Sandhole Oak Barn Wedding Photographer & Videographer

An oak barn beside a private lake

Sandhole Oak Barn is on Manchester Road at Hulme Walfield, near Congleton in Cheshire (CW12 2JH). The venue says it is set within 400 acres of Cheshire countryside, centred on a private six-acre lake, and that it is an exclusive-use venue, so the whole place is yours for the day.

We photographed and filmed Andy and Paula's wedding here on 13 April 2022. This page follows their day in photographs and film stills. Our Cheshire guide and Manchester guide show Sandhole beside other North West venues, and here we stay with the venue itself. 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 Sandhole Oak Barn. The venue has refreshed several spaces since our April 2022 wedding and says it brought its catering in-house at the start of 2026, so what you see today may differ from Andy and Paula's day. Check the current details when you enquire.

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

The Oak Barn, the Clock Tower and the lake

The Oak Barn is two connected spaces. The Ceremony Barn has oak flooring, full-height windows over the lake and a grand piano, and the Dining Barn has high ceilings, exposed oak beams and French doors onto a verandah that runs along the lake side. The venue says the barn holds up to 140 guests for the ceremony and wedding breakfast and up to 180 for the evening.

For an outdoor ceremony the venue has the Clock Tower, an oak structure on the lake shore that is licensed for civil ceremonies. It says the Clock Tower is also a backdrop for photographs when you have an indoor ceremony, with heaters under the eaves. Ceremonies are booked through Cheshire East Register Office. The Small Barn is a separate lounge with its own kitchen and an enclosed garden, which the venue suggests as a quiet space or a crèche.

There are two preparation spaces, the Dressing Room and a second room with a shower room and two hair and make-up stations, which the venue says you can use from 9am. For portraits the venue points to the lake, the rolling countryside and landscaped gardens. Dogs are welcome for the ceremony and photographs, but the venue asks that they leave before the wedding breakfast.

02 / April 2022 / Andy and Paula

Andy and Paula: a dress by the window and a twirl beside the lake

Andy and Paula married at Sandhole Oak Barn on 13 April 2022. The photograph at the top of this page is theirs: Andy, in a navy jacket, grey waistcoat and navy tie, and Paula, in a strapless gown with a pearl necklace and a bouquet of blue and white flowers, smile at each other beside the lake with sunlight sparkling on the water and a bare tree behind them. It is one of two photographs from their wedding that we saved as favourites, and the other is the twirl further down. The remaining four pictures on this page are stills from their highlight film, marked as stills beside each one.

The morning, in the first still from the highlight film, is a wedding dress hanging from a cream wardrobe beside a window with floral curtains, in soft light.

Another still shows the ceremony barn before the guests arrive: rows of chairs tied with gold sashes along an aisle scattered with petals, jars of greenery on the floor, oak beams overhead and tall glazed doors at the far end.

A third still shows the couple laughing at each other between two clipped yew shapes in the gardens, with a timber-clad building behind them, Andy in his blue jacket and Paula in her veil.

Later, in the second photograph we saved as a favourite, Andy raises an arm and twirls Paula at the water's edge as the sun sinks behind the clouds, her skirt swirling and the still lake holding the pink and gold of the sky.

Three more photographs from their gallery. In the timber-framed hall, Andy, in a blue textured jacket, looks down at what he holds as he faces Paula in her strapless gown and veil, guests seated along the aisle. At the lake the sun sinks behind them as they embrace and kiss. And with the pink sky and the water behind, they rest their foreheads together, the light catching Paula's pearl necklace and hair slide.

The last picture is a still from the highlight film: close together by the lake, Andy and Paula kiss with the low sun flaring between them and her hand on his cheek.

03 / Staying at Sandhole / From the venue's own description

Sixteen en-suite bedrooms and a honeymoon cottage

The venue has 17 en-suite bedrooms in all. The Farmhouse and Stables offer 16 of them in converted historic buildings, and the self-contained Granary Cottage is the honeymoon suite, with a super king bed and a veranda over the lake. Breakfast is served the next morning in the Breakfast Room.

For photographs, ask which rooms you and your partner can use in the morning and when they open, so we can plan the morning around where each of you is.

Planning your photographs at Sandhole Oak Barn

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

1. Timing: The venue says last orders at the bar are at 11.45pm, the bar closes and the music stops at midnight, and the venue closes at 12.30am. Its website gives no ceremony start time, so agree your timings with the venue first, then tell us and we will plan the portrait walk around the light.
2. April light: Andy and Paula married in April, and their pictures show a pale spring sky, bare trees across the water and the sun dropping low over the lake in the evening. Ask the venue how the lake and gardens look in other seasons.
3. Rain and wind: Agree an indoor or sheltered option with the venue when you confirm the order of the day. The venue mentions heaters under the Clock Tower eaves and a retractable awning on the verandah, so ask which of them you can use. On the day we settle it together with you and the venue.
4. Dogs: The venue says well-behaved dogs are welcome for the ceremony and photographs but must leave site before the wedding breakfast. If a dog is part of your day, tell us your plan for it.
5. Group photographs: We do as many as you like and typically recommend around 15, which usually take about 20 minutes. Ask the venue where it suggests standing larger groups, and 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. The venue has two preparation spaces, so tell us who is using which.

One team for the photographs and the film

Cam and Beth have photographed and filmed over 400 weddings together, so an oak barn, a lake, a Clock Tower and two preparation spaces 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 Sandhole Oak Barn wedding