**Hengrave Hall,** **Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 6LB**

Hengrave Hall is an exceptional wedding venue and instantly became one of my all time favs. It offers photographers and couples a fantastic variety of opportunities for beautiful wedding photos.

Set within a 350-acre private estate in Suffolk, this 16th-century Tudor manor blends historic grandeur with romantic, timeless charm — creating stunning backdrops throughout the property for every part of your wedding day.

The venue also features its own historic onsite church (St John Lateran) — perfect for capturing meaningful ceremony shots without needing to travel elsewhere.

The moment you arrive, the impressive exterior and landscaped formal gardens invite breathtaking wide-angle shots. The West Terrace, bordered by roses and lavender, provides a picture-perfect setting ideal for couple portraits, confetti moments, and relaxed garden scenes with natural light.

Hengrave Hall somehow manages to simultaneously be dark and moody and still have beautiful light. Suites like the Queen Elizabeth Chamber and the atmospheric ambience of the Banqueting Hall and inner courtyard meant I was spoiled for choice.

This was an extra special wedding for me because I’ve known Vicki since we were teenagers. On top of that Vicki’s parents were professional wedding photographers for many years so the pressure was cranked up a few notches!

As always, my goal was to create photos that were full of life, love and laughter… and make people say “Damn - that’s us!!”

Getting ready in the morning

Vicky and Rob both got ready at Hengrave Hall at different ends of the wedding venue. This meant I got bounce between them and use the variety of different rooms. I particularly loved the huge mirror in the bridal suite.

The ceremony

Rob and Vicki got married in the church next to Hengrave Hall; and just like Hengrave Hall it instantly became an all time favourite. Why? Several reasons actually…

Its stained glass windows let plenty of light flood from the appropriate angle
During the service I was able to walk down the side aisle and go upstairs to the organist’s balcony and get photos from above.
The vicar was the coolest vicar I’ve ever known. He wouldn’t have been out of place as the lead singer in an 80s punk band. He has an absolute heart of gold too.

Group photos

Another perk of Hengrave Hall is the beautiful backdrop for the group photos. Not only that, there are two great options depending on your preference and the direction of the light. You can either do the photographs in front of the grand front entrance, or by the side of the building where the gardens are. I always tailor my choice depending on whether the sun is out and what angle it’s at. You rarely want bright sunlight hitting people straight in their face and creating nasty shadows and squinting.

Photos of the bride and groom

Wedding photographers always like to do the romantic photos during what we call ‘golden hour’ which is the hour leading up to sunset. As this was an Autumn wedding this partly clashed with the meal. In our Zoom call to prepare for the wedding Rob and Vicki had said they were happy to do a few before we went in for the meal and then a couple more between the main course and the pudding. The light was beautiful and it made all the difference to the photos.

Evening entertainment

As you can see from the photos above, the dancefloor was not for the faint-hearted! As always I was dancing along with all the guests. My motto is “If I’m not being punched in the face by flailing limbs then my camera isn’t close enough!”

I find that when the camera is up close and personal on the dancefloor the energy explodes out of the photos.

Below are a few more of my favourites from the day.