Wedding Venue: Coombe Abbey

Coombe Abbey wedding photography always has it’s challenges, especially if the wedding is happening in the infamous Abbeygate.

Don’t get me wrong, I love shooting weddings at Coombe Abbey I love this venue so much It’s now listed amongst my list of Best Wedding Venues in the West Midlands. But due to the fact the Abbeygate has no windows and only rely on incandescent lighting, as a result it make for a challenging wedding, and you know me, I’m always up for a challenge!

But more on that later.

First, you’ll see that this blog post has a more colour images than usual. So I start off in my usual black and white style and spread a few more throughout the set. But, because of the energy and vibrancy that the day descending into, it felt more appropriate to use colour give you a sense of the feel to the day.

Coombe Abbey Wedding Photography | Start to the day

As usual, I started in the morning documenting Brooke’s morning preparations at home, in my usual natural and unposed way, as expected from a documentary wedding photographer.

I then got ahead of the bride and arrived at the Abbeygate behind Coombe Abbey to document Scott and the guests arriving. As a result, I even managed to catch Scott having a crafty pre-wedding drink in the bar area!

Then it was a matter of waiting until Brooke arrived at the aforementioned Abbeygate. Weddings held there are beautiful for the atmosphere, but challenging for a documentary photographer. This is because I always maintain a discreet presence, choosing not to use flash where possible. (The registrars don’t allow it any way! – Even if it was allowed, I don’t see the need for it. Why ruin that beautiful atmosphere with horrible flash?) But the challenge of only using natural light in a dark room with no windows, that’s only light by spotlights of various colours plus a few fairy lights, makes for a unique environment to shoot in.

You’ll see what I mean from the one colour image from the ceremony.

Coombe Abbey Wedding Photography | Why I Used More Colour

This is why I love being a documentary wedding photographer: I love being allowed to capture those uninhibited personalities, as I discreetly move around documenting the fun and laughter going on. It would be so false if I’d said “Stop there! Hold that pose and try to continue laughing. Let me capture that for you!” Forget that! Natural and genuine emotions are far better to record. I can only get that as a natural, unposed styled documentary wedding photographer.