Lizzy & Matt: A Windswept Wedding at Chalk, Wiltshire

Lizzy and Matt got married at Chalk, a modern barn out on the open grassland of Wiltshire, on a day when the wind had opinions. Big skies, fast clouds, a veil that spent most of the afternoon trying to leave, and a party that went on long after the light did.

At Brambledown

The morning was at Brambledown, a white cottage with tall windows that let in a lot of soft grey light, which is the best kind for getting ready. Lizzy did her make-up in a white shirt with a glass of something in hand. There was a box on the side labelled bridal emergency kit, which is the sort of forward planning I admire.

The bridesmaids weren’t matched. Each one had a different jewel colour, red, raspberry, orange, which sounds chaotic on paper and looks wonderful in a field.

At Chalk

Chalk sits on a large organic farm on what the venue describes as the biggest stretch of chalk grassland in Europe. The barn was built using eco-friendly methods, runs mostly off solar power and a biomass boiler, and has walls of glass looking out over miles of open country. It’s a long way from a dark stone barn. The light inside is enormous.

The ceremony was outside, under a little timber shelter with the downs rolling away behind it. Matt waited at the front with his groomsmen, looking reasonably calm.

Lizzy walked down the grass on her dad’s arm, with the wind already busy with her veil.

Afterwards, the usual hugs and a fair amount of shouting, because that’s what happens when you put a lot of old friends in a field and tell them they’re allowed to celebrate.

Dinner and ice cream

Dinner was in the barn, with long tables and orange signage, small plates arriving on patterned dishes, and an ice cream course that I’d like to see become standard practice at weddings everywhere.

Groups and portraits

Out on the grass for the group photographs, in a wind that made everyone look windswept whether they liked it or not. I stopped fighting it fairly quickly. The veil went where it wanted, and those turned out to be some of my favourite frames of the year.

Party time

As the sky darkened the party moved outside, with the barn lit up behind it and a blue-black sky overhead. There was champagne, there was an umbrella that served no practical purpose, and there was a fire pit that everyone ended up round eventually.

Then back inside for the dance floor, which didn’t empty until the very end.

If you’re getting married at Chalk

I’ve written a fuller guide to getting married at CHALK: the barn and the estate, how the day tends to run, and the practical bits like drones, weather and where guests can stay. A few things from Lizzy and Matt’s day stood out too:

Expect weather: It’s open grassland with very little to stop the wind. Pick a veil you’re happy to see blowing about, and have a plan for hair.

Use the sky: The views are the point here. Leave time for portraits out on the grass, especially in the hour before sunset.

Make the most of the glass: The barn is full of daylight, so speeches and dinner photograph well without any help from me.

Think about the evening: Once the light goes, the outdoor fire and the lit-up barn give you a completely different set of photographs. Don’t spend it all inside.

There’s more about the way I photograph weddings on my Oxfordshire wedding photographer page, and I’m happy to travel for days like this one. The Lookbook has what I charge and what’s included.

Big sky, strong wind, and a veil that never once did as it was told.