Al Fresco wedding party, dancing and dining under the West Wales summer sun with rustic wooden touches, live music and festoon lighting courtyard wedding band at Gellifawr Woodland Retreat, Pembrokeshire.

A full photography and videography blog from Lindsey & Rhys’ Fishguard wedding.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes! 

And of course, the Beatles were correct, on the 2nd August, the sun shone in an almighty fashion. 

Waking up on the morning of your wedding, to the rays dancing through the windows is, to say the least, a relief. Especially when you’ve planned for an outdoor ceremony at the spectacular Gellifawr Woodland retreat wedding village in Fishguard, West Wales.

“Our wedding village,” the self proclaimed description on the venue’s website couldn’t be any more accurate. After driving through the Pembrokeshire national park, surrounded by forest, a village of cosy stone cottages emerged: a traditional main house (with extra rooms for guests), fronted by a neatly pruned shrub maze and a wooden barn (which doubled up as a place to sign the register and, later on, a bar).

This Fishguard venue provides exclusive usage for wedding parties, the grounds come complete with glistening ponds and sweeping gravel paths, (great for dresses like Lindsey’s). It’s also dog friendly, which was ideal considering the couple, and one of their bridesmaids, had their pooch in attendance.

A personal highlight of photographing at a wedding venue like this, is that it has some beautiful and private spots, like the landscaped garden, where I can whisk away the newlyweds for some couples photos. I like to give them a few precious moments to pause and fully breathe it all in. Lindsey and Rhys looked completely at home with my camera pointing at them as they walked through the grounds outdoors, the Welsh hills in the background; always easier to achieve when all your nearest and dearest are out of sight!

As a wedding photographer and videographer, you couldn’t really ask for a better backdrop. Nestled in front of a bank of mature trees, the wedding ceremony was located under the floral wrapped, handcrafted, wooden arch created by The Dancing Daffodil, they had brought some sparks of pink and red into the foreground, effortlessly matching the colours of the bridesmaid’s dresses and groomsmen’s Mark Darcy ties.  

Aside, from their sit down three course meal & speeches, the entirety of the day was spent outside by a large majority of their guests, who only really stepped inside for the all-essential drink refill.

The atmosphere of the day reached a peak when the fiddler, featuring foot-stomping beats of the Polar Berries, hit the stage for Lindsey & Rhys’ first dance, as the sun set over them, allowing the subtle glow of festoon lighting to take over and, as the cake topper said, ‘so the adventure begins‘. 

Wedding video highlights from Lindsey & Rhy’s big day at the Exclusive Wedding Village of Gellifawr.

Photograph gallery from the woodland wedding of Lindsey & Rhys at Gellifawr Woodland Retreat in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. Keep scrolling for their pre-wedding shoot at Pembrey beach.

Pre-wedding photography session on the sands at Pembrey Country Park beach.

Other Suppliers:

Dress - Essence of Australia 

Cake - T’isie Teisen 

Cake stand - Jen’s Rustic Wood

Seating plan - Nikki Swift designs.