RUNA FARM
Wedding two of the year was Sunday just gone at the first new venue of 2024. Runa Farm in Barnard Castle. A beautifully designed rustic boho venue by The apartment Group. Sister venue to Le Petit Chateau, The Croft, and many more unique venues across Northumberland.
Liam and Jo chose this venue because of it’s simple, relaxed but stunning vibe. The decor is a cross between earthy boho and what I thought looked like upmarket Marrakesh. It barely needs any styling at all as the venue is so well designed.
You should know the score by now, if I disappear off for half an hour I’m usually found lying on the floor picking up scraps of discarded flowers and making them into some sort of flat lay. I didn’t know until after I posted this photo on my instagram but Joanna’s brother Dan designed and made the invitations. Super glad I didn’t just do a half arsed job at that shot - haha. Dan’s business for anybody who’s looking for something similar - Dan Corner Wedding
I arrived at 10am even though the ceremony wasn’t until 2pm. I’d never shot at this venue before and wanted to give myself plenty of time given that I’d heard horror stories about the wedding chapel lighting. I came armed with all my flashes, lenses and LED lights but was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t require anything other than my lenses. In the ceremony I ended up shooting on all three bodies, using my 85, 24 and 50.
I became a little obsessed with the pre wedding shoot book they’d had printed, so I’m posting this link here because I know I’ll forget. If anybody wants a STUNNING modern magazine style book printing of their wedding or pre shoot photos then visit this site - Rosemood
There’s only ever been two other wedding ceremony rooms with no natural light. A viking hut in Iceland, and the town hall in Copenhagen. Both of which were incredibly hard to shoot but taught me so much about how to shoot in low light and without flash. This is the first UK venue that I’ve ever worked at with no natural lighting. Surprisingly though, absolutely no banding on my camera and LR De-noise has helped me out loads in the initial editing of this wedding.
Joanna was an absolute dream bride, she didn’t have any hair and makeup team and instead opted to do it all herself with the help of her Maid of honour Aisla Suzanne Beauty and bridesmaid as well as her many friends. This meant they were ready more than an hour prior to the ceremony and had a really nice hour to chill, get dressed, relax and get excited for the day. It really was such a calm and tranquil run up. Her relaxed attitude even trickled down to her stunning choice of wedding dress from Monsoon, those sleeves though!!
Liam is a submariner in the Navy and wore his uniform for his ceremony. I loved loved loved this room to do groom portraits because of the colour and matching tones to his uniform. We had a few photos of his dad and him together before he went to greet their guests.
I’m here for the Insane Louboutin ankle boots! Yesss Gal! Perfect Feb wedding foot attire.
Joanna had two bridesmaids and two flower girls along with the most gorgeous page boy. The bridesmaid dresses were from Ghost (my all time fave dresses and I looked at these for my own wedding 9 years ago which is proof they are a classic and have never gone out of fashion.
The farmhouse at Runa Farm is beautiful and well designed. Plenty of open space, lime washed walls and modern interiors which makes photographing in there a breeze. It was such a lovely calm atmosphere in the farm house as the girls got ready. Super chilled and all ready with loads of time to spare.
Time for the ceremony, Joanna was walked down the aisle by her little brother. Florist and stylist Sarah from Bees and Butterflies had lined the aisle with petals and candles which finished the look perfectly, it was a very emotional walk, lots of tears and a very happy Liam and Jo met at the end of the aisle.
The ceremony was over and it was time for a quick fire round of couple shots, a dress change for Liam and then a few groups shots. Before we knew it it was wedding breakfast time and in the blink of an eye it was speeches. It’s been three months since my last big wedding and for some reason I’d forgotten just how time flies on a wedding day.
I didn’t have an uncle Bob on this wedding, instead I had a fabulous little Bobette. The cutest flower girl was using a guests Nikon to get BTS, I’m absolutely certain this lovely lady will one day be a photographer. Whilst I was sat down backing up she was talking to me about photography, and how I was editing, Showing me some really amazing shots she’d got of the day so far. As much as I take the piss out of uncle Bob’s I can honestly say it really doesn’t bother me at all, I genuinely love seeing guests papping. Inevitably there’s going to be lots of moments during the day that I miss, so having a family member “bobbing” around is a nice backup. Alternatively, you’ll have seen recent stories of my new campsnapz camera and my papershoot camera. Both blind digital cameras that you can give to guests to take snaps and then look at once the wedding is over. Each comes with an internal filter so there’s no editing required. This can be a cheaper and more eco friendly way of doing a poloroid station or Photo Booth.
Time for speeches and they didn’t disappoint, laughing, crying, all the usual things to expect from a beautiful wedding day, only this time the best man cracked out the old Mr and Mrs, and I hadn’t seen this in a few years. LOVE a good game during speeches, GREAT for the crowd and great for the photos.
There was a little more time between turn around and dance time so we crammed ourselves into the pizza oven (the chimney thing at the end of the chapel) maybe it’s just because I was thinking of food, but every time I looked at it it reminded me of a spicy hot one from Alborz in Preston haha! we did a few group shots.
I adore this backdrop, the colours are just so me! It was a particualry tight space so just for clarity this was shot on a 24mm and the benches have been Ai’d out of shot using photoshop.
Time to grab the dancing shoes or in my case the flip flops, ready for the insane sounds of The Dawn Republic. I’d successfully managed to cripple myself because I stupidly wear heels to every wedding. Blame my husband, if he took me out once in a blue moon and I had an excuse to dress up then I wouldn’t bother making half as much effort at work - lol. Anyway, flip flops safely on my feet, flashes rigged up to the bands sound system… go time. This was the first time in a few years I’d used OCF (off camera flash) In recent years I’d been sticking it on top of the camera and blinding everybody in my path. I made it my mission for 2024 to work on my flash dance floor shots and practise better lighting. Super happy how these came out. I had two canon 430iii on gorilla pods wrapped around the bands sounds system powered by another 430iii acting as a front flash and remote trigger.
So verdict on this new venue, absolutely beautiful, really easy to get to, shorter distance to get here than to a lot of Lake District venues. I love the decor and in particular that there’s lots of differently styled nooks and crannies to ensure a really diverse and colourful gallery gets delivered. Gorgeous theme, beautiful outdoor space and just overall a big tick from me.
Jo and Liam, thanks for making wedding number two a good one, you were supposed to be number one of the year but little old Olivia and Chris snuck in at the start of January. Thank you for asking me and I can’t wait to crack on with the rest of your gallery, deffo can’t wait to use Ai again (proper made my Monday a lot cheerier)
Shot on Canon R5, 85, 50, 35, 24 & 16 RF , Canon 430iii speedlite x 4
Generative fill (Ai used on some images, LR Denoise and removal of background subjects)