Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel recent wedding photos from Bridgend wedding photographer Nic Cleave Photography, South Wales, UK

It was my pleasure to capture the story of Lisa and Darren’s wedding last Saturday at the beautiful Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel in Coychurch, Bridgend, South Wales, UK. This was my first wedding of 2012, and my first wedding at this stunning Bridgend wedding venue for some time.

The day started with my trip down the M4 motorway to the Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel in torrential rain, forecast to get heavier throughout the morning! I arrived at the Coed and met the two best men in the car park, (both former grooms of mine,) Mathew from September 2011, and Chris from June 2012.

Lisa was getting ready in the bridal suite with her bridesmaids, Mum and 4 year old niece Jessica, who was dutifully guarding the princess dresses!

With the ceremony taking place in the Elliot room at the Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel, there was no need for me to leave the preparations, allowing me to get some great shots of both the guys and girls getting ready. We also took full advantage of the art-deco interior of the bridal suite to capture some fun photos of Lisa in her gorgeous dress against a striking black wallpaper, with giggles and laughter in abundance as Lisa was ‘coached’ by her bridesmaids in the finer skills of posing as a ‘bridal model.’

Guests had continued to arrive in the rain and the Elliot Suite at the Coed was full as Lisa and her Dad, together with her entourage made their way down the fabulous staircase, stopping at the top to run through a full dance routine choreographed by flower girl Jessica.

A beautiful civil ceremony was filled with the same fun and laughter throughout, firstly as one of the ‘smaller’ guests shouted out at the perfect time, just after the registrar had asked if anyone objected to the marriage, and again a few minutes later when the registrar got the words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ mixed up!

After the ceremony guests were served welcome drinks while I checked the weather outside to find that the rain had almost stopped. Perfect timing, allowing us to do a few carefully selected group shots outside on the steps in front of the hotel.

After watching a few minutes of the popular ‘Younger Years’ slide-show in the Fox room, Lisa and Darren slipped away from their guests for a tour of the grounds and gardens at the Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel, for their bride and groom photos.

Despite the very wet underfoot conditions Lisa and Darren were determined to take full advantage of the beautiful grounds at this stunning Bridgend wedding venue, and we created some superb relaxed and natural images of them both around the grounds. While on our 25 minute shoot, the sun came out and for a period of time we even had bright blue skies.

We returned inside for a warm-up and Lisa and Darren returned to their guests while I shot some more documentary images of their family and friends enjoying the afternoon, and of course the detail shots of the reception room looking amazing.

Lisa and Darren were announced into their wedding breakfast for a superb meal, followed of course by speeches and the cutting of the wedding cake, made by Lisa herself.

If you were at this special day or know this wonderful couple, and/or if you would like to be notified by email when all of the images from Lisa and Darren’s big day are available to view, please leave them a personal message below.

All of the images from this special day will be available to view from this page of our website, after Lisa and Darren have returned from honeymoon and been into the studio for their champagne preview session, to see the photos for themselves first.