St Thomas of Canterbury Wedding Photographer: a planning guide

St Thomas of Canterbury is the Catholic church on Burgate, a minute’s walk from the Cathedral gate and easy to miss if you’re looking up at the bigger building. I’m Catholic, and of all the places in this city to photograph a wedding, this is the one I know best. It was built in 1874–75 by a local architect, John Green Hall, and opened in April 1875. It was the first Catholic church in the city since the Reformation, and it’s still the only one.

It’s a working parish church, not a wedding venue. That matters. The building is small, Victorian Gothic and honest about it: ragstone front, brick sides, slate roof. Inside, it’s five bays of pointed arches on round stone columns under a steep timber roof. It holds a wedding comfortably without swallowing it.

What’s in the room

Most of what makes St Thomas’s worth photographing is at the east end, which is exactly where you’ll be standing.

• The rose window. Wheel tracery above the sanctuary, with a pelican roundel at the centre and medallions from Becket’s life around it. It sits directly behind you during the vows, so it’s in the frame of every photograph taken from the nave.
• The high altar and reredos. The original Victorian altar survives behind the modern one, with carved panels of Becket’s martyrdom and Henry II’s penance and an alabaster tabernacle. On a wide shot it’s the backdrop, and it’s dense with detail. In close, it’s quieter than you’d expect.
• The forward altar. An octagonal limestone altar from the 1989 reordering, by Daniel Rikh. It’s where you’ll be for a Nuptial Mass.
• The walls. The Canterbury Saints mural by Helen Grunwald, a 1997 mosaic of St Augustine, and a Pietà that came from Hales Place. They’re good for the quiet minutes while guests settle, when I’m photographing the room rather than the people.

The light

The church runs east–west with its front on Burgate, so the sanctuary and the rose window sit at the far end from the street. The north side has a run of clerestory windows above the arcade. The practical consequence is that the nave gets a soft, high, sideways light for most of the day rather than one dramatic shaft.

For a documentary photographer that’s good news. Flat, even light in the aisles means faces read clearly during the vows without me doing anything about it, and it means there’s no temptation to reach for a flash, which I won’t use during the liturgy anyway. The one place to watch is the west end on a bright afternoon. The two tall windows in the gable can backlight anyone walking in, which is sometimes exactly what you want for an entrance.

Nuptial Mass or the Rite of Marriage

The parish offers both, and asks you to choose with the priest. A Nuptial Mass runs about an hour, give or take the music. The Rite of Marriage within a Liturgy of the Word runs closer to 30–45 minutes. Both are the same sacrament. The difference for the photographs is mostly the Liturgy of the Eucharist: the offertory, the Nuptial Blessing after the Our Father, the sign of peace and Communion.

How I cover each part, and where I stand while I do it, is set out on my Catholic wedding photography page. The short version is silent shutter, no flash, out of the sanctuary, and still during the Eucharistic Prayer.

Timings

Saturday has a noon Mass and a 6pm Vigil Mass, so most Saturday weddings here sit in the early-to-mid afternoon. If your ceremony follows the noon Mass closely, there’s less time for the church to empty and for me to photograph the room before guests arrive. That’s worth a conversation with the parish office before you fix a time.

A Nuptial Mass at 2pm usually means you’re out on Burgate a little after 3, with signing, the recessional and a few minutes at the door. In late autumn and winter that leaves well under an hour of usable daylight for portraits. Allow for it, or plan portraits for the precincts’ lamps instead.

Flowers can only come into the church on the morning of the wedding unless the parish office agrees otherwise. Tell your florist early.

The corners

The Martyrs’ Chapel, on the south side, holds relics of Thomas Becket alongside statues of John Fisher and Thomas More, under stained glass of Becket’s martyrdom. It’s small and quiet. It’s where the two of you can take a breath after the schedule is signed, out of sight of the nave, and it’s the one place in the city where you can be photographed beside Becket’s relics on your wedding day.

The west door. The main door opens straight onto the Burgate pavement, which makes for a tight, lively exit: guests, passers-by, the Cathedral wall across the road. Confetti here is a question for the parish, not for me, so ask.

Canterbury Lane, down the side of the church, is narrow and quiet and gets a clean stripe of light late in the afternoon. If you want ten minutes with no one around before the reception, it’s right there.

Practical notes for couples

• Six months’ notice, minimum. The parish asks you to meet the priest at least six months before the date. Don’t fix a date until you have. Catholics need baptism and confirmation certificates issued within the last six months. A baptised non-Catholic partner needs a baptism certificate. A partner who isn’t baptised needs a dispensation, which the priest arranges.
• Marriage preparation. Normally a Friday evening and a Saturday. The archdiocese runs Kent courses through its Marriage and Family Life team, and Marriage Care courses are also accepted.
• Civil paperwork is separate. Each of you gives notice at your local register office (at least 29 days before, and within 12 months of the wedding). Canterbury Register Office then issues the marriage schedule, which goes to the parish before the day. Without it the marriage can’t be registered. You sign the schedule after the ceremony, and certificates come from the register office afterwards, not from the church.
• Costs. The parish’s guidance suggests a gift of £200 to the priest and £200 to the church, with organist, choir and flowers negotiated separately. That figure is from its 2023 form, so check it still stands.
• Rehearsal. Usually a few days before. If you’d like me there, I’ll come. It’s the easiest way to agree with the priest where I’ll be standing.
• Photography during Mass. I work without flash, from the side aisles and the back, and I don’t go into the sanctuary. I’ll speak to the priest before the day so nothing about my presence is a surprise.
• Getting there. Queningate car park is the nearest. There’s blue-badge parking opposite on Iron Bar Lane, and the city’s park and ride sites are an easy option for guests.
• Contact. The parish office is at 59 Burgate, CT1 2HJ: 01227 462896 or canterbury@rcaos.org.uk.

From here

Most couples marrying at St Thomas’s go on to a reception somewhere in the city or in the villages to the east, which means a short walk or drive with Canterbury as the backdrop. The Cathedral precincts, the Buttermarket and the river at Westgate are all within ten minutes on foot and all worth the detour.

If you’re planning a wedding at St Thomas of Canterbury and this sounds like your kind of day, pricing is here and checking the date costs nothing.