Sopwell House

The blue footbridge over the water is where we’d take you at Sopwell House, and it’s the piece of the Hertfordshire garden we use most. It’s a short walk from the ballroom, it puts something built and something green in the same frame, and it gets you clear of a hundred guests for five minutes without anyone noticing you’ve gone. There’s a boardwalk beside it and an arch of foliage that turns copper in autumn, which is the season we’d pick for this garden. You get ready in the Mews suites, gated and set apart in their own gardens, so the morning is properly private rather than a hotel corridor with a sign on the door. The ceremony room is light and neutral with lanterns down the aisle, and big enough that we work several angles without shifting a chair. The cream front and the lawns hold the whole group under a mature tree. The evening is a sparkler tunnel outside and then the lit arched entrance, which is the one to finish on.