A stunning barn; beautiful location; amazing food; accommodation on site: Cooling Castle Barn is the perfect setting for your wedding. 

Now we are opening up the venue for a very special Open Day – where you can take a look around the venue for yourself, enjoy our hospitality, get introduced to the team and meet a host of our recommended suppliers. 

If you are hoping to get married in 2023 or 2024, this is the perfect time to wander around the venue and grounds to get a feel of the place. You can take a look at our new outdoor cooking area, all ready for an amazing evening feast and enjoy our new rose garden area and secret garden. You can admire our stunning duplex master suite, with roll top bath; be shown around the beautiful suite where the bride and bridesmaids can get ready; and take in the picturesque surroundings. 

Many of our recommended suppliers – from cake designers to florists and dress fitters to photographers - will be on hand, so you can meet them and take a look at what they do best. 

Our Open Day takes place on Sunday, 15 May and is by appointment only. Due to limited space, each slot is for one car and lasts 90 minutes. 

To book your space and find out more, take a look at the website and follow the link here. 

Hurry, because spaces are filling quickly! 

If there’s one thing most married couples agree on, it’s that the wedding day itself whizzes by in a blur.

Attending to your guests; worrying about dresses or speeches; accepting a drink or three from long-lost relatives at the bar; there’s rarely a moment to pause and take it all in.

That’s why getting the right wedding photographer is so important. They are there to capture all those special moments that you can then cherish for the rest of your life.

At Cooling Castle Barn, we have two trusted photographers on our recommended suppliers’ list. Here, we find out what makes them tick as they share some of their favourite snaps taken at our Cooling weddings from over the years.

Dan Potter from Dan Potter Photography (gallery above) has been a recommended supplier at Cooling Castle Barn for more than eight years.

On wedding photography…

“I love my job – it’s great being around happy occasions. It’s the best day of a couple’s lives so far, so it’s a great atmosphere and you know everyone is going to be having a good time.

“You know couples are going to keep these photographs forever – it’s a lasting memory - so it’s special to be part of it.

 “I’ve had some great word of mouth jobs – I did the photography for three sisters at different places over a number of years, it’s lovely to be able to do a job for the whole family.” 

On what makes a good shot..

“A good wedding shot needs great light, great composition, but most importantly, it needs a little bit of emotion. You can have great light and great composition and a good photo, but if you have the emotion you have a story in that photo. You need to get to know your couple and I find the photos with with emotion are always the keepers.”

On Cooling Castle Barn…

“I like the different seasons at the Barn and there are different spots within the grounds and outside that are great at different times of year. There’s great blossom in the spring; you have the hay bales in the surrounding fields in the late summer; colourful trees in the autumn; and sometimes snow in the winter. There are so many different spots that you can use.

“Cooling Castle Barn is a well-oiled machine. The staff are great. I feel at home there. I’ve been recommended for quite a while and know a lot of the staff to speak to which makes your day easier. Communication is great, so I’m always kept informed if anything is going behind schedule - which it very rarely is!”

Nicky Tulip at Nicky’s Photography has been a recommended supplier at Cooling Castle Barn for 15 years.

On wedding photography…

"It’s hard work, but an amazing job. The pressure is immense, it’s the most important day of someone’s life. But I love it when I see a moment and know that I’ve got it. You look through the lens and know that it’s really special, but the couple won’t see it until later.

“Building a relationship up with a couple and being part of their journey is such a lovely thing.”

On what makes a good shot…

“I offer a pre-shoot for Cooling couples as I want to get to know them before the day.  They are generally more relaxed if they do this. They can then get to know me as well - but I like to know their story.  

“There are some couples who are adventurous and you get to see that in the pre-shoot, they may do some running or climbing trees and things like that. Others are more nervous, so we have to build up to the photos, I might ask them to go for a walk together and get the long-lens on.”

On Cooling Castle Barn… 

“Cooling is a second home to me. I know the space, I know the light and where and when I can use it. It runs so well and I’m trusted as a supplier there, they can let me get on with what I need to do. 

“It makes it easier to work with everyone when they know you. That makes a good venue on the whole - where everyone comes together for this special occasion and it all runs like clock work.”

We love a good cake here at Cooling Castle Barn. But while we eat it with gusto, we leave the baking and creative side to the experts.

With decades in the wedding industry, we know what makes the perfect wedding. And a show-stopping cake is definitely up there! It’s why only a select few businesses make it onto our recommended suppliers’ list.

Here we asked three cake suppliers from our fab list to pick out their favourite creation.

Sue Pridie, from All Shapes & Slices Cake Co picked this buttercream iced cake as her favourite. It had a red velvet tier, a vanilla sponge tier and two dummy tiers to reduce servings. It served 50 slices, but would have served 130 slices had all tiers been edible.

She said: “I love this cake because four-tier wedding cakes are my favourite size for making a real impact at a venue. I created this cake in May 2021 when weddings were still under government restrictions, but my couple Alannah and Matt didn’t want to reduce the cake size that they had their hearts set on.

“It was the first multi-tiered cake that I had made in such a long time and the flowers that Floral Explosion provided were absolutely perfect for creating the delicate floral cascade on this design.”

Photograph by Rebecca Carpenter Photography

Chelsea Prior from Chelsea Buns Cake Design picked this stunning cake made up of rich chocolate, white chocolate and passion fruit and lemon tiers.

She said: “As a specialist in handcrafted sugar flowers, this cake is one of my all-time favourites. The beautiful, botanically correct sugar flowers are the focal point of this design and had people guessing if they were in fact real! The flowers alone were about two days’ work, as every individual petal is rolled, cut and shaped by hand. 

“I can recreate any flowers in sugar, meaning that my couples can have everlasting flowers as a memento from their wedding day. Creating beautiful wedding cakes with amazing sugar flowers is my favourite thing to do.”

Jeyda Ali from Jey’s Heavenly Events picked out this display which includes a four-tier main cake, three single tiers, 40 brownies, 48 cupcakes, 40 mini cakes and 40 personalised cookies. It took her two days to bake and design and an hour and a half to set-up!

She said: “This is my favourite set-up as its unique to Jey's Heavenly Events and brings the ‘wow factor’ into a couple’s big day. I love extravagant displays and this is definitely one! They can be altered to fit any theme!” 

Has the pandemic changed what we look for in a wedding? 

With families and friends unable to meet in large groups for months – or even, years – we are seeing more couples looking for a more relaxed wedding vibe. 

The special day is still about two people showing their commitment to one another, but an important factor has also become about getting everyone together: the chance to kick-back, catch-up and mingle all day with loved ones.

That’s why we have spent time designing an amazing outside space for couples and guests to enjoy throughout the day - and evening.

After the wedding and sumptuous wedding feast, we have paid special attention to our outdoor grill area for the evening time.  We offer lots of different options for your evening menu, the majority completely included in the price. Think Hog roast, a BBQ, Mexican, Indian, buffet, or piping hot pizza straight out of the outdoor oven – whatever you choose, you can be sure that your evening guests will be as well fed as the guests that have been with you all day. Even better, if the weather is good, you can enjoy the food, drink, company and ambience on the stunning patio and garden area, too!

And when everyone has caught up and eaten well, the memories will live long into the future.

Take a look at some of our latest photos showing our outdoor grill area being put to good use!

For more information on all our fantastic wedding options, follow the link here

Trying to get your dress on in a cramped bedroom; clothes and make-up scattered all over the place; worrying about getting to the wedding on time. Stop! At Cooling Castle Barn, we make sure the most special day of your life gets off to the perfect start. 

Our stunning Mote House bridal suite gives you your own beautiful space to get ready on your wedding day. 

Have your breakfast in peace and some ‘bubbles’ in our serene surroundings. Get ready, pampered and photographed in style!

Everything has been thought of to make sure your day begins in the best possible way.

From 8am, you can bring along your hairdresser and make-up artist to help you get ready in the large dressing room. If you don’t fancy that, take your closest family and friends for a spot of breakfast or some bubbles.

If the weather is nice you can sit on the balcony and enjoy views over the countryside.  The master bedroom comes with a beautiful free-standing bath if you want a relaxing soak, first. 

For the end of the evening, there’s even a separate living room area if you want to put your feet up at the end of the night - you can always invite a few close friends or family members back for a nightcap or a coffee and chat.

The master bedroom has a lovely comfy sleigh bed and a deep cast iron double-ended, free-standing bath should you want to relax before bed. Everything you need to round off the night in the most romantic way possible.

Take a look at some of our latest photos of the dressing room area and click here for more details