People are nervous about booking a winter wedding, and the reason is almost always the light. It gets dark at four. You will not get any nice photos. I hear it constantly, and it is the wrong way round.

Suzy and David got married at Colshaw Hall on 28 December 2025, three days after Christmas, with 70 people for the day and more arriving in the evening. The venue was still fully dressed for Christmas, which meant garlands the size of small cars, a wreath arch you could stand inside, and about four hundred thousand fairy lights already up and paid for. All I had to do was turn up and use them.

If you have not been, Colshaw Hall sits in the middle of the Cheshire countryside at Over Peover, just outside Knutsford. Red brick hall, its own Ceremony Hall across the courtyard, lawns that run off towards nothing in every direction. It is a good looking venue in June. Decorated for Christmas and lit up against a black sky, it is something else entirely.

The morning

Suzy started in the bridal lodge and moved over to the main house at 11am with her mum, seven bridesmaids and her little boy Archie. The pyjamas were personalised, the gifts were being opened at speed, and the noise level was exactly right.

Hair by Megan, makeup by Jessica Mae Mooney, and a bottle of perfume on the dressing table with Mrs Barton on the side of it, which I thought was a lovely touch and also very confident of her.

Her mum on the floor doing her shoes up while Suzy sat by the fire is one of those two minutes that nobody plans and everybody remembers.

Seven bridesmaids, all in navy, all carrying white and green winter bouquets, and not one of them looking like they had been told what to wear. Suzy's dress was lace, fitted, with a train that behaved itself all day right up until the dancefloor.

Archie in a tiny navy waistcoat. That is the whole caption. There is nothing to add.

Meanwhile David was in The Den with Greg and the groomsmen, doing what men do in the two hours before a wedding, which is drink one drink very slowly and check the time a lot.

The ceremony

Two o'clock in the Ceremony Hall, candles the whole length of the aisle, floral pillars taller than most of the guests.

Look at the pair of them. Not a nerve between them, just two people who were extremely ready to get on with it. There is a particular kind of calm you get from couples who already have a child together, and Suzy and David had it in bucketloads. The ceremony was short, warm and funny, and it was done well before anyone got cold.

Confetti, in December

Twenty five past two and outside for confetti, which in late December is a brave scheduling decision and one I fully support. It held off. It was cold and bright, everybody threw everything they had, and nobody hung about afterwards discussing whether it had gone well.

Everybody, all at once

With 70 people you can do something you cannot do at a big wedding, which is get every single guest in one photo without it taking half an hour. So we did.

Her dad, eyes shut, holding on. I did not say a word, I just kept shooting.

Dark by four, and that is the point

Here is the bit I actually want you to look at.

In June you wait until half nine for anything interesting to happen in the sky, and by then half your guests have wandered off and the bride has taken her shoes off. In December the good light turns up while everyone is still on their second drink, and then the dark arrives, and the dark is where the fun starts.

Every one of these was lit. That is the bit people miss when they worry about a winter date. Darkness is not something that happens to you, it is a backdrop you get handed for free, and a venue like Colshaw Hall in full Christmas dress is about as good a backdrop as I get given all year. Ten minutes outside, in the cold, in a coat between shots. That is all it took.

Four photographs, all taken after sunset, none of which would exist in July.

Speeches first, then dinner

Suzy and David did their speeches before the meal rather than after it, which is the single kindest thing you can do for the people giving them. Nobody sat through three courses with a folded piece of paper in their pocket, and everybody actually enjoyed their dinner. More couples should do this.

Barretts fed everyone, the room turned around while people retired to the bar, and by quarter past seven the evening guests were in and Colshaw Hall got loud. Craig Elliot on piano and vocals, The DFC Experience on the decks after him, and a dancefloor that filled at eight o'clock and did not clear again.

The father daughter dance at half nine, in matching heart shaped sunglasses. I have no notes.

Carriages at half twelve, and a good number of people looked like they had properly earned it.

Suzy and David, thank you. You had a baby, a Christmas and a wedding inside about a week of each other and you still spent the whole day looking delighted about all three. That comes through in every single frame.

If you are sitting on a December date and worrying about the light, book it. The light is not the problem. The light is the reason.

With huge thanks to

• Venue: Colshaw Hall
• Makeup: @jmmx
• Hair: @megan_hairstylistx
• Flowers: @floraldecoratcolshawhall
• Florist and event styling: @tillysofdavenham
• Catering: @barretts_event_caterers
• Pianist and vocalist: @craigelliotuk
• Illustration: @littlebethillustration
• Content creation: @floraliemoments
• DJ: @thedfcexperience
• Invitations: @byinvitationly

Thinking about a winter wedding at Colshaw Hall, or anywhere else in Cheshire? Get in touch and tell me your date. I would love to hear about it.