Fennes

The white bridge over the lake is the picture at Fennes. It’s ornamental and clean-lined, sitting in a hundred acres of Essex, and you can shoot it three ways in one day: in the afternoon with the house behind, at sunset with the fountain going, and again after dark with the lit fountains across the water behind you. The grounds are big enough that you never see anybody else out there. Ceremony and dinner both happen in draped pavilions, glazed and bright through the afternoon and atmospheric once the lights come down, so we shoot the vows and the speeches with no flash and the dancing still looks like a proper night out. Inside the house there’s a red damask lounge with Chesterfields and a marble fireplace, and a sweeping staircase that suits a portrait with a drink in hand. Spring is the date to chase, because daffodils cover the field in front of the house and the lawns turn yellow, which is colour nobody has to bring in. It ends on a sparkler tunnel outside the lit house.