Limekiln Wedding Photographer | Jack and Abi
Limekiln · East Sussex
A Documentary Wedding Story
A morning of pale blue and champagne, vows in a barn full of light, lawn games and a very determined pageboy, and speeches under the chandeliers that had the whole room on its feet.
Getting Ready
There is a particular energy in a getting-ready room when everyone is excited and the reality of the day is starting to land, and Abi’s morning had it in abundance. Bridesmaids in pale blue, make-up brushes going in three directions at once, champagne poured far too early, and a small pageboy with no interest whatsoever in keeping his tie straight.
Limekiln gives you the Apartment for the morning, which is a proper getting-ready space rather than a spare room with a mirror in it. Two floors, a hair-washing station downstairs and make-up desks upstairs, good light and room to move. When Abi’s family saw her in the dress the room went quiet for about a second and then went completely.
The Ceremony
The Alder Room is the reason most couples book Limekiln. Soaring vaulted ceilings, whitewashed beams and tall windows down both sides that pour light across the room all day. It seats up to a hundred and eighty for a ceremony without ever feeling like a hall.
Jack watched Abi come down the aisle with a look I will not forget in a hurry. The ring exchange dissolved into laughter, as the best ones always do, and when they finally kissed the whole room let out the kind of cheer that makes you feel very lucky to be standing there with a camera.
Confetti and the Gardens
Out into the sunshine for confetti and then straight into the gardens, which is where Limekiln really opens up. Manicured lawns, wildflower borders and views out across the Sussex countryside in every direction.
The lawn games brought out a fiercely competitive streak in several of the groomsmen. The pageboy, having decided that cornhole boards are primarily for lying on, remained the most photographed guest of the afternoon.
Couple Portraits
Jack and Abi were honest with me from the start: posing for photographs was not their comfort zone. It rarely is anybody’s, and I think that is a good thing. We took a short wander around the grounds, I gave them something to do rather than something to look like, and within a few minutes they had forgotten I was there.
There is a lot of ground here and very little of it is wasted. Sixty acres of woodland, the courtyard, the gardens and the fields beyond, all within a few minutes’ walk of the door.
He was also so great at directing us for our couple pictures. This didn’t come naturally to us but we got some beautiful photos.— Abi, Google review
Poplar Hall
Poplar Hall is one of the finest reception spaces I have photographed. Statement chandeliers, floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the countryside, and Tess Newall’s hand-painted frieze running above the niches, which somehow keeps a room this size from ever feeling formal. It seats two hundred and still feels warm.
It also does something useful for photographs: the light holds late. Long after most reception rooms have gone flat and need flash, this one is still workable on daylight alone.
The Wedding Breakfast and Speeches
The speeches were everything wedding speeches should be. Funny, heartfelt and occasionally going off-script in the best possible way. Jack’s had Abi looking up at him through tears of laughter.
The room did the napkin wave. There were standing ovations. At one point I am fairly sure the speeches themselves started crying.
Into the Evening
The bar opened, the chandeliers came down to a glow, and the room turned over into an evening party without anybody having to be moved anywhere. That is a small thing that matters more than people expect — no shuffling three hundred guests into a different building while the momentum drains out of the day.
Jack and Abi, thank you. One of those days that genuinely had everything in it.
Photographing a Wedding at Limekiln
Limekiln sits off Eridge Road near Crowborough, on the edge of the High Weald in East Sussex. It is worth knowing how the spaces work before you build your timings, because the light moves right through the site over the course of a day.
The Alder Room, where ceremonies happen, takes light from both sides through those tall windows, so it holds up whatever the weather does. Morning ceremonies get softer, more even light; a late-afternoon ceremony gets shafts coming through at an angle, which is more dramatic and slightly harder to work with. Both are good, they are just different.
The gardens and the courtyard carry the drinks reception, and the lawns face open countryside, which means there is nowhere on the site where you are stuck against a wall. Allow twenty minutes for portraits and you will have more than enough — the woodland is a two minute walk and gives you something completely different from the lawns.
Poplar Hall is the one to plan around. The floor-to-ceiling windows mean speeches photograph on natural light far later into the evening than in most venues, so if you have a choice, put the speeches before the meal rather than after and you will get them in that light rather than under the chandeliers.
I am Bristol based and photograph weddings across the country, and the South East is somewhere I work often. Twenty minutes down the road and just over the county line in Kent, Alis and Brad got married at Hotel du Vin in Tunbridge Wells, which is a very different sort of day to this one. There is a wider selection of weddings in the portfolio, and I am always happy to talk through timings for a venue before you book anybody.
In their words
We are so grateful to Oliver for capturing our wedding day. We really wanted a relaxed approach to the photos, capturing smaller important moments, reactions and just general fun from our guests, and he exceeded expectations. We have pictures that we will treasure forever and so we can’t recommend him enough. Thank you Oliver!— Abi, Google review
Ceremony & reception: Limekiln, East Sussex
Hair & make-up: Natalie Danielle
Flowers: Bloominati Florals
Ceremony & drinks music: Hannah Garty
Band: Sunny Roots
Photography: Oliver Holder
Getting married at Limekiln, or anywhere else in the South East? I would love to hear about it.
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