I have a vivid imagination. Consequently when I photograph at country houses, stately homes, castles and monasteries, that imaginative touch paper is kindled. I’ve not seen any kind of spector and if things mysteriously bump around me I’m oblivious to it, but I do like the stories I collect on my journeys as a documentary wedding photographer. I was brought up on a diet of history by my parents. Ufton Court in Berkshire is one such venue with a glorious history dating back to the 15th Century under various guises, and I’m fortunate to be one of their preferred wedding photographers. You approach the house along a sweeping oak lined driveway, the kind Euromillions winners aspire to. There’s one room I visit over and over, although never alone. Photographically it’s produced a number of undeniably posed scenarios, but I do enjoy the juxtaposition between wedded celebration and a little historic menace. It’s a small room in the house, perhaps the tiniest. Three or four metres by say two? It’s remarkably silent. From a time when Catholicism was shunned in our country, this is a secret chapel hidden up a winding set of wooden steps that is linked by a private tunnel to the nearby woods – apparently. You can hear your own thoughts very easily. Some say, you can hear others’ thoughts. I’ve not, yet. You’ll spot that room within the images contained here I’m sure. I’ve been meaning to add the venue to my web list for some time, so here’s a varied portfolio of recent and not so recent Ufton Court weddings. If you’re planning on getting wed there and I enjoy the privilege of being chosen as your wedding photographer, we’ll go visit that room. If anything goes bump that should otherwise stay static, I’ll race you down the stairs.
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