With all of the amazing wedding venues in and around Cheltenham I could easily find myself at a different one for every week of the year. It’s a real hot spot for stunning locations and The Greenway is no exception.
Hidden away down it’s private drive is this wonderful venue that feels like it’s in a world of it’s own. Surrounded by huge amounts of open space, you really do feel like you’ve escaped from everyday life.
Last Summer I had the pleasure of photographing two weddings at the Greenway, both within weeks of each other. In typical British fashion, one had sweltering heat (if I remember rightly there was some kind of important sport event on that day, something to do with a world cup?) while for the second one, which this picture was taken from, it barely stopped raining all day with maddening gales beating a path across the fields.
Both occasions that I photographed the Greenway last year were fantastic, intimate weddings; no more than 10 guests or so at each. I really love photographing these kinds of weddings, because to a certain extent you do get to know the guests in a way that is more difficult if there’s 100 people there.
After getting some family photographs I took the couple out in one of the short dry spells to grab some couple photographs, which they were keen to have, especially with such a stunning venue to show off.
As you’ll perhaps know from my other work on this website, I focus primarily on reportage / documentary photography; capturing real moments as unobtrusively as possible. But, as with this couple, I do also cater for couple shots too and enjoy the opportunity to craft an image where you have a little more control over each element that goes into it (except the weather!).
We had wandered around the grounds for a little while, but the wind wouldn’t let up so we had to seek shelter in this more secluded area. Here we were safely tucked away and had the opportunity to get a few photographs before the rain came down again. Just as I positioned the couple here for a shot with the hotel in the background, some luck came our way as the sun just peaked out from behind the clouds for a moment, which gave a soft but more interesting quality of light to this portrait.
It’s always challenging when the weather isn’t on your side, but even on the worst of days there’s often an opportunity to get a photograph outside if you pick your moment!
