Carden Park Wedding Photographer & Videographer

A countryside hotel with a gazebo of its own

Carden Park Hotel is on Broxton Road, near Chester in Cheshire (CH3 9DQ). The venue says it sits in 1,000 acres of Cheshire countryside, with several indoor ceremony and reception rooms and a gazebo for outdoor weddings, and it describes its grounds as photogenic.

We have photographed and filmed one wedding here, Emma and James on 10 April 2022. This page follows their day in photographs. Our Cheshire guide and Liverpool guide show Carden Park beside other north west venues, and here we stay with the estate itself. What we say about the buildings comes from the venue's own website, and what we say about the photographs comes from looking at them.

For current venue details, explore Carden Park. Our wedding here was in April, so ask the venue how the gardens and gazebo look in the months you are considering.

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

Indoor suites, a private gazebo and 1,000 acres

The venue lists three wedding spaces on its website. The Shooting Suite has a private indoor and outdoor space beside the main room, with a separate bar. The Carden Suite is its largest room, with a stage, space for a dance floor, mood lighting and mirrors that turn into screens for your own photographs and film. The Gazebo is a private outdoor ceremony space with countryside views, looking over the gardens and the Nicklaus golf course.

The venue says it is licensed for civil ceremonies and that wedding packages are tailored to your guest numbers. Capacities appear on the website as icons rather than figures, so ask the venue for the current numbers for each room in writing.

If it rains on a gazebo wedding, the venue says there is always a wet weather option built into the package, usually in the room you have chosen for the reception, and that you can decide up to three hours before the ceremony.

02 / April 2022 / Emma and James

Emma and James: a gazebo ceremony and a walk across the stone bridge

Emma and James married at Carden Park on 10 April 2022. The photograph at the top of this page is from their portraits: Emma in a strapless lace gown and veil with a bouquet of white roses, James in a navy suit and tweed waistcoat, kissing on a garden path between clipped hedges and dark green branches, with the red brick buildings of the estate behind them.

The ceremony took place beneath the gazebo. In the first photograph James and Emma kiss with their hands held, white flowers hanging from the gazebo frame above them, guests seated on white chairs behind and the pale windows and brick wall of the hotel beyond.

In April the trees were still bare. Emma and James cross a small stone bridge over a stream in the grounds, her bouquet in one hand, looking at each other, with bare branches, a lamp post and open fields behind them under a soft grey sky.

The last photograph, in black and white, shows the gazebo with its chairs still empty. Emma and James stand hand in hand beneath its white roof and hanging flowers, with rows of empty white chairs on either side of the aisle and the open countryside behind.

03 / Staying at Carden Park / From the venue's own description

A hotel with 197 bedrooms

Carden Park is a hotel with 197 bedrooms. The venue says the newlyweds receive a complimentary room for the wedding night as part of the wedding package, with an optional paid upgrade to a luxury suite, and that overnight guests have access to the leisure club and a buffet breakfast included in the room rate.

The venue also says it can provide a get ready room for the bridal party. If you stay the night before, you can use your bedroom instead, and the venue recommends a Courtyard Suite or a Carden Luxury Suite for comfort. Ask which room you will have and when it opens, so we can plan the morning around where each of you is.

Planning your photographs at Carden Park

A few things worth asking the venue, and how we would plan around the answers:

1. Timing: The grounds are large, so tell us your ceremony time and how long you would like to be away from your guests, and we will fit the portrait walk to the day. The venue says fireworks can run only until 10pm and must be planned in advance with a professional company.
2. Season and light: Our wedding here was in early April, with bare trees and soft grey light, which suited the stone bridge and the gazebo. The venue's high season runs from April to September and its low season from October to March, so ask how the gardens look on your date.
3. Rain: Agree an indoor or sheltered option with the venue when you confirm the order of the day. The venue says its wet weather option is usually in your reception room and can be decided up to three hours before the ceremony. On the day we settle it together with you and the venue.
4. Group photographs: We do as many as you like and typically recommend around 15, which usually take about 20 minutes. Ask a groomsman or bridesmaid who knows everyone to round people up. With a large estate, choose one or two places for groups close to where your guests will be.
5. Getting ready: If you and your partner are in different places, we move between you together, splitting our time as a team. Groom preparation typically takes about 15 minutes.
6. Venue rules to know: The venue says it is not dog friendly, at the ceremony or the meal, though service dogs are permitted. It allows biodegradable confetti such as dried flowers and petals.

One team for the photographs and the film

Cam and Beth have photographed and filmed over 400 weddings together, so a hotel estate with a gazebo, indoor suites and a large garden is familiar territory. You get one conversation about the timetable, one set 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 Carden Park wedding