Royal Crescent Hotel Bath Wedding

A rainy Military wedding in Bath City Centre at the Register Office and then on to Royal Crescent Hotel where it was a bit dryer and one Spaniel’s energy made the whole afternoon brilliant.

Scroll down for photos!

Bath Register Office Military Wedding

If you’re getting married in Bath, especially if it’s outside the summer months, then hopefully this post will help to inspire you. This Military wedding was on a pretty rainy day in February 2024, the groom is British Army and the best man is Royal Marines. The Guildhall Register Office has really lovely staff and very nicely appointed rooms, along with a grand staircase for photos after the service. This was actually my first time shooting at the venue but it was easy to find some nice big windows to get the good light on our groom as we waited upon the arrival of the bride.

Once we moved into the Alkmaar room for the service, the lads had a little snifter at the front and seemed quietly confident about the wedding, however once the bride entered, it was full waterworks from the groom. Sorry Sean, I’ll delete all this and pretend you were totally unfazed if you want.

Bridal portraits in Bath City Centre

Bath is amazing for portraits, it’s a really unique city with so much history and all the buildings are the same colour, which happens to be pretty classy too. However, after the ceremony, it was really wet, so we grabbed a few quick shots outside after the confetti throw and bundled into taxis to take us to Royal Crescent Hotel for the wedding reception.

If you want to see some other bridal portraits from Bath, check out this post.

Some places I recommend for your portraits:

• Take a walk down any of the streets, I like the back streets as they are often a bit quieter.

• Cross Poultney Bridge from the Guildhall side and there is a little tunnel of steps down to the riverside, that’s a great spot.

• Parade Gardens is also right by the Guildhall, they have beautiful pillars, stairs, gardens and a bandstand/pagoda thing. The pillars can be a welcome shelter from the sun if it’s boiling.

• Outside the Cathedral for some grand scenery, but be prepared to share it with tourists!

• Royal Crescent is beautiful and offers both views and that city vibe.

• Outside any of the lovely coffee shops, what better than a photo of you both with cappuccino foam all over your noses?

• Set aside an hour to two to explore and have fun, plus maybe head into the Roman Baths if you can.

Royal Crescent Hotel in the rain.

Ok, I’m a dog person. Royal Crescent Hotel is a dog friendly venue so immediately it gets a big thumbs up from me.

We arrived at the hotel, which is a short drive from the centre. You could definitely make a walk up and use it for your portrait session but we were late and it was wet.

The hotel itself has lovely grounds at the back, to which we escaped immediately. Once back inside, the champagne flowed and the medium size group started to unwind and have fun, until the couple’s dog arrived which was just about the best thing. She jumped up onto her owners and was licking and kissing everyone she could, wagging at full speed in the process. She brought so much life and energy to the room, everyone loves to see a happy pup.

Why you should have dogs at your wedding

This is probably for a whole separate article, but here are 5 reasons why you should have dogs at your wedding

1. You don’t have to worry about them being left with someone all day. They can be there, with you and if you’re anything like me, your whole world revolves around them so bring them along!

2. They make for brilliant photo opportunities throughout the day. Lots of people love saying hello to dogs and I bet you they will care less about their appearance in the photos where there’s a dog making them happy.

3. Dogs can carry rings down the aisle. Start training now and your pup can have a really important role on your big day. Just don’t hold me responsible if it all goes wrong,

4. They’re part of your life, they should be part of this bit too. You can pamper them on your wedding day, there are lots of luxury dog treats, dog chaperones and activities you can add.

5. If I’m your photographer, I’m absolutely going to get a great photo of your dog. In fact, you can even check out some of my dog photography here if you want.

Bridal Portraits at Royal Crescent Bath

Ok back to this wedding, our final activity for this short booking was to go out onto the grass at Royal Crescent. The hotel have a key for the lawn so can let you out easily, no fence climbing required in your dress.

The views are lovely, the buildings timeless and the weather even gave us a few dry minutes. Then we went back into the hotel grounds at the back for a few more pictures in a lovely archway before calling it a day for photos.

Check out the gallery below. If you like this, you might also like this gallery of photos from a Bristol Register Office Wedding in the rain

Venue: Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa Bath

Photography: Tom Brossard