Hodsock Priory Wedding Photographer

Hodsock Priory — a wedding photographer’s guide to the venue

Hodsock Priory sits just outside Blyth in Nottinghamshire, a short run down the A1 from South Yorkshire, and the Tudor gatehouse is the picture everyone knows it by. What makes it work for a wedding day is less obvious from the outside: the getting-ready spaces, the gatehouse, the gardens and the reception all sit within a couple of minutes’ walk of each other, so almost none of the day is spent moving between places.

I have photographed here through late summer and into autumn. The notes below are the things I would want to know if I were planning a day here rather than shooting one.

Getting ready — two spaces, and they are genuinely good

The morning starts in the dedicated “disaster room”, which is exactly what it sounds like: somewhere to spread out, empty the bags and make as much mess as you like without any of it appearing in a photograph. For the final hour you move through to the bridal prep room, where the dress and flowers are set up.

The lads get the clubhouse, about thirty seconds’ walk from the main building. Having the two parties properly separate matters more than people expect — both sets of preparations get photographed properly rather than squeezed into one room, and nobody bumps into anybody before the ceremony.

Ceremonies

Hodsock is licensed for outdoor ceremonies as well as indoor ones, and the grounds are big enough that an outdoor ceremony does not feel squeezed in beside everything else. Both of the weddings I have photographed here married outside, and in each case the walk from the ceremony to the drinks and on to the reception was a short one.

Confetti and the group photograph

Confetti happens on the path immediately outside, which at Hodsock means a proper tunnel of people rather than a polite scattering — there is room for everyone to line both sides.

The group photograph then happens under the gatehouse arch, and this is the single most useful thing about the venue from a photography point of view. The arch holds a large group comfortably without anyone disappearing behind a pillar or being pushed out of frame, and it is a short walk from the rest of the day, so you do not lose half your drinks reception getting there and back.

Couple portraits — twenty minutes is genuinely enough

The grounds are big enough that portraits never repeat the same backdrop twice. Between the front of the house, the walled areas, the lawns and the gatehouse itself, twenty minutes away from the party covers it comfortably. That is worth knowing when you are building a timeline, because it means you are not choosing between photographs and being at your own wedding.

The evening

Hodsock is exclusive-use, so the whole place is yours for the day and the evening runs on your terms rather than around anybody else. There is plenty of room on the grass for lawn games, and they earn their place — a set of crazy golf at one of the weddings I shot here filled the awkward gap between the speeches and the evening guests arriving, and produced some of my favourite photographs of the day. Guests in their wedding best, entirely losing their composure over a putt.

Planning notes worth having

• Distances. Getting-ready rooms, gatehouse, gardens and reception are all within a couple of minutes on foot, so a tight timeline is realistic here in a way it is not at every venue.
• Wet weather. Because so much of the day is designed to be outside, it is worth agreeing a wet-weather plan with the venue early rather than on the morning.
• Getting there. Hodsock is in Nottinghamshire but sits close to the South Yorkshire border, which makes it very reachable from Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham.
• Check with the venue. Set-up varies from wedding to wedding here, and some of what you will see in photographs is brought in by the couple’s own suppliers rather than provided as standard — worth confirming directly with Hodsock what is included.

Two Hodsock weddings, in full

Rather than a handful of highlights, both of the weddings I have photographed here are on the site in full:

• Nicole & Sam — a late-August day, an outdoor ceremony, and crazy golf on the lawn between the speeches and the evening.
• Jess & Alex — an autumn celebration with the ceremony beneath the gatehouse and rust and bronze through the bridal party. Their photographs are in the gallery below.

Is Hodsock Priory right for your wedding?

If you want a day that lives outdoors, with one unmistakable backdrop and everything else within a short walk of it, Hodsock is hard to beat. It is exclusive-use, so the whole place is yours, and the grounds are big enough that a large guest list never feels crowded while still keeping the day in one place.

If you are getting married here and want someone who already knows how the day flows, get in touch — I would love to hear about it.