Isle of Sheppey · Kent · exclusive use
Elmley Nature Reserve Wedding Photographer
Three and a half thousand acres of marsh, sky and birdsong on the north Kent coast — the only National Nature Reserve in the country you can be married on. Documentary photography, unlimited hours, one all-in price.
What an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer is working with
Elmley is not a building with grounds. It is three and a half thousand acres of grazing marsh with a farmhouse and a set of barns in the middle of it, and the whole reserve is yours for two nights. That changes what a wedding day is: there is nothing to keep out of frame, nowhere you are not allowed to walk, and no other event finishing off anywhere.
The light out here is the real subject. There is no tree line and no town, so you get the full arc of the day — flat silver mornings, hard noon, then two hours of low gold that goes on far longer than it does inland.
It is the only National Nature Reserve in the country you can be married on, and it does not photograph like anywhere else in Kent.
The ceremony, and three ways to do it
There are three licensed options: the farmhouse gardens with the reserve behind them, the Linhay — an open barn onto a lawn — and the Stables, which is indoors. That means an outdoor ceremony here is a genuine choice rather than something you have to gamble the whole day on.
Wherever it happens I work the sides and the back on a silent shutter. Out on the grass there is no aisle furniture to hide behind, so it is entirely a question of being in position before anything starts.
Chairs on the grass and the reserve running away behind. No backdrop needed, and none available.
From further back. At Elmley you can keep walking until the whole thing sits inside the landscape.
The marsh, and the last two hours of light
Ten minutes out into the reserve late in the day is the single best use of time at this venue. The grass goes gold, the sky does most of the work, and there is nothing in any direction that needs cropping out.
It is also worth knowing that the walk out is part of it. Nobody is being marched to a spot — you end up somewhere, and the photographs come from the walking rather than the arriving.
Out on the marsh at the end of the day. This is what you are booking Elmley for.
The barn, before anyone is in it. Vaulted beams and lights strung through them.
An Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer’s timeline, hour by hour
Every wedding is different, but this is the shape most Elmley days take. It is a guide for building your own timeline, not a schedule I will hold you to.
What a £2,500 Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer covers
One price, the same for every couple, written out in full so there are no surprises.
Straight answers
Yes. Simran and Harry married there in August and their full gallery is at the bottom of this page.
Yes, over the venue itself — the aerial at the top of this page is mine. The wider reserve is a different matter: it is a National Nature Reserve with breeding and overwintering birds, so I keep to the farm and the barns, ask first, and take no for an answer. Drone is included in the price wherever it is allowed.
Late, out on the marsh. The last two hours here run longer and lower than they do inland, and three short slots across the day beats one long block every time.
Not until the dancefloor. Silent shutter all day, which matters more than usual somewhere this quiet.
Yes, and travel is included in the price. There is no mileage charge and no overnight fee if I come down the night before.
Real weddings at Elmley Nature Reserve
One full gallery from my work as an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer, shot as the day happened. No posing, no staging, no repeating things for the camera.
The venue, and booking an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer
Elmley handles its own bookings and their site is elmleynaturereserve.co.uk. I am not on a commission arrangement with them, so nothing on this page is a recommendation I have been paid to make.
There is more of my work in the portfolio, an explanation of how I actually work on the day, and other Kent venues I know well. I take one wedding a day and a limited number a year — if your date is free I will tell you straight away.
Tell me your date
If you are getting married at Elmley Nature Reserve and this is how you would want the day recorded, I would like to hear about it.