The Barn Hotel & Spa Wedding Photographer & Videographer

A hotel with two ceremony suites near Grantham

The Barn Hotel & Spa is on Toll Bar Road at Marston near Grantham in Lincolnshire (NG32 2HT). It was known to us as The Barn Hotel & Spa when we photographed and filmed here, and the venue's own website still uses the older name in places, including its web address. It describes a hotel where you can hold both your civil ceremony and your reception, and its about page lists 103 rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a health club with a spa.

We photographed and filmed Louise and Kyle's wedding here on 31 October 2021. Their day is told in photographs, with the highlight film further down the page; the two pictures of the rooms in the first section are stills taken from the film. Our Nottingham guide covers weddings across the wider area, and here we stay with the hotel and the couple. What we say about the rooms comes from the venue's own website, and what we say about the pictures comes from looking at them.

For current venue details, explore The Barn Hotel & Spa. This wedding was at the very end of October, so ask the venue how the hotel and its gardens look in other seasons.

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

Two ceremony suites, two gardens and rooms for the party

The venue's wedding page says it holds a seven-day licence for the Allington Suite and the Newton Suite, and offers civil ceremonies there. Weather permitting, it also offers open-air weddings in the Newton garden and the Courtyard garden. The page does not give capacities for any of these, so ask for the numbers in writing.

Its wedding page also advertises a midweek offer, Sunday to Thursday, for 40 day guests and 60 evening guests with a disco until midnight. Ask for the current terms, and for the finishing time on the date you want.

02 / October 2021 / Louise and Kyle

Louise and Kyle: low autumn sun, a beamed ceremony room and a pumpkin cake

Louise and Kyle married on 31 October 2021. The photograph at the top of this page shows the two of them on a gravel path in low sun, Kyle in a blue check suit with a red buttonhole and Louise in black lace with a bouquet of bright brooches and jewels, smiling at each other with the trees and the brick building behind them. We photographed and filmed their day, and the highlight film plays further down the page.

The ceremony was indoors, in a room with dark beams, a red carpet and wooden chairs, with their guests seated behind them. Louise reads from a folded paper as the two of them hold hands at the front. Later she signs the register at a white-clothed table in front of tall windows onto a courtyard, her bouquet of brooches beside her and Kyle watching. The pictures do not say which of the venue's ceremony suites it was, so ask the venue which of its ceremony spaces suits your numbers.

Then they walk back along the red carpet hand in hand, Louise holding her bouquet and both of them smiling.

Outside, the sun was low and the light came in from behind them. In the first picture they stand forehead to forehead with the light catching Louise's hair. In the second they hold hands in front of the hotel's roadside sign, among fallen leaves, with dark trees behind.

Inside again, the cake is made of three carved pumpkins, and they cut it together with a long blade, smiling, on a table covered in a black spiderweb cloth. In the evening they dance in front of the DJ's lights, with orange balloons in the corner of the room.

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

103 rooms, a spa and a health club

The venue's about page lists 103 rooms in Standard, Superior and Family types, and its site lists a health club with a gym, spa, pool and sauna, and beauty services. Its midweek offer mentions a complimentary bridal suite on the wedding night. Ask how many of your guests it can sleep, which rooms come with your date and what the arrangements are for the morning after.

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

Planning your film and photographs at The Barn Hotel & Spa

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

1. Ceremony place: The venue lists the Allington Suite, the Newton Suite and open-air options in two gardens, weather permitting. Louise and Kyle married indoors. Ask which space suits your guest numbers and whether it can change if the weather turns.
2. Timing: The venue's wedding page gives a midnight disco finish only for its midweek offer, so ask for the timings of your date in writing. Tell us once you have agreed them and we will plan the portrait walk and the evening around the light.
3. Portraits: This couple's portraits were taken in low sun on the grass and gravel beside the hotel. Ask the venue which parts of the grounds, including the gardens, are open to you and whether any are closed to guests.
4. Rain: Agree an indoor or sheltered option with the venue when you confirm the order of the day, and we settle it together on the day.
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 hotel with a ceremony room, a reception room and a bit of grounds for portraits 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 The Barn Hotel & Spa wedding