Manor Estate Wedding Photographer & Videographer

A barn and gardens beside the River Till

Manor Estate is at Manor House, Winterbourne Stoke, Salisbury, Wiltshire (SP3 4SZ). The venue's about page describes a Grade II* listed 17th-century manor house that has been a family home for generations, with a barn believed to date from the 18th century that once stabled horses and housed pigs and has been restored for weddings. It says the estate is two miles from Stonehenge, that the grounds are exclusively yours for the wedding, and that they hold formal planting, rolling fields and the River Till.

We photographed Sabrina and Jamie's wedding here on 4 June 2022. This page follows it in photographs. Our Wiltshire guide and Salisbury guide show the estate beside other venues nearby, where we call it The Manor Barn, and here we stay with the venue itself. What we say about the estate comes from its own website, and what we say about the photographs comes from looking at them.

For current venue details, explore Manor Estate. The estate's website lists its ceremony spaces, hours and bedrooms, so check which options your date includes.

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

The Stables, the Mill, the gazebo and the barn

The wedding page lists three licensed ceremony spaces. The Stables has a vaulted ceiling and a long aisle for up to 120 people, the Mill is a more rustic and intimate space (the estate's pages give its capacity as 65, 70 and 75 in different places, so ask), and an outdoor gazebo beside the river has the house as its backdrop for up to 120. The ceremonies page says the venue hire for the ceremony is included and registration fees are separate, and its FAQs add that humanist ceremonies, naming ceremonies and renewals of vows are welcome. For a church wedding, several couples have married at St Peter's Church in Winterbourne Stoke.

Exclusive use of the barn and grounds runs from 9am to midnight on the wedding day, with access the day before to style the barn and from 9am to noon the next morning to take decorations down. The estate gives a seated capacity of 120 and an evening capacity of 250, with a licensed bar open all day, underfloor heating in the barn and a licence until 11.30pm.

The barn page says the upstairs bar was made from the old grain storage bins, original machinery and woodwork were kept, cleaned and fireproofed, and the outdoor bar in the old garage next to the barn faces west for afternoon sun. The FAQs mention mezzanine levels, including a Straw Loft, and the estate runs its bar in two locations depending on the weather. You choose your own caterer from the estate's list, and the estate's FAQs say bringing a caterer of your own carries a fee.

02 / June 2022 / Sabrina and Jamie

Sabrina and Jamie: sunflowers, a meadow fence and a dance floor under the beams

Sabrina and Jamie married at Manor Estate on 4 June 2022. The photograph at the top of this page is from their portraits: Jamie, in a stone-coloured suit and beard, and Sabrina, in a lace gown, face each other beside a wooden fence with a meadow behind them, a bouquet of sunflowers in her hands.

The bridesmaids, in rust-coloured dresses with sunflower bouquets, laugh together on a path beside the garden's hedges with Sabrina at the centre in her full-skirted gown.

In the grounds the couple stand together in a gap in a hedge beneath trees, small in the frame and almost lost in the green.

In the evening, seen from above, Sabrina dances in her gown on a slate floor in the timbered barn, a band playing beside her, string lights overhead and guests crowded around the edge.

03 / Staying at Manor Estate / From the venue's own description

The South Wing, the Courtyard and a drawing room for getting ready

The estate has three en-suite bedrooms in the South Wing and four bedrooms in the Courtyard, two separate self-catering apartments with their own kitchens and living rooms. Its accommodation FAQs name the Alexander Suite (the honeymoon suite), the Furness Room and the Turner Room in the South Wing, and say the two apartments sleep 14 adults between them, with a maximum of two adults per room. Check-in is from 2pm and check-out by 11.30am, and if you choose to get ready at the estate the rooms are available from 9am. A continental breakfast hamper is included.

The estate says children cannot stay overnight in the South Wing, though flower girls and boys are welcome there for morning preparations, and that pets cannot stay in the Manor House. Your private drawing room is the place the estate suggests for getting ready. The accommodation FAQs say there are no ground-floor bedrooms, so tell us and the estate about any access needs early.

04 / The day / From the venue's own description

The ceremony, the evening and the drive in

The guest information page says ceremonies at the venue last 20 to 30 minutes, guests are asked to arrive at least 20 minutes beforehand, and the drinks reception typically runs 1 to 1.5 hours before the wedding breakfast, which it says is usually around 3pm. For an outdoor ceremony it warns that there is limited shade and a stretch of gravel to cross, and that hand-held parasols are available. Alcohol is not permitted in the ceremony space itself.

The same page says music and the bar close at 11.30pm and all guests need to have left by midnight, with taxis best booked for 11.30pm. Cars can be left overnight and collected before noon. The estate asks that dogs, up to two, are kept on a lead because of the A303. Petal confetti is allowed outdoors, but glitter and non-biodegradable confetti, confetti cannons and sky lanterns are not. Its FAQs also say photographers are welcome to view the venue in advance.

Planning your photographs at Manor Estate

How the venue's own layout shapes the photographs, and what to settle with the estate:

1. Where the ceremony happens: The Stables (up to 120), the Mill and the riverside gazebo (up to 120) are the three licensed spaces. The gazebo has the house as a backdrop but, the estate says, limited shade and a stretch of gravel to cross, so decide with the estate which suits your numbers and the weather, and tell us so we can arrange the morning around it.
2. Rain: The estate says it runs its bar in two places depending on the weather, and the Stables and the Mill are indoor ceremony spaces. Agree an indoor or sheltered option for portraits and group photographs with the estate when you confirm the order of the day, and settle it with you and the estate on the day.
3. Group photographs: We do as many as you like and typically recommend around 15, which usually take about 20 minutes. The estate says the drinks reception typically lasts 1 to 1.5 hours, so group photographs fit in there, in the gardens. Ask a groomsman or bridesmaid who knows everyone to round people up.
4. Portraits: We usually take a portrait walk of about 15 minutes, with photo and video together. The estate says the gardens give photographers many opportunities, and between the formal planting, the hedges, the fields and the River Till there are very different backdrops close together. The outdoor bar faces west, so the afternoon light reaches that corner.
5. Getting ready: With a private drawing room and rooms available from 9am, you and your partner may be getting ready in different places. We move between you together, splitting our time as a team, and groom preparation typically takes about 15 minutes.
6. The evening: The estate says the bar and music close at 11.30pm, with the dance floor in the barn, as in Sabrina and Jamie's photographs. Tell us the time of your first dance so we can plan around it.

One team for the photographs and the film

Cam and Beth have photographed and filmed over 400 weddings together, so a barn, formal gardens and a river 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 Manor Estate wedding