Register Office Wedding Photographer
Notes from a wedding photographer based on Exmoor
A register office wedding is often the most honest kind: twenty people in a room, a short ceremony that means exactly what it says, and then the rest of the day somewhere you love. I’ve photographed register office and small civil ceremonies across Somerset and Devon, including at the Somerset Registration Service in the Municipal Buildings in Taunton, and I’d far rather photograph a real, small wedding well than a big one badly. I’m based on Exmoor and the register offices at Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Exeter, Tiverton and Barnstaple are all within an hour or so.
The trick with a register office is to treat it as a proper wedding, because it is one. I’ll be there for the arrival, the ceremony, the signing and the walk out, which is usually the most joyful thirty seconds of the day, and then I’ll come with you to the pub, the restaurant, the garden or wherever the party is. Two or three hours of coverage is often enough; a full day is lovely if the celebration goes on.
Making the most of a short ceremony
Register office rooms vary from handsome to plain, and the light in them is rarely good, so I work without flash, close in and quietly, and I concentrate on faces: the two of you, your witnesses, your parents. Afterwards, ten minutes outside in the nearest good light, a park or a street or a churchyard, gives you the portraits, and the rest of the day gives you everything else. Taunton has Vivary Park and the river five minutes from the Municipal Buildings; Exeter has the cathedral close and the quay; Barnstaple has the Square and the river; Yeovil has Ninesprings. I know where the light goes in each of them.
Small civil weddings in pictures
Register offices and civil ceremony rooms I cover
- Somerset Registration Service: Taunton (Municipal Buildings), Yeovil, Bridgwater, Frome and Wells.
- Devon Registration Service: Exeter (Larkbeare House), Tiverton, Barnstaple and Newton Abbot.
- Licensed rooms in hotels, pubs and houses, where the registrar comes to you; see small and intimate weddings and Exmoor elopements.
Good to know
Photography during the ceremony. Registrars decide; most allow it without flash from a fixed spot, which is how I work anyway, and I’ll check beforehand. Timings. Register office slots are short and strict; I’ll be early. Coverage. I offer shorter coverage for register office weddings; ask and I’ll tell you what fits your day.
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.
