Knockerdown Wedding Village
A Photographer’s Guide

Knockerdown Wedding Village is a wedding venue made from a cluster of holiday cottages near Carsington Water, just outside Ashbourne in Derbyshire. You don’t hire it for a day. You hire the whole place for a weekend, with your guests staying on site in the cottages.

Twig & Vine photographed a July wedding here. I was photographing another wedding that day, so my associate photographer, Kathryn Edwards, covered it for me.

I only hand a wedding to an associate in an emergency, such as serious illness, so when you book Twig & Vine, you get me. If it ever does happen, I’ll tell you straight away and offer you my associate. The choice is always yours: go ahead with them, or find another photographer if you’d rather.

If you go ahead with my associate, I stay your contact all the way up to the wedding. My associate photographs the day in my style, and afterwards I cull and edit every image myself, so your gallery has my signature look.

The photos on this page are from that day. Kathryn took them, and I culled and edited every one.

This guide covers how a Knockerdown weekend works, the outdoor gazebo ceremony, where the best photos come from, and what to think about when you plan your photography at a venue where you bring in every supplier yourself.

Knockerdown Wedding Village at a glance

The venue also trades as Knockerdown Cottages and Knockerdown Wedding & Events Venue, so you may see all three names in your search.

How a Knockerdown wedding weekend works

Knockerdown is a weekend venue, not a one-day hire. Everyone arrives on the Friday, the wedding is usually on the Saturday, and you all leave on the Monday morning.

Friday. You and your guests arrive and settle into the cottages. Most couples spend the afternoon decorating the Brackendale Suite and the gazebo with family and friends.

Saturday. The wedding day. Getting ready happens in the cottages, a short walk from the ceremony, so there’s no driving between locations.

Sunday. A slower day together. Couples often host a BBQ in the meadow, and guests use the pool and games room.

Monday. Check-out is at 10am.

Because it’s DIY, you choose every supplier: caterer, bar, flowers, lighting, furniture and music. The couple in the wedding below hired in festoon lighting and trestle tables, and the bride baked and decorated the cake herself. That freedom is the main reason couples pick Knockerdown, but it also means more planning than at an all-inclusive venue.

The venue has its own wedding coordinator. The couple below said the planning felt easy because the coordinator, Fiona, was on top of every detail.

The ceremony: gazebo or Brackendale Suite

You can marry outdoors under the oak-framed garden gazebo or indoors in the Brackendale Suite. Both are licensed for civil ceremonies.

The gazebo. This is the one most couples want. It sits on the lawn with open countryside beyond, and guests sit on the grass in rows either side of the aisle. In our July wedding, the bride walked down a grass aisle with her dad and bridesmaids, and the couple left under a cloud of confetti straight up the same aisle.

A few things to plan for, from a photographer’s side:

• Midday sun. On a bright summer day, a ceremony around noon means strong overhead light. The gazebo shades you two, but your guests sit in full sun. A mid-afternoon ceremony gives softer light and more comfortable guests.
• Rain. An outdoor ceremony is always weather dependent. Our couple planned for outside and kept the indoor option ready. Decide with the coordinator when the call gets made, so your photographer and celebrant know too.
• Confetti. It’s biodegradable only, so buy it early. The grass aisle makes a great confetti run.

The Brackendale Suite. The indoor room has large windows on two sides with views over the Peak District countryside. That window light is what you want indoors. The same room turns around for the wedding breakfast and evening, and the Brackendale Terrace outside is a popular spot for drinks.

Where the best photos come from

Knockerdown packs a lot of variety into a small site, and nothing is more than a few minutes’ walk away. These are the spots used on the day.

• The red-brick buildings. Warm brick walls and stone paving give a clean, textured backdrop for couple portraits. The bride’s first look with her dad happened outside here too.
• Stone doorways. The old stone doorways suit relaxed groomsmen shots, and they frame people well without much setting up.
• The lawn under the trees. The big trees by the lawn give open shade for group photos, which keeps faces even and stops everyone squinting on a bright day.
• The field fence and countryside views. Walk to the edge of the site for wide, open views across the Derbyshire hills. This is where the most relaxed couple portraits came from.
• The reception room at night. With festoon lights and fairy lights hired in, the Brackendale Suite turns warm and glowing for the first dance and the band.

One big group shot of everyone works well on the lawn, with the photographer raised up a little. Allow ten minutes and a confident voice to gather everyone from the cottages.

The couple also brought coloured smoke bombs for a few portraits in the open field. If you want smoke, use it outside, away from the cottages, and check with the venue first.

Planning your photography at a DIY weekend venue

At a venue like Knockerdown, your photographer sees the whole day unfold in one place, so a little planning goes a long way.

• Book a full day. Getting ready, the ceremony, groups, portraits, the meal and the first dance all happen on site. Our couple’s photographer arrived at 10am and stayed through to the first dance at 7pm. Full-day coverage starts at £2,000.
• Tell your photographer where to meet. Cottages look alike. Our couple named an exact meeting point (the gate from the venue into the car park), which saved time on the morning.
• Send a group shot list. With up to 93 guests staying on site, people drift between cottages. A list means groups take minutes, not half an hour. Here’s how to plan relaxed group photos.
• Feed your photographer. At a self-catering venue, tell your caterer how many supplier meals you need.
• Plan the light. Golden hour in July is late in the evening. If you want sunset portraits by the field fence, slip out for ten minutes after the first dance.
• Think about the weekend. Friday decorating and the Sunday BBQ are part of the story at Knockerdown. If you want any of it photographed, ask early.

Our couple’s advice to others was simple: don’t sweat the small details, because on the day you won’t notice them. The festoon installers left a ladder on the terrace, and guests ended up hanging their jackets on it. The couple only spotted it in the photos, and now they find it funny. They also said they were glad they booked both a photographer and a videographer.

A July wedding at Knockerdown

This wedding took place in July 2021, photographed for Twig & Vine by Kathryn Edwards.

The couple had known each other since secondary school. They planned every detail themselves, from hand-made jewellery for the wedding party to the cake the bride baked and iced.

Then Covid restrictions changed two weeks before the day, and they had to cut their guest list by around 60%. The day still felt full: a sunny outdoor ceremony at the gazebo, groomsmen in kilts and bridesmaids in navy, and a live band once the formal parts were done.

For the bride, the most memorable moment was walking down the aisle with her dad and bridesmaids. For both of them, the best part came later, when they could relax, have a drink and dance.

The flowers were their favourite detail. They sat along the trestle tables under the festoon lights and pulled the whole look together.

Neither of them felt natural in front of the camera at first. Their engagement shoot helped, and by the wedding day they looked far more at ease than they expected.

Suppliers

Knockerdown wedding FAQs

Getting married at Knockerdown?

I’ve been photographing weddings since 2006, seven days a week.
If you’d like to check my availability, get in touch, or we can arrange a relaxed chat about your plans.

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