Bridal Barn Wedding Photographer & Videographer

A barn, a woodland and a tipi on a private estate

Bridal Barn is at Upper Farmcote, Claverley, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire (WV15 5PS). The venue's own website describes a lovingly restored 16th century barn with original oak vaulted ceilings, a courtyard, a canvas tipi and Bridal Coppice, a woodland on its 100-acre country estate. It says the number of weddings is limited to protect the woodland, and that each booking gets exclusive use of the site.

We photographed Lydia and Richard's wedding here on 19 June 2021, and their day is the one in this guide: a ceremony in a woodland clearing, confetti among the trees, portraits in the ferns and on an old bench, and a first dance in a tipi hung with lights. Our Shropshire guide shows more weddings in the county, and here we stay with the barn. What we say about the venue comes from its own website, and what we say about the photographs comes from looking at them.

For current venue details, explore Bridal Barn. Ask the venue for its current ceremony licensing details, since its ceremony page does not say which legal ceremonies can be held in the woodland.

01 / The spaces / From the venue's own description

The barn, Bridal Coppice and the courtyard tipi

The venue's ceremony page lists three places to marry: a woodland clearing in Bridal Coppice with views over the Shropshire countryside, the restored barn, which it says seats up to 80 guests, and the courtyard tipi, whose canvas walls roll up or stay closed. It says the wedding breakfast seats 106 guests and the venue is licensed for 135 in the evening.

Its FAQs say music ends and the bar closes at 11pm, all alcohol is bought from the on-site bar, and fireworks and Chinese lanterns are not allowed because of the woodland. Confetti has to come through the venue, from Shropshire Petals, confirmed at least 8 weeks ahead. The site has no Wi-Fi and limited phone signal, and the bar takes cash only, so tell your guests. Catering is dry hire, so you bring your own caterer.

02 / June 2021 / Lydia and Richard

Lydia and Richard: a woodland ceremony, confetti and a dance in the tipi

Lydia and Richard married on 19 June 2021. The opening photograph shows them laughing together as confetti falls, Lydia in her veil with a loose bouquet of pale wildflowers and Richard in a navy suit with a dried-flower buttonhole, guests in soft focus behind them.

The barn comes first here, a low red sandstone building with its oak doors opened wide onto a gravel yard and woodland rising behind it.

Their ceremony was outdoors, in a clearing among tall pines. The first photograph is wide: the two of them stand hand in hand in the middle of a ring of wooden benches, a flower-dressed arch behind them and the tree trunks climbing out of the frame.

Closer in, we shot through a second wooden arch as they face each other on the woodchip floor, Lydia in lace and a veil, Richard in navy, with their guests watching from the benches either side.

Afterwards, in a doorway of rough red brick and stone, they hold hands while guests, blurred in the foreground, look on. Lydia smiles with her bouquet and Richard looks down. Then, among the ferns, they kiss with slim pine trunks behind them.

Their portraits stayed near the trees. Richard sits on an old iron-framed bench and takes Lydia by the hand while she stands beside him, and in black and white they walk the grass edge of a bracken hedge, with a wide field and heavy cloud behind.

The evening moved inside a canvas tipi strung with fairy lights. Richard laughs as he holds Lydia for their dance on the wooden floor, a guitarist playing to one side and guests watching from the edge.

Planning your photographs at Bridal Barn

These are the questions we would put to the venue, and how the answers shape our plan:

1. Ceremony: Lydia and Richard married in the woodland clearing. The venue also offers the barn and the tipi, and says there is no formal wet weather plan beyond moving indoors or into the tipi, so decide early where you would go if the forecast turns.
2. Confetti: The confetti shot is one of the best of this wedding. The venue supplies it through Shropshire Petals and wants your order 8 weeks ahead, so put the date in your diary when you book.
3. Light under the trees: Dappled woodland light is lovely but changes fast. We look at where the sun falls on your date and talk through the ceremony time with you, so faces are not half in shade when you walk back down the aisle.
4. Signal and timings: Phone signal is weak and the venue ends music at 11pm. Share the timeline on paper with your suppliers, so everyone knows when we move from portraits to the tipi.
5. Group photographs: Our usual advice is about 15 groups, which take around 20 minutes. Pick a flat open spot near the barn yard, with a sheltered fallback, and ask someone who knows both families to gather people.
6. Portraits: We normally take you for a portrait walk of about 15 minutes, photo and video together. Between the clearing, the ferns, the barn doors and the field edge, you have several different settings within a short walk.

One team for the photographs and the film

Cam and Beth have photographed and filmed over 400 weddings together, so a woodland ceremony and a tipi evening are familiar ground. You get one conversation about the timeline, one list of questions for the venue and one plan for the portrait walk.

The photo and video team package carries a £120 deposit and a £400 saving over booking photography and videography separately. We are based near Cardiff, and travel across England and Wales is included in standard full-day packages. When the drive is over two hours we always stay in a hotel the night before and cover it.

Questions about a Bridal Barn wedding