Is Wyresdale Park the perfect wedding venue?

Of all the barn wedding venues in all the world...

Wyresdale Park, Ceremony Barn, Ivy beams

Trying to choose your perfect barn wedding venue in Lancashire is like trying to find a needle in an appropriately rural haystack. Because you want a blend of rustic, but elegant. Intimate but spacious. Charmingly rural, but luxuriously comfortable. And it’s your wedding, so it needs to be perfect. It’s tricky, isn’t it?

Well the good news is, you can stop looking! Let me introduce you to Wyresdale Park.

As a wedding photographer in Cheshire, I’m blessed to have all the beauty of the North right on my doorstep. And so I've been spoiled when it comes to idyllic countryside wedding venues. But having been lucky enough to capture several Wyresdale Park weddings, I have to say...I think this one’s my favourite!

Sitting on the Western slopes of the Forest of Bowland, the working farm estate is cocooned in breathtaking rural beauty. With an amazing laid-back atmosphere, stunning ceremony and reception barns, endless beautiful grounds and even a lake! Wyresdale Park in Lancashire has everything you could possibly want for your countryside-themed wedding.

Soak up the atmosphere

Before we go any further, I should say I’m not a fly-on-the-wall photographer! I love to get involved in the day, whether it’s joking with your family or having a jive on the dance floor, I’m in it all the way!

And that’s one of the reasons why I love Wyresdale Park weddings. Because there’s always such an amazing atmosphere from start to finish.

From the moment your guests arrive and congregate in the courtyard, they’re surrounded by old stone buildings and rural wooden livestock sheds. And after the ceremony they’ll be gathered in the beautifully landscaped grounds, sipping cocktails and nibbling on canapes.

You get the unmistakable feel of being at a fun, laid-back garden party with close family and friends.

The bridal journey in Wyresdale Park

Beth got ready upstairs in the beautifully maintained traditional farmhouse. Her stunning sequined blush dress from Willoby by Watters and the vivid pops of colour from her exquisite bouquet contrasted wonderfully with the rural backdrop of the farm.

And I absolutely adored the incredibly emotional ‘first look’ with her father as she descended the old wooden staircase. If you’re trying to decide whether to have this ‘first look’ planned into your day, I’d highly recommend it. Because it’s always such a beautiful moment. And one you’ll never get the chance to have again.

From there we walked through the sunshine along the foliage-lined path to the ceremony room. Beth was ‘given away’ by both her father and her step-father, which made the walk to the ceremony all that more poignant.

The Wyresdale Park wedding barns

The jewel in the crown of Wyresdale Park has to be the stunning, fully licenced ceremony barn. If you’re looking for an intimate, laid-back setting in which to say your vows, I can’t imagine anywhere more perfect.

Flooded with natural light, the ceremony barn is a photographer’s dream! And with white wooden beams overhead, an altar carved out of an oak tree from the estate, and an exposed stone wall, it blends a rustic aesthetic with understated elegance.

But what really tipped it over the edge from ‘pretty’ to ‘spectacular’ was the vibrant florals from Bluebells and Daisies. With ivy draped over the beams, it gave the barn the feel of an ethereal woodland wonderland. And vibrant bursts of pinks and purples added touches of gorgeous playful colour to the ceremony, perfectly complementing the white and stone-grey colours of the barn.

There’s also a larger barn next door for the reception. With exposed wooden beams and a wooden balcony, it’s similar in style to the ceremony room, giving your wedding gallery a flowing, cohesive look. The huge barn doors behind the head table can be opened all the way, flooding the reception with natural light. And adding a soundtrack of Lancashire birdsong to the speeches.

And once again, the barn was taken to whole new levels of beauty by the phenomenal floristry from Bluebells and Daisies. While Wyresdale Park is beautiful in its own right, a good florist can truly bring this venue alive.

Wyresdale Park is a wedding photographer’s dream!

Everywhere you look is beautiful. And I mean everywhere. If you love nature and value your photography, you’ll love the endless scenic photo opportunities Wyresdale Park has to offer.

As soon as you step away from the hubbub of the celebration, the vast grounds are wonderfully secluded and peaceful. Beth, James and I disappeared together down the winding footpaths of the beautiful gardens and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by tranquil woodland.

And I love this for couple’s portraits.

Because this will be your first time together alone as a married couple. And so having the chance to disappear into the woods with no one but myself and my camera gives you the chance to let your guard down, be intimate with each other, and celebrate this amazing, life-changing step you’ve just taken together.

And that’s when we’ll get some truly beautiful, romantic shots. The ones that’ll always make your heart skip a beat when you see them. Because they’ll bring you right back to that moment of pure love you felt for each other.

Wyresdale Lake

We carried on through the woods to get to the lake (didn’t I tell you there was a lake?!) and Beth and James rowed off together onto the water.

There’s something so wonderfully romantic about couples shots on a boat, isn’t there?

And because I wasn’t with them on the boat, it gave Beth and James some real time alone together after their ceremony. This is a very rare, and very precious opportunity. And I know they loved just having a few minutes to themselves for the first time as husband and wife.

As a reportage photographer, I always love the couple’s portraits part of the day. Because my approach isn’t to engineer moments, or force you into poses. But rather just to allow you to be yourselves and capture how you felt in the moment.

And so capturing newly married couples alone for the first time since their wedding is always such a special and priceless thing for me. Because it’s naturally intimate, romantic, and vulnerable, and it’s a privilege to be the one to photograph it.