Pennard Hill Farm wedding photography | Simon Withyman Photography

Fun & colourful summer wedding

I was super excited to have the opportunity to createsome Pennard Hill Farm wedding phiotography for Mary-Heln and Matt. What an incredible venue! With its spectacular views, relaxed atmosphere and connection to the Somerset countryside, it’s the perfect spot for laid-back, joyful celebrations, and I honestly couldn’t love it more.

Mary-Helen and Matt are both huge Glastonbury Festival fans, so choosing Pennard Hill Farm for their wedding made perfect sense. The venue has breathtaking views across the iconic festival site, and from the main celebration area you can even see the legendary Pyramid Stage in the distance. For music lovers like Mary-Helen and Matt, it was a pretty special backdrop for their wedding day.

A Festival-Inspired Wedding at Pennard Hill Farm

In a wonderfully creative nod to their favourite festival, Mary-Helen and Matt built their very own mini wooden version of the Pyramid Stage. It became the centrepiece for their laid-back alfresco ceremony and was such a brilliant, personal detail. It perfectly reflected their personalities, their love of music and the relaxed festival atmosphere they wanted for their wedding.

As a Pennard Hill Farm wedding photography story, it doesn’t get much more appropriate than this! The ceremony was informal, personal and completely in keeping with the setting. Rather than trying to recreate a traditional wedding, Mary-Helen and Matt embraced what makes Pennard Hill Farm so unique and created a celebration that felt completely theirs.

A Relaxed Weekend Wedding

One of the best things about Pennard Hill Farm is that you get the whole place for the weekend. With gorgeous accommodation dotted around the site and plenty of space for camping, it’s ideal for couples who want their wedding to feel more like a festival or a big weekend away with their favourite people.

There’s no need for everyone to rush off at the end of the night. Guests can settle in, relax and properly enjoy the celebrations together. And that’s what I love about this kind of wedding. It gives everyone the chance to slow down and actually spend time together rather than cramming everything into a few hours.

For me, great wedding photography is all about capturing the atmosphere of the day as much as the photographs themselves. At Pennard Hill Farm, you’ve got an incredible combination of countryside, festival vibes, unique details and plenty of opportunities for completely natural photographs. It’s a venue that really lends itself to a relaxed, documentary approach.

Mary-Helen and Matt’s wedding was exactly the kind of celebration I love photographing, personal, informal, full of character and surrounded by some pretty spectacular Somerset countryside. And having the Pyramid Stage sitting in the distance was a pretty incredible bonus!

“Sounds cliché, but spending time with Simon didn’t feel like hanging out with a stranger, it felt like we’d known him for a long time.”

“I think it’s worth starting by saying that we were apprehensive about our wedding photos. We were worried about feeling ‘cringey’ and making our day feel staged. Meeting Simon immediately erased our fears.

He is a master at capturing the beauty of natural moments. He just gets weddings – he knows where to be and when, and misses NOTHING. Not only that, but we had such a laugh with him! This made those couple photos (the ones we had feared), just a complete giggle!

Simon also understands not just how to photograph, but how to get the best out of everyone and make them feel comfortable and valued, whether that is our 8 month old baby, our teenage lads or my mums toothless chihuahua. And as for our photos – they are perfectly vibrant, organic and REAL. They are a true gift that we will treasure forever.”

Mary-Helen + Matt

If you’re planning a relaxed, festival-style wedding at Pennard Hill Farm and are looking for natural, documentary-style Pennard Hill Farm wedding photography, I’d love to hear about your plans.

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