Bilsington Priory Wedding Photographer: a planning guide

Bilsington Priory sits on the ridge above Romney Marsh, about six miles south of Ashford. It was founded in 1253 by Sir John Mansell, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and built from local ragstone. Mary I owned it for a time. In 1940 soldiers of the Durham Light Infantry were billeted there and wrote their names on the walls and roof timbers, and you can still find them.

Unlike most of the venues I’ve written about, I’ve photographed a wedding here: Mark and Fiona’s. This guide mixes what I saw on the day with the venue’s current published information, which has changed since. The weddings are now run by Glow Events, so check the details below with the venue before you rely on them.

The ceremony

There are two ceremony spaces, and both take up to a hundred guests.

The Great Hall is on the first floor of the priory, under an old beamed roof. Mark and Fiona married here, with a singer and guitarist at the front, and it’s the room I’d choose if the weather gave me the choice. It’s an intimate room for a hundred people, which suits documentary photographs: everyone is close, and the reactions of guests are as much part of the story as the vows.

The Priory is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, so the hall is up a staircase and there’s no lift. The venue lets less able guests be dropped at the door. If a grandparent can’t manage stairs, the outdoor ceremony is the better choice.

The lawn is the other option, with a gazebo in the grounds. The Great Hall is the rain plan, so you don’t need a second backup.

Leaving the priory

When the ceremony’s over, you come down the stairs and out through a heavy timber porch onto the lawn. That’s where the petals go. It’s a narrow doorway, which is good: guests have to line up on both sides of the path, and the light is open on the lawn side, so the confetti photograph almost takes itself.

The venue also offers confetti ponies, Trigger and Gary, if you’d like them at your exit. Tell guests in advance that horses will be on site.

Drinks and portraits

Drinks and canapés are on the lawn, right outside the priory, so nobody has to walk anywhere. It also means I can photograph the reception and slip away with the two of you for twenty minutes without anyone noticing you’ve gone.

The grounds have more variety for portraits than almost anywhere in Kent, all within a few minutes’ walk:

• the medieval doorways, with old graffiti carved into the stone
• tall priory windows, which work beautifully in black and white
• ivy-covered garden walls and a leafy arch
• the open lawn, with the priory and its neighbouring church behind you

The light

The priory faces out over Romney Marsh, and the land drops away to the south. On a clear evening the light comes low across the marsh and stays warm for a long time.

Inside, the Great Hall is lit by its windows, so the light changes with the weather. I’d visit at the time of your ceremony a few weeks before, as I would anywhere, to see where it falls that time of year.

Sunset is around quarter past nine in late June and just before four in December. For a winter wedding, I’d do portraits straight after the ceremony while there’s still light, and keep the evening for the inside of the priory and the marquee.

The reception

When I photographed Mark and Fiona’s wedding, dinner was in a white marquee on the lawn. The venue now describes a tree marquee with an adjoining bar for the reception and the evening party, and its guest information mentions the Chapter Room and bar for dancing. Capacities are 140 for the meal and 200 in the evening.

The packages include in-house catering and a DJ. There’s also a dry hire option with your own approved caterer, from 12.30pm to 12.30am. Packages are listed from about £7,000, and every one includes exclusive use of the priory and grounds. There’s a dressing room in the old stables, the Tack Room, from 9am.

For the first dance, the marquee’s fairy lights are enough to work with. I’d still rather you dance before it’s fully dark outside.

Getting guests here

• Trains. Ashford International is under forty minutes from St Pancras on the high-speed line, and the priory is about twenty minutes from there by car. Book taxis for the evening in advance. They’re scarce out on the marsh.
• Parking is free on site, to the right of the Edwardian clocktower.
• Shoes. If you’re marrying on the lawn, tell guests to wear something that copes with grass.
• Staying over. The venue doesn’t advertise bedrooms, so most guests stay in Ashford, or in the villages towards Hythe and Tenterden.

How a Bilsington Priory day usually runs

The ceremony, drinks, portraits and dinner all happen within a hundred yards of each other, which makes it a relaxed day to photograph. If you’re getting ready at the priory, the full wedding day covers you from the last of the preparations to the first dance, wherever you’re getting ready.

I’d love to photograph here again. Mark and Fiona’s wedding shows how a full day there looks, from getting ready to the first dance.