Wilderness Festival

It’s been at least four years since I’ve been to a music festival. Busy summers photographing weddings most weekends usually means it’s not possible to squeeze one in, but this year I have been much stricter about making space for time off. Luckily one of the weekends I’d scheduled off coincided with Wilderness Festival, so Pete and I decided to get tickets and head to Oxfordshire for a few days.

Wilderness isn’t really a music festival. There is (loads) of music but there’s also a programme of talks, theatre, pop-up restaurants, wellness, dance, activities and a whole load more.

One of the really lovely things about it is that you can kind of create your own festival experience. If you don’t want to see a single band while you’re there you can busy yourself with workshops, spa treatments and talks.

If you’re there to party you can sleep through the day time stuff and come out to play at night, when the hidden valley party kicks off. It’s really, really family friendly too, with a whole programme of activities, shows and workshops for small people.

Pete and I lazed around quite hard. We floated around drinking cider on the first day. We ate at the Petersham Nurseries pop up on the second and then met up with friends for more cider. On our last full day we went to a talk at The Forum, a theatre production by Idiot Child, hip hop karaoke and the Saturday night spectacle. On Sunday we spent a couple of hours chilling out by the lake in the sunshine.

We ate a lot of food from food trucks, including amazing dumplings, sashimi salads, pork belly buns and burgers from Bleecker Street. There weren’t enough meals in the day to try all of the amazing food.

While I was at Wilderness Festival I spent a bit of time researching ideas for SNAP Photography Festival, and I also came back with lots of images of festival styling which are perfect for anyone planning a festival wedding. Pop back later in the week when I’ll be sharing my favourites.

Pete and I had a great time at Wilderness and we’ll definetly be back next year. Here a a few shots from the few times I had my camera out!