What a venue. What a day. What a couple.
Jessica and Joshua’s wedding at Colshaw Hall was a belter from start to finish. It began quietly — the emotional morning preparations, the nerves, the last look in the mirror, all the serious wedding business — and finished with Joshua being launched about twenty feet into the air by his mates.
The atmosphere all day was unreal. Loads of laughs, plenty of questionable dance moves, and a crowd that knew exactly how to throw a party. From the moment the ceremony finished the place had that feel you cannot plan for and cannot fake, where everybody is genuinely up for it and nobody needs asking twice.
It was a real pleasure to be back photographing another wedding for this family. There is something different about walking into a room where you already know half the faces — even Will — and it shows in the photographs, because nobody is treating the camera as a stranger.
Colshaw Hall gave us everything a photographer could ask for: the Japanese Gardens and their little stone bridge, the lake and fountain, the long lawn in front of that red brick hall, and light through the tall windows all afternoon. We used most of it.
Here are a few highlights from an incredible day at one of Cheshire’s most stunning wedding venues.
Colshaw Hall sits on a 300-acre private estate at Over Peover, a few minutes outside Knutsford, and the whole thing is yours for the day. Exclusive use is the point of the place: one wedding at a time, no other party in the next room, no strangers wandering through your photographs.
The Hall itself is Grade II listed — red brick, tall mullioned windows, formal courtyard — and it anchors everything. Around it sit the ceremony room, the banqueting suite, the gardens and the accommodation, all within a short walk of one another, wrapped in Cheshire farmland.
This is a rare venue in that the pretty bits and the practical bits are the same bits. Ceremony, drinks, dinner and dancing all happen within a couple of minutes of each other, which means the day never stalls while a hundred and eighty people are moved somewhere else. That time goes into photographs instead.
The ceremony room, the Stables, has oak beams and a wall of light, so an aisle walk reads properly without me having to fight the room. The Peel Suite — the dining and party space — has huge windows down one side looking onto the Walled Garden, which is the difference between speeches that photograph well and speeches lit like a conference. And the estate is big enough that a July wedding and a January wedding look like two different venues rather than the same room twice.
Colshaw Hall has three gardens licensed for ceremonies — the Walled Garden, the Magnolia Garden and the Japanese Gardens — so an outdoor ceremony is a genuine option here rather than a maybe. It is worth asking the team what they can offer for your date and what the wet-weather plan looks like, because in Cheshire you want both answers before the morning of.
The Japanese Gardens are the ones people do not expect: a miniature lake, a stone bridge, and planting that changes completely with the season.
Confirm the exact numbers with the venue when you enquire, as room layouts and packages change.
Roughly how a Colshaw Hall day runs, based on photographing one here:
| From 09:30 | Getting ready on the estate — bridal party in one building, groom’s party in another |
| 12:30 | Guests arrive, drinks in the courtyard or the gardens if the weather allows |
| 13:00 | Ceremony |
| 13:40 | Confetti, then drinks reception |
| 14:15 | Group photographs — twenty minutes covers six or seven groups |
| 14:45 | Couple portraits around the gardens, twenty minutes is plenty |
| 16:00 | Wedding breakfast and speeches in the Peel Suite |
| 19:00 | Ten minutes outside for the golden-hour photographs, weather permitting |
| 19:45 | First dance, then the evening does what it wants |
Nothing about that is fixed — it is a guide for couples trying to work out whether they need eight hours or twelve.
Stocks Lane, Over Peover, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 8TW. It is around ten minutes from Knutsford, close to the M6, and roughly twenty minutes from Manchester Airport.
Yes. The estate is licensed for civil ceremonies indoors in the Stables and outdoors in three of the gardens, and the reception follows in the Peel Suite, so the whole day happens in one place with no travelling in between.
Yes. The Walled Garden, the Magnolia Garden and the Japanese Gardens are all licensed for ceremonies. Confirm what is available for your date and agree the wet-weather plan with the venue in advance.
Around 180 for a ceremony, roughly 160 seated for the wedding breakfast and 200-plus for the evening. The exact figure depends on the layout you choose, so check it with the venue.
Yes. The estate hosts one wedding at a time, so the grounds, the buildings and the gardens are yours for the day. It is the single biggest reason the photographs feel private rather than shared.
The front lawn with the Hall behind, the Japanese Gardens and their stone bridge, the Walled Garden, the lake and fountain, and the courtyard brickwork when the weather turns. The last hour before sunset on the lawn is the pick of them.
Yes. There are seven en-suite bedrooms in the Hall, plus courtyard cottages and lodges on the estate, taking the total to around 50 beds. It suits a wedding that runs into the following morning rather than ending at a taxi rank.
Yes, and it is worth doing. There is a dedicated space for hair and makeup and a separate one for the groom’s party, both with good window light, and it saves an hour of travel at the point in the day you least want it.
Budget from around £15,000 for a full day, with real weddings landing anywhere between roughly £8,000 and £30,000 depending on season, day of the week and numbers. Midweek and off-season dates are noticeably cheaper.
It holds up well. The Stables and the Peel Suite are genuinely photogenic rather than a compromise, and the brickwork and courtyard still work in poor light. Plan the couple portraits earlier — the light is gone by half three in December.
Venue — Colshaw Hall (@colshaw_hall_cheshire)
Ceremony — Your Ceremony (@yourceremony001)
Dress — Dotty Bridal (@dottybridal)
Bridesmaid dresses — Odd Muse London (@oddmuselondon)
Hair — Hair by Hannah Taylor (@hairbyhannahtaylor)
Makeup — Glam by Elizabeth Daisy (@glambyelizabethdaisy)
Jewellery — Dyson Jewellers of Holmfirth (@dysonjewellersofholmfirth)
Videographer — Yorkshire Folk (@yorkshirefolk)
DJ — Andy Murphy (@andy_murphydj)
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