you have to do is think about your composition, I quite often use the Rule of Thirds and put the couple in the corner of the frame.
Thanks Vicky and Byron for choosing me to be your Rivington Barn wedding photographer x
If you are looking for a Rivington Barn wedding photographer then please get in touch.
