Lainey and Richard’s wedding at Ashdown Park Hotel, East Grinstead, October 2025
Lainey and Richard are one of those couples where the personalities just fit. She brought warmth and care to every detail of the day; he brought an easy, sunny presence that made everyone around him feel at ease - and between the two of them, the day felt both beautifully considered and completely relaxed. With their young daughter and a large family gathered around them, there was a real sense of occasion to it all. And then the Function Band took to the floor for the reception and the evening, and everything shifted up several gears. Quite simply the best live entertainment I witnessed at any wedding in 2025 - exceptional performers who had the room completely from the moment they introduced the couple right through to the last dance.
October brought a blustery day outdoors - portraits were brief and brisk - but inside Ashdown Park the conditions couldn't have mattered less.
Nestled at the heart of a 186-acre estate in the Ashdown Forest, the neo-Gothic Grade II listed mansion sits at the end of a sweeping drive, surrounded by lakes, manicured lawns and woodland that attracts deer - an idyllic backdrop that feels far removed from the everyday. The Richard Towneley Suite - a sympathetically converted chapel - is lit by stunning stained glass windows designed by Harry Clarke, filling the interior with shifting rainbow light that creates a genuinely extraordinary reception space. Having photographed in a lot of venues, I can say that particular combination of vaulted ceiling, stained glass light and sheer scale is rare - and as a setting for the kind of live music and dancing that Lainey and Richard's evening produced, it was pretty much perfect. Beyond the chapel, the grounds offer a secret garden, lakeside walks and woodland settings - and on a calmer day, the photographic possibilities here are exceptional.
The indoor spaces at Ashdown Park do things that outdoor portraits simply can't - that chapel light in particular is something a documentary photographer dreams about. If you're considering this venue for your own day in East Sussex and want to see what it looks like through a documentary lens across a full October wedding, I hope this gallery gives you a real sense of it. Get in touch if you'd like to talk.
