An Elmley Nature Reserve wedding in August, on the Isle of Sheppey — three and a half thousand acres of marsh and big Kent sky, and the only National Nature Reserve in the country you can actually get married on. Simran and Harry married outside with the reserve running away behind them, and ate under the beams of the old Kentish barn.
I photographed the day documentary-style from start to finish. Nobody was arranged, nothing was repeated for the camera, and the only forty-five minutes of direction were the three short portrait slots. What follows is the day in the order it happened.
The morning: a farmhouse, and nothing else for miles
Elmley is exclusive use for two nights, so the morning is genuinely yours. Getting ready happens in Kingshill Farmhouse with the marsh out of every window, and the quiet is the thing people mention afterwards — no other wedding, no passing traffic, nothing but birds.
I arrive about three hours before the ceremony and take almost nothing for the first twenty minutes. That is deliberate — I am working out where the light is coming from, which window is worth waiting by, and where I can stand without becoming part of the morning. After that I stop being noticeable, and the room forgets I am there.
The ceremony at Elmley Nature Reserve
The ceremony was outdoors on the grass with the reserve behind it, which at Elmley means the backdrop is weather and horizon rather than architecture. There is the Linhay and the Stables as well, so an outdoor ceremony here is a choice rather than a gamble.
I photograph reactions at least as much as I photograph the couple. The vows last about four minutes and there are usually twenty photographs worth having in them, of which three or four are of the two people getting married. The rest are mothers, best friends, and a small child who has entirely given up on the whole thing.
Confetti, and the one bit I do organise
With this much open ground there is no need to squeeze confetti into a doorway — two long lines on the grass, held until the couple are properly into the gap, and the wind coming off the marsh does the rest.
Ushers hold everybody until the couple are properly into the gap, the walk is slow, nobody looks at me, and it happens once, properly. Then it is done and everyone goes back to a drink. It is the only moment of the day I take charge of, because confetti is over in eight seconds and it is very easy to waste.
Portraits, and the forty-five minutes I ask for
The directed part of an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding comes to about forty-five minutes, and it is always split into three fifteen-minute slots rather than one long block — straight after the ceremony, again before dinner is called, and once more late on when the light drops. Nobody wants to be taken away from their own party for an hour, and you do not photograph any better in the fiftieth minute than you do in the fifth.
Ten minutes out into the reserve is worth an hour anywhere with buildings in it. The light here is enormous and low, the grass goes gold by late afternoon, and there is nothing in any direction to keep out of frame.
Speeches, and the people listening
Speeches are the richest twenty minutes of an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding for a simple reason: nobody can leave and everybody is reacting. So I work the room rather than the top table. Half the frames I want are of the person listening, and specifically of the two or three who are trying not to cry and losing.
The evening, and why I do not leave at the first dance
A lot of photographers stop at the first dance. It is a tidy place to finish and it saves two hours, and it also removes the best hour of your own party from the story. The first dance is a formality; twenty minutes later the floor fills and the shoes come off, and that is the actual celebration.
Dinner is under the vaulted beams of the barn with lights strung through them, which is about as different from the marsh outside as a room can be. I stayed until it was properly going, which is how I shoot every Elmley Nature Reserve wedding. There is no overrun charge for that, because I do not sell hours and nobody is counting them.
Planning your own Elmley Nature Reserve wedding?
If you are looking at Elmley Nature Reserve, the venue’s own site is elmleynaturereserve.co.uk — they handle their own bookings and I am not on a commission arrangement with them, so nothing here is a recommendation I have been paid to make.
Everything I know about shooting an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding is written up in more detail on my Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer page, including a suggested timeline and what I think the site does well. There is more of my work in the portfolio, an explanation of how I actually work on the day, and the price is one figure with everything in it.
Simran and Harry got a gallery of over eight hundred images, with more than a hundred previews in their inbox the morning after the wedding. If your date is free I would like to hear about it — send me your date and we will have a call.
Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer FAQs
Where is Elmley Nature Reserve?
Kingshill Farm, Elmley, Minster on Sea, Isle of Sheppey, Kent — a privately owned estate of three and a half thousand acres, and the only National Nature Reserve in the UK licensed for weddings.
Is an outdoor ceremony at Elmley risky?
Less than you would think. Simran and Harry married outside in August with the reserve behind them, and the Linhay and the Stables are both there if the weather turns. The open sky is the reason to book Elmley, so it is worth planning to use it.
How much does an Elmley Nature Reserve wedding photographer cost?
£2,500, all in. Unlimited hours, over eight hundred edited images, previews the next morning, travel included and drone where the rules allow it. There are no packages and no hourly rate to run over.
How long do you need for group photographs?
It depends how many you want. I advise eight to ten groups, which takes twenty to thirty minutes with a list agreed in advance — then everybody goes back to their drink.
Do you travel to Kent?
Yes, and travel is included in the price. There is no mileage charge and no overnight fee if I come the night before, which I often do.
