If you’re planning a wedding at Blake Hall, Essex’s famous beautiful barn wedding venue in Ongar, then let me give you a little bit of inspo, with this guide to all things Blake Hall!

I actually grew up in Ongar and live nearby in Chelmsford, so it was lovely to be added to Blake Hall’s trusted supplier list a few years ago, having shot several weddings there.

When I speak with couples planning their weddings or considering having their wedding at Blake Hall, there’s several things that always get mentioned: the beautiful ceremony barn, the cute getting-ready cottage, and the outstanding grounds. Now I may be biased, but all of these really are lovely, so let’s take a whistlestop tour around all of them.

The Cottage

Situated just behind the ceremony barn, handily tucked out of the way from guests arriving, is Blake Hall’s Old Coach House, which is where you can stay overnight before your wedding day, and get ready in before the main event. Super helpfully, it has a room for doing hair and makeup, just off a cosy living area with sofas, TV etc, just across from a super cute and modern kitchen. Upstairs there’s a few rooms to sleep and get ready in, all with lots of lovely light.

While I like doing prep photos in the suite downstairs, I’m quite partial to doing photos upstairs too. It’s got lots of lovely natural light and neutral decor, making for an ideal space for finishing touches pics. But there’s plenty of places to choose from for photos before the ceremony; inside or outside!

To the side of the Old Coach House is also where I like to do dress reveals/ first looks with your nearest and dearest. It’s out of the eyeline of arriving guests so you won’t be seen before the ceremony, and it enables you to enjoy a really intimate and emotional moment - and if you need a makeup touch-up your MUA will hopefully still be within reach inside the cottage!

Not forgetting the Potting Shed! Affectionately - and accurately - named, this cosy little space is ideal for partners who are looking to just do the finishing touches before guests arrive to the venue. You can enjoy a bev or two as you finish getting ready, and it’s a fun addition to Blake Hall’s armoury! Weddings are best described as a moveable feast with lots of moving parts, so having this little nook next to the Essex Barn (reception barn) is super helpful for you and your partner.

Blake Hall’s Ceremony Barn - The Essex Barn

I looooovvve the ceremony space at Blake Hall because, unlike so many other venues, it provides so much lovely natural light during the ceremony! It makes such a difference to the ceremony photos, and if you have a second shooter in your photography package, I tend to place them up on the mezzanine floor for a bit to capture a unique second angle for your gallery. Let’s take a look:

Blake Hall’s ceremony barn gives you a dramatic entrance with a nice aisle walk, perfect if you have a few bridespeople to give them each their own photo moment (something short aisles really don’t do), but the star of the show really is that huge window up at the top, which every wedding photographer will tell you is a game-changer for photos!

Of course you can also have outdoor ceremonies at Blake Hall too, which would be held on the lawn in front of the barn.

For me, I like to try and capture that 'just married’ feeling once you come out of the ceremony barn:

Once the ceremony is over, you and your guests tumble out onto the lawn in between the ceremony and reception barns, for reception drinks, canapés, confetti, lawn games or whatever you have planned.

Your drinks reception 🥂

For summer weddings, I recommend having between 1.5-2 hours for your drinks reception, particularly if you have a lot of guests, so you can all enjoy Blake Hall’s beautiful surroundings before you’re called into dinner. Wedding days go by extremely quickly and all your guests want to stop you for a chat - understandably! - so I encourage you to add a bit more time in this part of the day to not feel like you’re being pushed from pillar to post.

And don’t worry about guests being ‘bored’ (how are people bored at a wedding?) Blake Hall’s main lawn is a great space for lawn games which will keep your guests engaged while I whizz through taking your group photos etc:

If your budget allows, throwing in some drinks, maybe Pimm’s, Aperol, prosecco or similar will keep people refreshed, some delicious canapés for a quick refuelling, and some light entertainment, makes for a perfect drinks reception at Blake Hall.

Group / family photos at Blake Hall

People often ask me whereabouts I plan on photographing their group photos, which are the ‘formal’ photos typically of your immediate family and friends. I photograph up to 8 of these group photos, usually during your drinks reception, and this will take around 30 minutes of your time. It’s super helpful if you can get two people, one to organise each respective side of the fams, in order to expedite this part of the day so I can get you back to mingling with your guests.

Truth be told, I photograph group photos in different places, depending on what the weather is doing and how much space there is. If it’s pouring with rain, we’ll do them in the ceremony barn once it’s been cleared.

If it’s dry outside but the grass is a little damp, to save stiletto heels sinking into the lawn and wedding dresses getting wet, I’ll position us on the paving in front of the ceremony or reception barns.

If it’s super sunny, I may do these under the shade of the nearby trees next to the Saddlery, which is where your drinks are usually hosted. Ideally, I’ll always do you group photos close to where your guests are situated, so things don’t end up taking too long. Here’s some examples:

Couple photos at Blake Hall

There really is an abundance of places to take photos of just the two of you, and Blake Hall is famous for its immaculately manicured estate and gardens. Depending on what time of year you marry there, you can be treated to an array of fresh flowers blossoming in different parts of the grounds, with mature trees and nature and all that stuff 🌸 Personally I have some favourite places I like to try and photograph around, but I’m always open to suggestions if you have some fave spaces within the grounds!

The gardens to the rear of the estate provide seclusion, and towards the end of your drinks reception I like to take you both off there for 15 minutes, ostensibly to take photos, but it also gives you a chance to decompress a little. Here we’ll capture some beaut pics before heading back to your guests.

The photos here can often be real show stoppers!

At the end of this blog you’ll see some other faves to photograph around the grounds too. But be patient!

Golden Hour at Blake Hall

Also great for photos is making the most of the short window of time just before the sun sets, known as ‘golden hour’. It isn’t actually an hour (I wish it was!) but a perfectly-timed dash towards the horizon just as a dreamy, golden haze descends at the end of a sunny day. Depending on your timings, this may coincide with your cake cut or first dance, but I know the team at BH won’t mind if we nip out for some gorge golden pics before carrying on with your day!

We don’t have the luxury of a never-ending horizon at secluded Blake Hall, but I always make it work :)

No sun = unfortunately no golden hour, but another new addition to Blake Hall is their wild flower meadow! I’ve been photographing at BH for several years and I was chuffed to see them continue to adapt and move with the times by cultivating a wild flower meadow 🌻🌸

As I said, if you don’t have any sun, sadly there’ll be no sunset-esque vibes, BUT it does mean we can head in the opposite direction of where the sun would set, and frolic among the flowers. Different seasons will mean different flowers, whether it’s sunflowers or something else. I’m excited to see what I get at my weddings there this year!

Confetti at Blake Hall

Now then. If there’s one thing I LOVE at Blake Hall, it’s confetti time. You can choose to do this at any point after your ceremony, some choose to do it straight after the ceremony ends, others at the end of their drinks reception, it’s up to you. As your photographer I usually organise a confetti tunnel, which is where guests line up either side of you and you walk down a confetti blizzard, and I like to do this at the end of your drinks reception. Why? It means you don’t get confetti in your hair before group/couple photos are taken, and once the confetti has been thrown, everyone is in the same place and they’re then invited in to sit down for din dins. For me it’s a well-oiled machine and ideal to keep the flow of the day going.

As ever, more is more with confetti, at any wedding! My ideal wedding scenario is baskets of confetti where guests can take as big a handful as they dare, rather than little cones that don’t give much, and biodegradable paper discs will give you a real blizzard effect. Petals are nice but the really small dried petals are like grit and immediately fall to the ground (and in your eye, your mouth, down your dress etc) and big petals just don’t have much impact. Places like Flutter Darlings are fab. Find them HERE

Blake Hall confetti throws are done up by the willow tree in between the Saddlery and the Essex barn and they can look like this!

The Essex Barn - where you’ll have your reception

Not many wedding venues can boast a 17th century barn that can withstand weekly parties, but this one sure does! The hub of your day, where dinner and dancing is served, it’s the main area for your party. There’s a bar, plenty of space for tables, a dancefloor, and two sets of doors leading back out to the gardens if you fancy a bev on the terrace.

Speeches are best either before or after your meal, ideally not split up, as it makes it harder for me, your videographer and your caterers to juggle these 😘

I’d always encourage you to decorate the barn spaces with some of the beautiful lights and styling that are available to you, and/or ensure your band/DJ has a fun set of lights to really make the most of the dancefloor. Your photos will thank you for it!

If you’re reading this then you probably already know what a great space this wedding venue is. Not only does it have different locations on-site that are all close by to each other, a nice big car park (never underestimate the value of a big car park!), accommodation for your nearest and dearest, dog-friendly, and a fun team that will look after you. Here’s a few more photos that I’ve taken at various weddings at Blake Hall over the years, perhaps yours will be next…?