Coombe Lodge Wedding Photographer & Videographer

A country house above Blagdon Lake

Coombe Lodge is at Blagdon in North Somerset (BS40 7RE), on the edge of the Mendip Hills with views across Blagdon Lake. The venue says the house was built between 1928 and 1932 on the foundations of an older property dating to 1759, designed by Sir George Oatley as an E-shaped Jacobean house for the Wills family of the Bristol tobacco company. Its history page adds that it was later a further education staff college before becoming a wedding venue, and describes Bath stone walls, a Cotswold stone roof and limed oak panelling on the ground floor and staircase. The weddings page gives about 20 acres of gardens, and distances of about 8 miles from the M5 and 4 miles from Bristol Airport; its FAQs put Bristol about 10 miles away, Weston-super-Mare about 10 and Bath about 18.

We photographed and filmed Dan and Lucy's wedding at Coombe Lodge on 2 October 2021 and filmed Becky and Kieran's on 18 September 2025. Dan and Lucy's day is told in photographs, and Becky and Kieran's in a still taken from their wedding film; both highlight films play further down the page. Our Somerset guide and Bristol guide show Coombe Lodge beside other venues nearby, and here we stay with the venue itself. What we say about the house comes from the venue's own website, and what we say about the pictures and the films comes from looking at them.

For current venue details, explore Coombe Lodge. Ask the venue for its finish time and music curfew, which its website does not state.

01 / The spaces / From the venue's own description

Two ceremony rooms, a stone archway and the Music Room

The venue's ceremonies page says Coombe Lodge is licensed as a civil wedding venue in Bristol and North Somerset. Indoors it names two rooms. The Music Room is for civil ceremonies of more than 80 guests and has large chandeliers, two feature fireplaces and three large bay windows. The Billiard Room suits smaller ceremonies, seats up to 80 and has a feature fireplace and views over the courtyard gardens. Outdoors, couples can exchange vows under an ornate archway while guests sit in the courtyard, with views towards Blagdon Lake. The same page says couples who cannot marry in their own parish may be able to marry at St Andrew's, the nearest parish church in Blagdon.

The Music Room, a bright room with large windows and far-reaching views towards the Bristol Channel, seats up to 160 for a ceremony and reception and up to 200 for an evening party. The venue is suited to weddings of 50 to 160 guests. Its pricing page sets a minimum of 80 adults for the wedding breakfast from Friday to Sunday and 50 adults from Monday to Thursday, excluding bank holidays.

Drinks and canapés can be served in the wood-panelled lounge and gallery, which has an open fire and a grand piano, on the balcony or in the garden courtyard. Booking includes exclusive use of the house, the gardens and the twelve bedrooms. The food is prepared on site by the venue's own chefs, and its FAQs say couples cannot bring their own caterer.

02 / Staying at Coombe Lodge / From the venue's own pages

Twelve bedrooms: ten doubles and two family rooms

The venue's rooms page lists twelve bedrooms: ten doubles and two family rooms that each sleep up to four. Room 4 is the bridal suite, a very spacious room with a freestanding bath in the bay window and views of the Bristol Channel and Blagdon Lake. Room 8 has a private balcony. The weddings page says three of the bathrooms are restored with art deco influences and nine rooms have large wet-rooms with walk-in showers. A substantial breakfast is served the following morning.

The rooms page says a minimum of eight bedrooms applies and that special rates are available if all twelve are booked for a wedding. It also lists six z-beds and five travel cots for children. The FAQs say guests can leave cars overnight if they are collected by mid-morning the next day. Rates on the page were dated 2025, so ask for current prices.

03 / October 2021 / Dan and Lucy

Dan and Lucy: a ceremony under a chandelier, portraits by the stone archway and fireworks to finish

Dan and Lucy married at Coombe Lodge on 2 October 2021. The photograph at the top of this page shows them kissing on the gravel in front of a tall hedge, Lucy's long veil blown out behind her. Earlier, in the ceremony room, a chandelier hangs above them as Lucy laughs with her nose against Dan's, guests applauding behind and a bunch of dried flowers in autumn colours in the foreground.

Then they walk back down the aisle hand in hand, Lucy carrying a bouquet of dried flowers in orange and cream and Dan in a morning coat and grey check trousers, a bay of leaded windows behind them.

For portraits they stand in a stone archway with warm lamplight in the dark doorway behind them, foreheads together, laughing. Outside on the gravel path, under a grey sky, Dan stands close behind Lucy with a hand on her shoulder and they both look off to one side, the bouquet held in front of her.

In the courtyard the two of them are small in the arched entrance of the stone house, beneath its gabled front, tall leaded windows and slate roof, and they kiss on the step with the gravel in front of them.

Indoors, beside a wooden bar with shelves of bottles behind, Dan holds up a phone to take a selfie with Lucy, her veil still on. Later they cut a tiered cheese cake together, Dan's hands over hers on the knife while she laughs.

After dark they hold each other close as fireworks and smoke rise behind them. The highlight film of the day plays further down the page.

04 / September 2025 / Becky and Kieran

Becky and Kieran: a long golden evening on the lawn

Becky and Kieran married at Coombe Lodge on 18 September 2025, and we filmed their day. A still taken from their highlight film shows the two of them holding hands and smiling at each other on the lawn in front of the stone house, Kieran in a green tartan kilt and Becky with a bouquet of pale flowers.

Their highlight film, below, follows the day from the morning through to the evening, with the bridesmaids in striped pyjamas raising their glasses beside leaded windows, a bride giving her speech beside a wall hung with an autumn wreath, and a couple kissing in the evening light beside the house.

Between the two weddings we have seen both ends of the season for a Mendip country house: an October wedding with dried flowers and warm interiors, and a September wedding with a long golden evening in the gardens.

Planning your photographs and film at Coombe Lodge

A few things worth asking the venue, and how we would plan around the answers:

1. Where the ceremony happens: The venue names the Music Room for ceremonies of more than 80 guests, the Billiard Room for up to 80, and the stone archway outdoors with guests seated in the courtyard. Tell us which you have chosen so we can arrange the morning around it, and if it is the archway, agree which room is the wet-weather choice.
2. Rain: The venue's two indoor ceremony rooms are the obvious fallback for an archway ceremony, so ask when the decision has to be made. For portraits and group photographs we settle an indoor or sheltered option on the day with you and the venue.
3. Group photographs: We do as many as you like and typically recommend around 15, which usually take about 20 minutes. The lawns and the courtyard give you space, and the house gives you a sheltered backup. Ask a groomsman or bridesmaid who knows everyone to round people up.
4. Portraits: We usually take a portrait walk of about 15 minutes, with photo and video together. With 20 acres of gardens and views across the lake, you have very different backdrops to choose from.
5. Confetti: The venue allows dried natural petal confetti indoors and on the lawns, but not on paths or flower beds. Choose the spot with your coordinator and tell us where it will be, so we can be ready for it.
6. Getting ready: With twelve bedrooms in the house, you and your partner may be getting ready in different rooms, and the venue lists Room 4 as the bridal suite. We move between you together, splitting our time as a team, and groom preparation typically takes about 15 minutes.

One team for the photographs and the film

Cam and Beth have photographed and filmed over 400 weddings together, so a country house with a music room, a courtyard and 20 acres of gardens is familiar territory. You get one conversation about the timetable, one set of questions for the venue and one plan for the portrait walk.

The photo and video team package carries a £120 deposit and a £400 saving over booking photography and videography separately. We are based near Cardiff, and travel across England and Wales is included in standard full-day packages. When the drive is over two hours we always stay in a hotel the night before and cover it.

Questions about a Coombe Lodge wedding