Orchardleigh House Wedding Photographer
Natural, documentary wedding photography by Patrick Newnham
Orchardleigh House is the stately home at the heart of a five-hundred-acre estate two miles north of Frome, built in 1856 and run today as one of the big exclusive-use wedding venues in the South West: ceremonies in the house or outside in the grounds, or in one of the two churches on the estate, including the island church of St Mary’s standing in its lake. There are seventy bedrooms across the house and the lodges, a restaurant for the night before and weddings that run over one, two, three or four days. I photographed a November wedding here, with the park bare and gold and the house warm inside.
For a photographer it’s a place of scale: the long drive, the lake, the parkland and the golf course give you the wide shots, and the house, with its hall and staircase and panelled rooms, gives you the close ones. The island church is the picture everyone wants if they marry there, and the walk back across the causeway with the house in the distance is one of the best in Somerset. It’s a venue that suits big weddings and winter weddings particularly well.
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 Orchardleigh
Size. Sixty to two hundred and fifty, with the house licensed for ceremonies of up to a hundred and forty-four. Light. The park is open and the house faces south, so the terrace side keeps the sun; in winter the light across the lake at three o’clock is the moment. Churches. St Mary’s on the island and All Saints at Lullington are both on the estate; both are a short drive or a longer walk from the house, and I’ll plan the move. Travel. Two hours from Exmoor and still Somerset, so nothing to add; see the Bath and Bristol page.
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.
