Gilbert White’s House: A relaxed, LGBTQ+ friendly and alternative wedding barn in Selborne

If you're looking for a Gilbert White’s wedding photographer in Hampshire who loves colourful weddings, big feelings, excellent food and a dancefloor that gets progressively more chaotic as the evening goes on, hello.

Gill and Harriet got married in the August sunshine at the gorgeous barn on the Gilbert White’s & Oates Collection grounds, and honestly, what a bloody lovely day it was.

Bright boho styling, happy tears, ridiculous amounts of laughter, Hobbit-inspired table names, competitive croquet, delicious vegetarian catering and one absolutely cracking dancefloor.

A relaxed Hampshire barn wedding

Gilbert White’s is a gorgeous setting for an affordable relaxed barn wedding. The historic building, countryside surroundings and incredible view of the trees make it a brilliant spot for couples who want somewhere special without everything feeling too formal. There’s space for kids to roam safely and it just has a great vibe about it.

Gill and Harriet made it their own with bright, boho styling that felt fresh, relaxed and soft. The tables were named after Hobbit characters and places, which is a pretty solid way to win me over…

From the moment we started talking, Gill and Harriet were SO kind. They explained that the most likely candidates for crying and drink spilling were the two of them, and by the beginning of the ceremony it was already playing out. Gill had to do one of those slow breaths out after walking up the aisle with her Dad to wait for Harriet… She wore this INSANELY COOL jumpsuit with an overskirt, and Harriet had the most etherial, whimsy vibed lace dress.

After their ceremony (complete with readings from their special pals), we emerged to the rolling treetops outside the barn for the most epic confetti tunnel.

Garden games outside the barn

After the most uproarous confetti hollering, the energy didn’t dip. We entered into what can only be described as competitive croquet on one side, draughts and wooden bowling on the other. Seeing folks spilled out on the lawn instead of cooped up being sheperded from room to room is one of the great bits about having such a relaxed wedding. Obviously it works really well when the weather holds, but then I’ve never minded a bit of rain to get people dashing about either… ANYWAY! The vibes here were elite, cuddly and funny and just… lovely.

On a wedding day generally I like to min/max the amount of time folks are spending having their pictures taken - and it was no different with these two. Planning the confetti and group shots around the timeline for (delicious vegetarian) food means that people can have the maximum fun and chat time without pausing to be barked at by a bossy photographer…
Instead, we snuck off to have some intimate, fun and whimsical couple photos while everyone was gathering for speeches and the wedding breakfast, meaning Harriet and Gill didn’t spend any meaningful time away from their guests to get these. Bosh! Efficiency.

As always with speeches, I found it hard not to get a bit emosh. I get so invested in people’s stories and their loved ones that sometimes I do tear up a bit… these were no different but there’s nothing like passing around childhood photos to break the emotion and generalte a ripple of titters that turned into belly laughs.

Good food, good people, good vibes

The food was another definite highlight. There was some seriously delicious vegetarian catering, which went down very well with the guests and was a refreshing reminder that wedding food does not need to involve a suspicious chicken breast and three roast potatoes.

There was plenty of eating, drinking, chatting and generally making the most of being together. It wasn't just about the ceremony or the photographs or any of the traditional wedding stuff. It was about getting a load of people who love these two into one place and letting them have a really bloody good time.

And then the dancefloor happened

By the evening, everyone was nicely warmed up and ready to get involved. And involved they got.. the dancefloor was excellent.

There was proper commitment to the dancing, plenty of questionable moves and exactly the sort of atmosphere you hope for when you've spent months planning a wedding. At some point, all the sensible daytime behaviour disappeared and everyone was just having it. Hysterical, and I cannot help but join in literally every damn time.

I mean, just look at some of these shapes!

If you’re planning a relaxed, festival styled wedding in a barn in Hampshire, maybe even at Gilbert White’s House I’d love to hear from you. I’m super LGBTQ+ friendly, very happy telling the story of the day and not getting bogged down in the weeds of having pictures last for ages, and I’m a pro dancer and hype woman.

Anyway, shall we?

Venue: Gilbert White’s House and Oates Collection
Flowers: Kemlo and Kemlo
Cake: Boston Mills Bakery
Catering: Vegivores