Gigi & George: A Barn Wedding at Primrose Hill Farm, near Banbury

Gigi and George got married at Primrose Hill Farm, a working farm at Arlescote, just outside Banbury, on the edge of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. It’s the sort of place where the wedding barns look out over open fields and the first guests to greet you are, quite often, cows.

Morning light

The farm is 120 acres and you have the whole place to yourselves, so the day happens in one place: getting ready, ceremony, dinner and dancing, with a walk across the yard between each. The morning had that kind of slow, flat light you get when the sky can’t decide what it’s doing, which is ideal for getting ready.

George did his own tie, mostly, and his cufflinks, eventually. The dress waited on a hook by the window. There were white roses for the buttonholes and a bride getting ready in a glass-walled room with a view of the fields.

The ceremony barn

The ceremony barn is pale timber, high ceilings and big windows, with trees in pots and a long aisle between the chairs. George waited at the front, and the room turned round as one when the doors opened.

The people they love

Afterwards it was out into the courtyard for confetti, hugs and the family photographs, which we did quickly and properly and then left everyone to the drinks.

Portraits in the fields

Then I borrowed the two of them for twenty minutes and we walked out into the long grass beyond the barns, through buttercups and up towards a little red-roofed hut at the edge of the field. Farms are generous like that. There’s always somewhere quiet a few minutes’ walk away.

Around the table

Dinner was in the dining barn, on long tables, with the views out over the countryside doing a lot of the decorating.

The evening unfolds

By the evening the lights had gone pink, the first dance had happened, and the dance floor was full of people who had very clearly been waiting for it all day. I put the flash on, got in close and stayed there.

If you’re getting married at Primrose Hill Farm

Use the fields: The best portraits are a short walk from the barns. Leave twenty minutes, and wear shoes that can cope with grass.

Expect the animals: It’s a working farm. The cows are not part of the package, but they often turn up, and couples are usually glad they did.

Everything is in one place: With the ceremony, dinner and party all on site, there’s no travelling, which gives you more of the day to actually spend with people.

Think about numbers: The dining barn seats up to 126, according to the farm’s own site, which is worth knowing early.

There’s more about the venue on my Primrose Hill Farm wedding photographer page, and the Lookbook has what I charge and what’s included.

A barn, a field, a few curious cows, and a dance floor that filled up fast.