Channels Estate Wedding Photographer & Videographer

A thatched barn and gardens near Chelmsford

Channels is at Pratts Farm Lane East, Chelmsford (CM3 3PT). The venue describes a 17th-century thatched Essex Barn fully licensed for civil ceremonies, a garden ceremony under a pavilion that it calls the Church Without a Roof, extensive grounds with a fountain, a lily pond and an avenue of mature trees, and a wedding garden for canapes and drinks.

We photographed and filmed Lauren and Jonathan's wedding at Channels on 5 February 2022. This page tells their day in photographs, apart from one view of the barn taken from their wedding film, and the highlight film plays further down the page. Our Essex guide shows weddings across the county, and here we stay with the venue and the couple. What we say about the buildings comes from the venue's own website, and what we say about the pictures comes from looking at them.

For current venue details, explore Channels Estate. This wedding was in the depths of winter, so ask the venue how the gardens and the barn work for your own season.

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

An outdoor pavilion, an indoor barn ceremony and an evening for 200

The venue lists two ceremony options. The outdoor ceremony under a pavilion in the garden is for up to 120 guests including 90 seated, and the indoor ceremony in the Essex Barn is for up to 100 guests including 90 seated. It says the barn is fully licensed for civil ceremonies, and for the evening it lists up to 200 guests.

Its wedding page does not give a wedding breakfast capacity or timings, so ask for both in writing. The wedding garden is used for canapes, drinks, live music and children's games, and the venue says its grounds include a fountain, a lily pond and an avenue of mature trees.

02 / February 2022 / Lauren and Jonathan

Lauren and Jonathan: a church ceremony, confetti on the lawn and a first dance in the barn

Lauren and Jonathan married on 5 February 2022. The photograph at the top of this page shows the end of their night: Lauren in a white fur wrap and veil and Jonathan in a navy suit and red tie kiss while guests around them hold up lit sparklers.

The ceremony was in a church. Lauren laughs as she signs the register at a wooden table, her bouquet of red and white roses beside her and Jonathan leaning in at her shoulder. In the next, they walk along the aisle together, looking at each other, with the priest in white vestments behind them.

Afterwards they raise glasses of champagne in the back of a maroon vintage car, Lauren in her tiara, and then stop to kiss in the middle of a lane lined with white posts and bare winter trees under a grey sky.

On a lawn, with coloured confetti falling and scattered across the grass, Lauren laughs with a hand on Jonathan's arm as he grins beside her. The whole wedding party then gathers in the courtyard in front of the thatched barn, and we photographed them from above.

In the evening the dancing starts in the barn. Lauren laughs as Jonathan holds her close in front of large white light-up letters, and later she takes the hands of a flower girl in a white dress and dances with her in front of a wall of white flowers.

The night ends outdoors with the sparklers, in the photograph at the top of this page. The highlight film of the day plays further down.

03 / Staying near Channels / From the venue's own description

A separate hotel, so ask what it can offer your guests

The venue's website lists Channels Hotel as a separate business, and its wedding page does not give room counts or names. Ask how many of your guests can stay, what is included with your date and what the arrangements are for the morning after.

For the photographs and film, ask which room you can use for getting ready and when it opens, so we can plan the morning around where each of you is.

Planning your film and photographs at Channels Estate

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

1. Ceremony place: Lauren and Jonathan married in a church and came to the barn afterwards. If your ceremony is in the garden pavilion, the barn or somewhere else, tell us the journey and the timings so we can plan the day around the move.
2. Timing: The venue's wedding page does not give finishing times, so ask for the timings of your date in writing. Tell us once you have agreed them and we will plan the portraits and the evening around the light, which is short in winter.
3. Portraits: This couple's portraits included a kiss in a lane and a laughing moment on a lawn in confetti. Ask the venue which parts of the grounds are open to you and whether any are closed to guests.
4. Sparklers: A sparkler send-off ended Lauren and Jonathan's night. If you would like one, ask the venue what it allows and where, and we will plan the light with you.
5. 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.
6. 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.

One team for the photographs and the film

Cam and Beth have photographed and filmed over 400 weddings together, so a church ceremony, a barn reception and a sparkler send-off is familiar territory. You get one conversation about the timetable, one set of questions for the venue and one plan for the portraits.

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 Channels Estate wedding