Winter Wedding Photographer, Somerset & Devon
Notes from a wedding photographer based on Exmoor
Winter weddings are my quiet favourite. I’ve photographed December weddings at St Audries Park, at Eggbeer Farm on the edge of Dartmoor, at Lincoln’s Inn in London and at the register office in Taunton, a November wedding at Orchardleigh and another at Bridwell Park, and a February wedding at Merley House in Dorset. Short days, low sun, fires lit by four o’clock, and a different kind of light from anything the summer offers.
The documentary approach suits winter particularly well. With the light gone by half past four there’s no long golden-hour session to build the day around, so the photographs come from inside: the getting ready by lamplight, the ceremony with the candles, the long dinner, the dancing. I work without flash wherever I can, by windows and fires and fairy lights, which is why my winter galleries look warm rather than lit.
Planning the light in winter
The one thing I’ll ask of a winter wedding is a ceremony early enough to leave half an hour of daylight afterwards. A one o’clock ceremony gives us the confetti and the portraits in the best light of the day, around two or three, when the sun is low and gold; a three o’clock ceremony means portraits by candlelight, which can be beautiful but is a different picture. If the forecast is dreadful, winter rain at a country house is nothing to fear; see wet-weather weddings.
Winter weddings in pictures
Lincoln’s Inn in December, St Audries Park, and the evenings at Brympton House and Humber Barn.
Good winter venues in the West Country
- St Audries Park: a house built for firelight, with the chapel for the ceremony.
- Orchardleigh House and Brympton House: big houses with big fires.
- Eggbeer Farm, Humber Barn and the Cider Barn: barns that come into their own in the dark.
- Knowle Manor and Northmoor House on Exmoor, where a December day can be sharp, clear and empty.
- Dunster by Candlelight, in early December, if you marry in Dunster.
Good to know
Sunset. About four o’clock in December in Somerset; I’ll give you the exact time for your date. Coats. Ten minutes outside is enough for the portraits; bring something warm and I’ll be quick. Availability. Winter dates are easier to get, and I enjoy them, so ask.
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.
