Dani and Glyn’s Nant Gwrtheyrn Wedding and an Outdoor Ceremony.

Aug 4
3 min read

Updated: Aug 5

Dani and Glyn’s wedding was one of the nicest weddings I’ve photographed in a long time.

I’ve been to Nant Gwrtheyrn loads of times before. (Probably more times than I can count, to be fair). But even when you know a venue really well, every wedding still feels different depending on the people, and this one was just properly good from start to finish.

Sophie and I arrived in the morning and Dani and the bridesmaids were already in full swing. The Prosecco was flying out, everyone was in a good mood and the whole room just felt really easy. It fel like everyone was just getting on with it and enjoying themselves and running on pure vibes (my. God. I hate that word...) which, from a photography point of view, always makes such a difference.

Dani had also done a Parkrun that morning, which probably sums her up better than anything else I could write. She went out, ran 5K, came back, got ready and got married. Fair fucks. I can barely manage to find matching socks on a wedding morning, so that felt like quite an achievement.

Glyn was just as relaxed. Once I’d spent a bit of time with Dani and the bridesmaids, I went down to see him and it was exactly the same there. It felt like every single person there was just there to chill and enjoy the day.

They had already done the official legal part of the wedding the day before, which made the ceremony at Nant feel much more personal. It was celebrant-led, so they weren’t tied to the usual format, and that really suited them.

The readings were absolutely brilliant. Properly funny, not just the sort of polite laugh people do because they know they’re meant to. They had clearly chosen things that actually meant something to them and sounded like them, rather than picking something formal because that is what people think weddings are supposed to sound like.

They also sang a Beatles song instead of having a traditional hymn, and it was class. It completely fitted the ceremony and made the whole thing feel more relaxed. Nothing about it felt forced or overly serious. It was personal, funny and still had all the emotion you would want without becoming stiff.

The outdoor wedding ceremony in Nant Gwrtheyrn took place in really strong sunshine. The weather was lovely, but it was also properly hot, and the light was about as harsh as it gets. Dani and Glyn were right in the middle of it for most of the ceremony, so from a photography point of view it was definitely challenging, but that is part of photographing real weddings. You work with whatever is happening rather than expecting the day to suddenly produce perfect light because it would make life easier. The ceremony still looked brilliant, everyone was enjoying themselves and the atmosphere mattered far more than whether the sun had decided to behave.

After the ceremony, the whole day carried on in the same way. Everyone was lovely and not once was never that feeling of the schedule taking over. It was a shorter wedding day than I normally photograph, but it never felt rushed or as though anything was missing. Because they had done the legal part the day before, the whole thing felt much less restricted. They had the ceremony they actually wanted, spent time with the people they cared about and then got on with having a really good day.

That was probably the main thing about Dani and Glyn’s wedding. It just felt like them.

From Dani doing Parkrun in the morning to the funny readings, the Beatles song and the outdoor ceremony in the sunshine, there was personality all the way through it. Nothing felt like it had been added because weddings are apparently meant to look a certain way.

I’ve photographed a lot of weddings at Nant Gwrtheyrn, but this one will definitely stick with me.

It was relaxed, funny, personal and full of lovely people.

Properly good day all round.