Insole Court, Cardiff: The Venue Most People Drive Past
There's a gothic mansion in the middle of Llandaff that most people drive past without ever knowing it's there.
I photographed Jess and Jack's ceremony at Insole Court last year. I've got another wedding booked there in September. And I'm running my Just Us mini sessions in the grounds on the 14th of August, which tells you how I feel about the place.
The trees do half the work
There are enormous mature trees in the grounds, and the light comes down through them soft and green, and it is the single best thing about photographing there.
The best of Jess and Jack's portraits came from under those trees. Ten minutes. No direction from me at all. Just the two of them walking about talking to each other while I stayed out of the way.
If you're getting married at Insole Court and you only take one thing from this, take that: build ten minutes into your timeline to walk under the trees. Not for me. For you.
The stonework
Terraces, balustrades, an old stone arch in the grounds.
Insole Court photographs like a house that somebody actually lived in, because somebody actually did. It's an 1855 gothic mansion, Grade II* listed, and it has the slightly irregular, worn, lived-in quality that a purpose-built venue simply cannot fake.
Most venues photograph like venues: good function rooms with good chairs. This one doesn't, and if what you want is a record of your day rather than a set of arranged pictures, that matters enormously.
The steps
They walked down the steps through confetti, and it's the frame everyone remembers from the whole day.
It took about ninety seconds. Nobody had to stand still. That's usually how the best ones go.
The practical bits
It's in Llandaff, in the middle of Cardiff, which people find hard to believe until they're standing in it. The Llandaff Suite looks out over the rear lawns and gardens. There's a croquet lawn to the south of the mansion. And there's a small library on the first floor with a vaulted ceiling that holds about thirty, if what you want is something genuinely tiny.
Jess and Jack
They got ready at the Parkgate and married here. It was an Intimate collection, which means a shorter day, close family, no enormous production.
Jess said afterwards that I was "such a vibe the whole day", which is possibly my favourite thing anyone has said about my work, because it has nothing whatever to do with photographs. She said I kept things light, made them laugh, and never made it feel like they were being dragged away from their families and guests for too long.
That's the job. That's genuinely what I think I'm being paid to do.
If Insole Court is on your list
Getting married there? Tell me your date through the contact page and I'll check it. I'd love to go back.
And if you'd simply like twenty minutes in those grounds with the person you love, my Just Us mini sessions run there on Friday the 14th of August. Maybe there's a wedding on the horizon and you'd like to get used to being photographed together first. Maybe you're marking an anniversary. Or maybe you've got hundreds of photographs of the children and hardly any of the two of you.
£95, five fully edited images, and around £28 to book. The booking page will tell you what's left.
