Highclere Castle wedding of Sam and Ian

About Highclere Castle

Highclere Castle is best known as the real-life setting of Downton Abbey, but long before television crews arrived it was already one of England’s most dramatic country houses. The Jacobean-style mansion was redesigned in the 1840s by Sir Charles Barry — the architect of the Houses of Parliament — and sits in 1,000 acres of Capability Brown parkland on the Hampshire–Berkshire border.

Shooting at a castle is about making the most of the location without letting it overwhelm the couple. The stone walls, towers and grounds are a gift to a photographer, but the strongest images tend to be the ones where the building is a backdrop rather than the subject. I spend the day working with the light and architecture together.