Where to take the photos for your Tewkesbury Hotel Wedding Venue is just as important as choosing the wedding venue itself. Once you have booked your photographer it is worth spending a bit of time planning the photos with them to get the most out of the light and location.
Formal Gardens For Couple Portraits
The grounds of your hotel wedding venue offer so much potential for photographs of just you and your other half. Make sure you discuss with your chosen photographer where in the grounds he or she intends to take you for your own sole portraits and try to get a recce in there before the day. Choose spots with soft, warm light and try to avoid areas in very bright sunlight as they can create harsh shadows on your face.
The Staircase For Group Shots
A staircase is a fantastic way to fit lots of people into a small space for formal photographs and most hotels have wonderful halls and reception areas with high ceilings and lots of natural light pouring in from large bay windows. Many also have open fireplaces and fabulous bars too – all perfect for natural light photographs with interesting backgrounds and textures.
Parkland And Tree Avenues
Long tree avenues and wide open paths through the parkland of a hotel can be great for wide landscape shots with the wedding party small in the shot. These types of shots are generally better shot with low sun behind the trees in the avenue. Early evening can provide great photography in grounds like this.
Water Features For Reflections
The lake, pond or even fountain on the hotel grounds can provide some of the best photos of the day. In order to get good reflection photos, though, the water needs to be still. This can be the case on overcast days, as the water reflects all the colours of the surrounding scene. Also, make sure the hotel has a lake, pond or fountain and inform your photographer about this in order to schedule 10 minutes for this special shot.
The Golf Course At Dusk
Although on the hotel grounds the fairways and bunkers of the golf course make unusual and dramatic background locations for your photographs. The views from some of the hotel grounds locations are even better when you shoot towards the sun. A good example would be a silhouette of the couple against the open sky.
Tewkesbury Abbey As A Backdrop
For formal shots of the whole wedding party, a short trip to Tewkesbury Abbey can be a great idea. An historic and picturesque setting with great medieval stonework, the grounds of the Abbey provide a great contrast to the formal surroundings of a hotel. Try to time this for a short 20 minute session either straight after the ceremony or before the wedding breakfast, so as not to keep guests waiting. It is also a good idea to check the visitor information for the Abbey for opening times and any services etc. that may affect access on the day of your wedding.
For an alternative setting for couple portraits, or additional photography sessions, the town itself and the surrounding Cotswolds offer a wide variety of subjects to capture the couple in. The grounds and buildings of Tewkesbury Abbey itself provide historic backdrop to the couple’s photography.
A Rainy Day Backup List
It’s also worth taking note of the backup shots you can take in the event of bad weather. Hotel interior photography can make for fantastic natural photographs of the wedding party and, often, some of the best photos of the day are of couples sitting in front of open fireplaces or posed in front of bay windows with good natural light. Knowing the rooms in advance of the day will save a lot of stress in the morning.
For Tewkesbury Hotel Wedding Venue, see Tewkesbury Park.
Combining The Day With Local Sights
There are many ways you could incorporate a visit to one of the National Trust properties close to your chosen hotel into your wedding celebrations. Perhaps you could use the grounds of the property for your pre-wedding photography session the day before your wedding. Or maybe you would like to return to the grounds the day after your wedding for an informal walk around the grounds and celebrate with your guests who have stayed locally for a second night.
A shot list makes it easy to make sure that you get to visit all the photo locations on the day that you want. Ensure you bring this up with your chosen photographer a few weeks prior to your wedding.
