Maidstone wedding photographer

Maidstone is the county town, forty minutes west of me along the M2 or the A20, and it sits in the middle of the best-known wedding venues in Kent. The Medway runs through the town. The North Downs rise to the north and east, and the Weald opens out to the south. Within twenty minutes you have a moated castle, a medieval castle on the river, Tudor and Georgian houses, and the county register office.

I haven’t photographed a wedding in Maidstone since coming back from documentary filmmaking. This page is a planning guide to what mid Kent offers and how I’d approach each, rather than a portfolio.

The castles

Leeds Castle is the venue everyone knows, and it’s really four venues on one estate. There’s the castle itself, Maiden’s Tower beside it, Battel Hall out in the fields, and Fairfax Barn for evening parties. The castle is a public attraction, so the opening hours shape your day more than the architecture does. My guide covers how to plan around that.

Allington Castle is the quieter one. It’s a medieval castle on the banks of the Medway, three miles north-west of the town, with a moat, two lakes, a causeway and formal gardens. Ceremonies are in the Great Hall under a minstrels’ gallery, and the evening moves to a seventeenth-century barn. It’s still a private home, so viewings are by appointment.

The houses

Bradbourne House at East Malling is a Grade I house in parkland with a lake, a waterfall and a fruit orchard. Ceremonies happen inside in the Drawing Room, or outside on the Great Hall steps and in the fruit garden during the summer months. It’s exclusive use from ten in the morning, which means getting ready on site is real coverage, not a token hour.

Chilston Park near Lenham is a Georgian country house hotel with a coach house and a cobbled courtyard. It has several licensed rooms and an outdoor gazebo. It’s a good choice if you want everyone to stay the night.

Nettlestead Place, south-west of the town, is a medieval manor that’s still a family home. Ceremonies happen in the thirteenth-century undercroft, or in a rose garden at a gazebo built around a lime tree.

Kent Life at Sandling is a heritage farm park with its own wedding chapel, a hop garden and an oast house. It’s the most Kentish backdrop in the county, if that’s what you’re after.

The register office

The Kent Register Office is at Oakwood House, a Victorian mansion in mature gardens on the west side of Maidstone. There are three ceremony rooms, the largest seating eighty, plus a garden room with a terrace. Parking is free. It’s ceremonies only, so most couples marry in the morning and head somewhere else for lunch. The intimate wedding package covers the ceremony and the garden photographs, or the full day if you want lunch and the evening too.

The light

The Medway valley runs north-south through the town, and the Downs form a scarp to the north. Venues south of the Downs look up at a green wall in the evening, which is a better backdrop than open sky. Leeds Castle and Allington both have water, and water needs low sun. Plan those photographs for the last hour of light, not the gap between the ceremony and the drinks.

Sunset is around quarter past nine in late June and before four in December. Mid Kent is a little further from the sea than Canterbury, so autumn mornings here are often misty. If you’re marrying in October, the early part of the day may be the most atmospheric.

Getting guests here

• Trains. Maidstone East runs direct to London Victoria in a little over an hour. Maidstone West has some direct high-speed trains to St Pancras, otherwise change at Strood. Bearsted is the nearest station to Leeds Castle.
• Roads. The M20 runs along the south of the Downs, with junctions for the town and for Leeds Castle. The M2 is the quicker road from Canterbury.
• Parking is on site at all the venues above. The town centre is not where you want guests parking on a Saturday.

How a Maidstone day usually runs

The venues around Maidstone are mostly whole-day, exclusive-use houses and castles, with getting ready on site and everything in one place. That suits the full wedding day: from the morning through to the first dance without me having to leave. For a register office wedding at Oakwood House followed by a meal, the intimate wedding package is usually plenty.