A photographer's planning guide to weddings at Brockholes nature reserve, Samlesbury, near Preston.
Brockholes is a nature reserve beside junction 31 of the M6 at Samlesbury, run by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside and open to the public since Easter 2011. Weddings happen in its floating visitor village, where the Meadow Lake Suite holds up to 150 and the Kestrel Kitchen up to 200, or you can take the whole village for exclusive use. I'm Tom Carter, a Lancashire wedding photographer based in Leyland, fifteen minutes down the road. Full day coverage is £1,063, half day £623, all edited images included and with you inside six weeks.
The village genuinely floats. Adam Khan Architects designed 1,440 square metres of buildings to sit on a 2,400 square metre pontoon two metres deep, because the whole site lies in the River Ribble floodplain. It won a RIBA National Award and RIBA North West Building of the Year in 2012 and carries a BREEAM Outstanding rating. None of that is trivia when you are photographing there.
Put a glass and timber building on a lake and you change where light comes from. Most venues light faces from above, which drops shadows into eye sockets. Here, a large part of the light arrives having bounced off water first, so it comes upwards and sideways through the glazing, filling exactly the shadows that usually need a reflector. On a bright day you also get rippled light moving across timber ceilings, which is one of the loveliest backgrounds in any Lancashire venue.
The trade-off is contrast. Big windows against a dim interior make a hard exposure, and a couple with their backs to the glass will be a silhouette unless it is handled deliberately. I work at an angle to the windows, expose for skin, and accept a bright view behind rather than losing faces to keep it.
First, it is a public reserve, not a private estate. Other visitors will be walking the trails on your wedding day, so I plan portraits away from the main routes and at times when the car park is quietest, which usually means before eleven or after four.
Second, drones are out. The Trust's own policy says drones are not allowed as a general rule and that ad-hoc requests are declined, because of disturbance to breeding wading birds. That is a firm conservation position, not a negotiable house rule.
Third, the ground is the point. The Trust's wedding pages name the banks of the River Ribble, the ancient woodland and the boardwalk over Meadow Lake as photo spots, and those three cover water, trees and open sky within a short walk. I keep to boardwalks and paths; a wedding party trampling a reedbed is not a good look for anyone.
Wet weather is the one thing to think hard about, because the outdoor spaces are open and there is no covered courtyard to retreat to. The suites are glazed enough to carry the day on their own, and honestly, a low grey sky over reedbeds and water photographs beautifully. More on how I work, or send your date over.
The Wildlife Trust lists two: the Meadow Lake Suite, for up to 150, and the Kestrel Kitchen, for up to 200. A whole village hire takes both plus the activity centre, giving exclusive use of the buildings and outdoor spaces, and includes 80 limewash chiavari chairs, linens and place settings.
No. The Lancashire Wildlife Trust's published drone policy states that drones are not allowed at Brockholes as a general rule, and that ad-hoc requests are declined, because of disturbance to the wading birds the reserve exists to protect. If aerial footage matters to you, this is not the venue for it.
The Trust's own wedding pages name three: the banks of the River Ribble, the ancient woodland, and the boardwalk over Meadow Lake. The boardwalk is the obvious one and genuinely good, because water throws light back up under the chin. This is a working reserve, so I keep to paths.
There is no accommodation on the reserve, so guests stay in Preston or nearby and travel in. The reserve's standard visitor car park charge is £6 for the day, payable by card or app; whether that applies to a wedding party is worth confirming with the events team when you book.
The venue's wedding brochure sets out an evening running order with setup at 5pm, guests from 6pm and the event concluding at midnight. Plan any last-dance or send-off pictures well before then rather than assuming an extra hour.
Yes. Brockholes is close to home, just off the M6 near Preston. A full day is £1,063 and a half day around four hours £623, every edited image included and delivered within six weeks.
Either way, send me the date. I will tell you what I would do with it, whether or not you book me.
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