Eva and Mike’s Wedding

Oxwich Bay Hotel, Gower, Swansea

Dress | White Orchid Bridal
Flowers & Bridal Alterations | Creative Seamstress

My second wedding of the year! I’ve photographed weddings at Oxwich Bay Hotel a few times down the Gower. They always say no two weddings are the same, and this was definitely different for me, why? Because I had the opportunity to photograph their portraits in the new Secret Garden!

Wedding Photographer in Swansea

Following on from the last wedding at Thomas Arms, where I asked my wife Heidi to give me a hand, she took a massive interest in photography, I figure it must be me talking about photograph 24/7! So I took the opportunity to ask her to come along to weddings to help me out from then on!

Bridal Preparations

Reunion!

It was like a little reunion at this wedding, Heidi knew the hairdressing from the days she used to lecture hairdressing, and also the flower girls mum, who used to bring her to a children’s day nursery we used to own – small world!

Getting Ready

Eva was so chilled out, she was a pleasure to work with! Love how organised she was too, every little detail that I needed to photograph was all ready for me in a box, albeit she probably did it for herself, and not me, ha! With the gorgeous window light coming through, it was the perfect place to get photos of all these little details. I do find that getting the wedding dress photo a challenge, as I needed a wide angle lens to get the whole dress in, I just couldn’t stand far back enough. It was the perfect opportunity to use my Sigma 12-24mm though, as I rarely use it, and was nice to get a different perspective of the dress from what I usually do.

The Service

With a wedding this early in the year, it was inevitable it was going to be cold… cold? I was freezing! But with Oxwich Bay’s ceremony room having an open log fire, it was what we all needed!! Good choice of venue Eva and Mike! With the ceremony over, we managed to get group photos outside despite the cold and gale force winds! It worked to our advantage, as everyone was really quick turning up when called for group shots.

Secret Garden

There’s a new area for guests called the secret garden, I had no idea what to expect, once inside, it was an unltra modern accommodation for guests, it’s amazing, Oxwich Bay Hotel have done themselves proud here! What’s amazing for us, is that it was all enclosed, so we were sheltered from the wind! One of my favourite photos from the day was taken in here beneath the arches.

Beach Wedding

It’s almost impossible to get married at Oxwich Bay Hotel and not have your photography down the beach! OMG, it was cold, I never wear a jacket to a wedding, just my shirt and waistcoat, for the simple reason that if I’m cold, then the bride is cold! So we were as quick as possible down the beach for their wedding portraits.

Marquee Wedding

After photographs down the beach, we made our way to the marquee, ahhh! Heaters were on full blast keeping us all nice and toasty 😀 Whilst the guests were enjoying, we were photographing the table setting for the wedding breakfast, this gave us the opportunity to see their cake. Oh, what a cake it was too!! Take a look at the photos below.