A Winter Wedding at Stratton Court Barn – Katie & Mehdi
This was my first time shooting a winter wedding at Stratton Court Barn. Previous visits have been summer affairs, so it was great to get back to this beautiful barn venue and check it out in a totally different season. I knew both Katie & Mehdi before I shot for them. In what seems like an improbable three-player game of six degrees of separation, I’d met Katie via one of my wife’s close friends, and I bumped into Mehdi when he was a groomsman at a wedding I shot back in 2017. Because of that, this felt like quite a personal wedding for me! Weddings are funny things, they really make you see networks of community that often go unnoticed in the day-to-day. Katie & Mehdi themselves met through taekwondo, both of them having competed internationally.
The day began in Bicester at Katie & Mehdi’s flat before we headed across to Stratton Court Barn for the final stages of prep. Katie & Mehdi got married in late February and, despite the weather feeling quite chilly, Stratton Court Barn was looking fantastic with blossom on the trees and a fair bit of blue sky. Katie got ready in Stratton Court’s beautiful Hayloft with her girls and her Mum. Mehdi, a man who is both incredibly charming and completely unflappable, finished off the last bits with the groomsmen and welcomed arriving guests.
The ceremony took place in the beautiful main barn. Despite being a winter wedding, Stratton Court Barn is flooded with natural light and, at this time of year, with the sun sitting low, we were treated to lots of lovely directionality. Following the ceremony, Katie & Mehdi’s guests greeted them with confetti in the courtyard outside.
Winter Wedding Portraits at Stratton Court Barn
I particularly love the portraits from Katie & Mehdi’s day, especially the black and white sequence with the veil moving in the breeze. While I am a documentary wedding photographer first and foremost, I am always happy to make time for groups and portraits. From my point of view, I really enjoy a short window where I have unencumbered creative control. Good documentary photography is about capturing authentic moments without directing them. Fundamentally, that’s still what motivates my work, but there are unquestionably times when we all yearn for a bit of control – especially if things become unpredictable and go off-script! Weddings are live events, more theatre than cinema, and they often surprise. Over the years I’ve learned to embrace that unpredictability (frankly I love it) but from time to time it’s very enjoyable to bring a clear creative vision and revel in pursuing it.
After the reception, we moved back into the main barn for dinner and speeches. For the evening, Katie & Mehdi had found the immense Freddy de Lord. Freddy basically blends the role of a DJ and Sax player and gets amongst it on the dancefloor! If you want an indication of just how awesome he was, check out the Stratton Court team dancing behind the bar!
My thanks to Katie & Mehdi for having me, and to their families for being so warm and welcoming. I absolutely loved documenting your winter wedding at Stratton Court Barn. It’s always an honour shooting for people you know, even when the relationship is tangential.
If you’re looking for the suppliers who worked on this beaut of a day, you’ll find them at the foot of this post. Right, enough from me. Time for some photos!
