A Port Lympne Wedding Photographer’s Day With Jade & Josh

Maybe you already know the feeling. You’ve looked round enough manor houses and marquees to picture exactly how they’d go, and none of them are quite you.

You want your wedding day to feel like you, not like a template someone else has used a hundred times before. That’s exactly where Jade and Josh started.

They’d originally planned to marry somewhere else entirely. Then Jade, who’s always been mad about animals, saw what Port Lympne could offer, and that was that.

They tore up the plan and booked a day at the safari park instead. If any part of you just felt a flicker of “wait, could I do that too,” keep reading.

As a Port Lympne wedding photographer working across Hythe, Ashford and the wider Kent coast, I know this place well enough by now to tell you the safari isn’t even the half of it. There’s a proper hotel tucked among the grounds, corridors lined with dark wood and framed wildlife art that make the whole place feel more like a private house than a hotel.

It’s about as far removed from the manor house weddings I usually photograph as it gets, and that’s exactly the point.

There’s a restaurant good enough that guests were still talking about dinner the next morning, and gardens that roll out further than you’d expect.

Jade and Josh spent the night before in Tiger Lodge, one of the private lodges scattered through the reserve, and here’s the part that still gets me. The lounge and the bedroom both have a full glass wall right up against the tiger enclosure.

You could be curled up on the sofa, or lying in bed the night before your own wedding, and there’s a tiger padding around on the other side of the glass. I’ve photographed weddings all over Kent and Sussex. I haven’t come across anything else like it.

And that wasn’t even the best part of their night before. Once it was properly dark, Jade and Josh took a golf buggy out entirely on their own, no one else with them, and drove the little roads that link the different animal areas.

Just the two of them, in the pitch black, visiting the gorillas among others. It’s the kind of thing that sounds made up until you’ve seen it happen.

If you’re the kind of bride who wants your wedding to include a moment nobody else’s does, this is it.

Getting Ready at Tiger Lodge

Jade got ready at Tiger Lodge with her maid of honour, Emma, close by.

I was there that morning to photograph her reading a letter Josh had written her. The two of them had swapped gifts and handwritten letters, a little secret between them before the day had even properly started.

These are the moments you might not think to plan, but they’re the ones you’ll remember most.

Josh and Jade themselves waited to see each other for the first time as she walked down the aisle, rather than doing a first look between the two of them.

If that’s the version of “first look” that feels right to you too, it’s yours to choose.

A First Look with Grandad

Before any of that, Jade shared her own first look, with her grandad, right there at Tiger Lodge.

Watching that land on both of their faces, the same surprised, delighted grin, back to back, is exactly the kind of moment a photographer hopes to catch.

If there’s someone in your own life you’d want a private moment like that with before the day gets going, it’s worth building into your timeline too.

With that done, it was time for Jade to head to the Moroccan Courtyard to get married.

The Ceremony in the Moroccan Courtyard

Just eight guests, close family only, gathered in the Moroccan Courtyard for the ceremony. It’s one of the most beautiful settings I’ve worked in.

Original marble flooring, an octagonal fountain, nothing about it feels like a typical English wedding, and it photographs beautifully from every angle in every kind of light.

Jade walked in with her grandfather, and it was a small, unhurried, properly emotional ceremony. Picture standing where she stood, family close enough to touch, nothing between you and the moment you’ve been waiting for.

As they turned back down the courtyard as newlyweds, their eight guests were on their feet.

They signed the register right there in the courtyard afterwards, Jade and Josh’s closest eight looking on.

Afterwards everyone spilled out onto the terrace for drinks and canapés, and it was hot, one of the warmest days of the year.

Before the next part of the day, we slipped back into the courtyard for some portraits.

A Surprise Rhino Feeding

Thanks to the planning we’d done together, I knew that after the ceremony everyone would be heading off for a private rhino feeding experience, but their family had no idea.

Watching eight guests realise what was about to happen, all at once, is not something I get to photograph very often.

You can see it in her face in that photo, pure delight, the kind of reaction you can’t fake or ask for. If you’re someone who loves the idea of your guests genuinely gasping, remember that.

Jade and Josh both got stuck in, hand-feeding one of the rhinos while the rest of the group gathered close.

Out on Safari

From there, the whole group climbed into an open-sided safari vehicle for a private drive around the reserve, taking in a side of Port Lympne most guests never get near.

It was a proper who’s who of the animal kingdom. Giraffes ambled past close enough to touch, a pair of Bactrian camels stood watching the jeep go by, and there were zebras out grazing the far fields, elands dotted across the grassland, and a small herd of deer close behind, with baboons on the grass and a gorilla up close through the enclosure fencing.

Once you see the photos, you’ll know exactly which animals made it into your day too.

Golden Hour on the Steps

Jade had told me early on that she wanted photos on the grand steps. By the time we got back from safari, the light had turned properly golden, so that’s where we went.

It meant leaving it later than we might have otherwise, but those steps are one of my favourite corners of the whole reserve, and the wait paid off.

If there’s a spot like that in your own venue, one you’ve already got your heart set on, tell me early. I’ll build the whole day around getting you there at the right time.

Here they are in their buggy!

A June Wedding at Port Lympne

The evening wound down with dinner for the whole group at the restaurant. Nobody had anywhere else to be, nothing else to organise, just good food and the day settling in around them as the lodges filled back up for the night. Jade and Josh built a day that was entirely their own, safari drive, rhino feeding, golf buggies and all, and as a Port Lympne wedding photographer I can tell you it’s a real wedding worth taking seriously if any of it sounds like you.

Suppliers

Venue: Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve
Hair & Makeup: Toni Todd
Florals: Blooming Roza
Videography: Mole Hill Media

Looking for a Port Lympne Wedding Photographer?

If you’re getting married at Port Lympne and are looking for a photographer who knows the venue well, I’d love to hear about your plans.

Continue to their second day together at: Gooseberry House, Spring Gardens ▸

Also photographed at: South Lodge, West Sussex ▸

For more real weddings across the Sussex countryside, take a look at Jade & Matt’s wedding at Highley Manor ▸