A quick blog today to show some The Pony Chew Valley wedding photography from a beautiful wedding from the weekend that I was lucky enough to document. Laura and Matt were married at the new wedding venue The Pony Chew Valley. In fact it’s so new that they were the first people to have their wedding there! The Pony Chew Valley is a wonderful new wedding venue nestled in the Somerset countryside with a beautiful view out over the Chew Valley. Many people in the South West will remember the The Pony fondly from when it was The Pony and Trap and now after 16 years the owners Josh and Holly have renovated the entire venue and it’s emerged as a fantastic restaurant, venue, cookery school and kitchen garden. It was a real honour to photograph the first wedding as a The Pony Chew Valley wedding photographer and especially great to get to spend all day with Laura and Matt and their lovely friends and family.

I started the day meeting Laura and her friends at The Pig near Bath which is a great place to get ready for a wedding – they have beautiful cottages in the gardens at The Pig which feel very private and are surrounded by the lovely gardens and countryside. Laura and her friends were so welcoming and after taking some photographs with them I popped over to see some of their guests at the bar. Before long it was time to head to the church – the lovely St Andrews in Chew Stoke. I photographed Emily and Chris there a few years back before their wedding at Belluton Grange and it’s such a great setting for a wedding. The local tradition is that once you’re married some local children tie the gates closed and the bride and groom have to bribe them with sweets to be allowed to leave the church grounds. As I was photographing this I realised I knew some of the parents as I had photographed their wedding 7 years ago (Hi Rhian and Tim, lovely to see you!!) Anyway, once the Haribo had been distributed everyone headed straight to The Pony to get the party underway. The gardens there are absolutely beautiful and have been really nicely landscaped and there’s plenty of great spaces for guests to relax and enjoy the amazing canapés and champange. The view out from The Pony is incredible and makes for a brilliant backdrop for the photos. The team at The Pony Chew Valley were so welcoming and you wouldn’t have had any idea it was the first wedding they’d had there. Totally professional and full of smiles they made sure everything went smoothly. Before long it was time for the meal and speeches and then the band made sure the evening got started with a bang. It was fantastic being a wedding photographer at The Pony Chew Valley and hope it won’t be too long before I get to go back. As a Somerset wedding photographer it is brilliant to see another fantastic venue appearing so near to Bristol and I wish them every success (not that they’ll need it!)