Sandy Cove Hotel Wedding Photographer
Natural, documentary wedding photography by Patrick Newnham
The Sandy Cove Hotel sits on the cliff top at Berrynarbor, on the Old Coast Road between Ilfracombe and Combe Martin, with the sea deck running the full length of the building and the whole of Combe Martin Bay and the Hangman cliffs laid out in front of it. I’ve photographed three weddings here, in August, September and October, which is a fair sample of what the North Devon coast can do in a single season.
The ceremony is usually in the cliff-top gazebo or inside with the windows behind you, and either way the sea is in the photographs. The Sky Walk, the counterbalanced platform that swings out over the drop, is the thing every couple asks about, and it does make a picture that no other venue in Devon can match. The deck is where the drinks reception and the group photographs happen, with the bay as the background, and the evening comes inside as the light goes. It’s a big, well-run hotel, so the day flows, and the staff know where a photographer wants to be.
How I photograph a wedding
Documentary first. I don’t run the day or stage it; I pay attention to it, and I keep the formal part to ten minutes of group photographs and twenty minutes of portraits in the best light we can find. Natural light, no flash during ceremonies, and editing that will still look right in twenty years. I take a limited number of weddings a year, which is partly how I get to give each one my full attention.
Good to know about the Sandy Cove
Weather. It’s a cliff top on the Bristol Channel and the wind is part of the deal; I’ll find the sheltered side for the portraits and let the hair do what it wants for the rest. Light. The coast faces north-east here, so the deck is softly lit through the afternoon and the sunset lands behind you on the hills rather than on the sea; the colour is in the sky and on the water for a good half hour after. Space. Ceremonies for up to two hundred and sit-down meals for well over a hundred, so it suits big weddings as well as small ones. Getting there. Fifty minutes from my house over Exmoor; the Barnstaple page covers the rest of North Devon.
Taking a limited number of weddings for 2027 and 2028
If my way of working sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love to hear about your plans. Drop me a line with your date and venue and I’ll tell you straight away whether I’m free.
