Southend Barns – Hannah & Dean

Southend Barns wedding

A Southend Barn summer wedding, for Hannah and Dean, last Saturday. A wedding just south of Chichester in Sussex.

Summer seems to be making a stuttering start this year. There was a blue sky for the wedding but also an increasingly chilly breeze – that played havoc with hair (not Dean’s!). The whole day took place at Southend Barns. Hannah arrived with her bridesmaids just before 1 pm, to get ready behind the rust coloured gate, in the rather nice apartment at the Barns for the bridal preps. (The Milking Parlour – bridal suite) The gate needed to stay shut as Dean and the wedding guests started to arrive for the ceremony at 3 pm. Dean’s sisters had to peer through the gate to spot their husbands and brother.

Dean was ready to go. By the time he stood at the front of the ceremony room, the Dairy Barn, he started to look a bit nervous. He was very keen to get married to Hannah and quickly. So keen that the registrar had to correct him several times and insist he repeated her words for the ceremony exactly, word for word! Rather than his own choice.

After a confetti run, it was time for drinks in the sunshine on the lawn, before everyone entered the big Threshing Barn for the speeches and the wedding breakfast. Talking of nervous, Dean’s best man, Dan, was feeling that before delivering his speech.

Southend Barns is known for portraits of couples next to, or even in, an adjoining field. If the weather plays ball, you can even get a fantastic sunset. Unfortunately, the farmer had plonked a great big machine right there as the crop was being sprayed by gallons of water. Shame, but we got some portraits anyhow (I still believe there is a place in documentary wedding photography for some portraits).

As evening guests arrived, Dean, a professional footballer for Leyton Orient, was getting in some extra pre-season training, chasing the kids and being chased by the kids on the lawn ( clutching a glass of vodka 😉 )

A very nice wedding, with a stunning bride and a happy groom.

Here are a few images from a summer wedding at Southend Barn…