Sarah and Josh | A Clevedon Hall Wedding

Sarah & Josh

Clevedon Hall · North Somerset

A Documentary Wedding Story

A Grade II listed Victorian mansion on the North Somerset coast, a walk down the grand oak staircase, dinner in the library and a dance floor that filled in ninety seconds and never emptied.

The Morning at Clevedon Hall

Clevedon Hall gives you the whole house for the day, which changes how a morning feels. Nobody is driving anywhere, nobody is watching the clock. Sarah got ready upstairs with her bridesmaids and the light coming through those tall sash windows, and Josh and his groomsmen were somewhere down the corridor doing the same thing rather badly.

Sarah and Josh’s day was a little different for me. Their original photographer had to hand the wedding over at short notice, so I came in with only a brief window to get to know them. We leaned into that: no plan, no shot list, just staying close and letting the day happen. As it turned out, that was exactly the right way to photograph these two.

Her dad came in near the end and stopped in the doorway with a drink in his hand and nothing at all to say. That frame is one of my favourites from the whole day.

Thank you for being so incredible on the day. I can’t tell you how much it meant, and even when I was getting ready and things were getting tense you were there making me laugh. I think it played a huge part in why I was so calm, so thank you!

— Sarah

The Ceremony

The ceremony room at Clevedon Hall sits under the main hall, all dark panelling, stone arches and a gallery running above. My background is in architectural photography and it is difficult not to enjoy a building like this, but the reason it photographs so well is simpler than the architecture: everybody can see everybody.

Sarah came down the grand oak staircase and the whole room turned. Josh had exactly one objective from the second he saw her, which was to get to the end of the aisle and hold her hand, and he was not especially subtle about it. You cannot stage that. You can only be standing in the right place when it happens.

Then out through the front doors into a wall of confetti on the gravel, which at Clevedon Hall means the mansion behind you in every single frame.

Drinks and the Grounds

The grounds do a lot of work here. Lawns, a bridge over the water, a pavilion at the far end, and enough space that a hundred and fifty people with drinks never look crowded. We took twenty minutes out with Sarah and Josh and were back before anyone noticed they had gone.

If you are weighing up venues within reach of the city, there is more on how I work across the area on my Bristol wedding photography page. Clevedon Hall is about twenty-five minutes down the M5 and it comes up a lot in those conversations.

Clevedon Hall is one of the grandest houses within easy reach of Bristol, and this corner of the country is where I do most of my work. There is more on how I cover weddings across the city and the surrounding countryside on the page below.

Bristol wedding photography

Dinner and Speeches

Dinner was in the library, which is a genuinely unusual room to eat in. Books floor to ceiling on every wall, one long table down the middle, candles the whole length of it. The speeches were funny and slightly too long in the best way, and the acoustics in there do something lovely to a room full of people laughing at once.

Into the Evening

We stole five minutes for one last frame as the light went, and then the house filled up again. First dance under the lights, the floor full within about ninety seconds, and it stayed that way.

Sarah and Josh, thank you for trusting a photographer you had barely met with the whole day. It was a privilege to step in, and I walked out of Clevedon Hall genuinely fond of the pair of you.

If you are planning a wedding at Clevedon Hall, or anywhere around the city, there is more on how I work in and around Bristol on my Bristol wedding photography page.

In their words

We had originally booked another photographer for our wedding when a month out he had to cancel. We were given the details for Ollie and immediately felt that fate had looked after us. From my first video chat with Ollie to his stunning portfolio I was so excited, not only to see our photographs but also just to have him there on the day. When our day arrived Ollie was there, he was there even though due to a loss in the family it would have been completely understandable for him to not have been. Ollie kept me laughing all day, he kept me calm, he was everywhere and nowhere, he understood what we wanted and delivered. We have now received our complete images and I will cherish them always. I’m so glad things worked out the way they did and I’m so glad you were our photographer. Thank you thank you thank you!!

— Sarah

Ceremony & reception: Clevedon Hall, North Somerset
DJ: Speaker Box
Photography: Oliver Holder

Planning a wedding at Clevedon Hall, or anywhere around Bristol? I would love to hear about it.

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