The Intentional Couple’s Guide to Getting Married in Bath

The Intentional Couple’s Guide to Getting Married in Bath

By Andrew Brannan – Fine art wedding photographer

Bath is one of those cities that truly earns every rave review. The honey-coloured stone. The Georgian crescents catching late afternoon light. The river bending quietly through the centre of it all. It is beautiful in a way that feels effortless — which is, of course, the result of centuries of very deliberate effort.

I photograph weddings here regularly. What draws couples to Bath, time and again, isn’t just the architecture. It’s the atmosphere. There is a particular quality to a day spent in this city. Unhurried. Considered. Exactly the kind of place that suits couples who plan with the same intention.
This is my guide for those couples. Not a list of everything Bath offers — but the things worth knowing, from someone who has spent years watching light fall across its streets.

Eat

Bath has quietly become one of England’s most interesting food cities. For couples who care about what’s on the table — and whose guests will notice — these are the places worth knowing.

Landrace A community bakery, ground floor café, and Michelin-listed restaurant above — all in one building. Landrace has become a city institution since opening in 2018, built around sourdough made from speciality grains milled at their own stone mill. Upstairs, chef Rob Sachdev’s seasonal small plates and a considered wine list make it one of the most singular dining experiences in Bath. Don’t leave without something from the counter.

Oak A Michelin Green Star seasonal vegetarian restaurant in the heart of Bath, with a menu shaped entirely by what is available from their own market garden and trusted local growers. Small sharing plates, natural wines, and cooking that is confident without making a fuss about itself. The kind of restaurant that makes you reconsider what a meal is supposed to feel like.

Emberwood Situated inside the Francis Hotel on Queen Square, Emberwood is a modern British brasserie led by executive chef David Hazell, formerly of Bristol’s Michelin-starred Paco Tapas, with a menu that brings seasonal, locally sourced ingredients to an open charcoal-fired hearth. Having received the only new Bath listing in the Michelin Guide since opening in 2025, it has quickly established itself as one of the city’s most reputable restaurants. The dessert trolley alone is worth the reservation.

Osip, Bruton (25 minutes from Bath) A Michelin-starred farm-to-table restaurant in the Somerset countryside, where chef Merlin Labron-Johnson’s tasting menus showcase home-grown and locally sourced produce with technical precision and pure, natural flavours. Now housed in a beautifully renovated former pub with a dramatic glass-walled open kitchen looking out across the fields where much of the produce comes from. Worth planning your entire trip around.

Castle Farm, Midford (10 minutes from Bath) A restaurant in a barn on an organic farm just south of Bath, overlooking the Midford Valley — run by Pravin and Leah Nayar, whose eclectic menus range from South Indian and Malaysian curry nights to candlelit supper clubs and legendary Sunday roasts served family style. It’s worth seeking out for its excellent curries and the barn itself, hidden on a working farm with fields all around it. One of those places locals are reluctant to tell anyone about.

Drink

Beckford Bottle Shop A Michelin Bib Gourmand wine bar and bistro on Saville Row, combining the relaxed atmosphere of a wine merchant with carefully prepared seasonal small plates and a wine list of over thirty by the glass. Daily specials are crafted from produce grown on their own allotment or foraged by the head chef, and on No Corkage Tuesdays you can open any bottle from the shelves without the usual fee. In summer an outdoor terrace; in winter, candlelit and cosy. One of the most effortlessly enjoyable places to spend an evening in Bath.

Emberwood — for drinks (see also: eat) The cocktail list is devised by Zoe Burgess, founder of London drinks consultancy Atelier Pip and recognised by Condé Nast Traveller as one of the five tastemakers changing the London cocktail scene, with wines curated by Bath sommelier Claire Thevenot MS. The martini trolley — rolled to your table, made to order — is the kind of detail that makes an evening feel like an occasion. The terrace has a speakeasy feel and is one of the better places in Bath to let an evening stretch out.

Walcot House — The Dilly Bar and Bread & Jam Set in a former bakehouse on Walcot Street, the building spans three floors with its industrial heritage exposed — original features, a pitched glass roof flooding the ground floor with natural light, and an altogether different energy come evening. The Dilly Bar runs from morning coffee through to late night cocktails, while Bread & Jam, tucked away downstairs, is a cosy and intimate bar serving expertly mixed cocktails, draughts, and good wine — drop in for a martini before dinner, or several after. One of the more characterful places to end an evening in Bath.