Weddings at Rayleigh Windmill

A guide to a typical wedding ceremony at Rayleigh Windmill in Essex. Obviously all weddings are different but I’ve written this as a guide for my Windmill couples having shot numerous weddings there AND got married there myself (scroll to the bottom to see Dave & I!)

Arrival

My couples often choose to get ready at home or a local hotel – sometimes they’d like me to capture the preparations – sometimes not. It is entirely up to the couple. For my own wedding, we got ready together, had photos with the cats in our garden and in the woods near our house, then headed off to the ceremony together. Everyone, and every wedding is different.
What time will I need to arrive? Well, you’ll have a meeting with the registrars beforehand. If you are arriving separately then plan for the first meeting to be 30 minutes before the ceremony, the second 15 minutes before (ish!) The registrars will find you when you’re needed – so don’t stress, just chill in the car or mingle with guests.
Something to note, if you are the second person arriving and you don’t want to see each other before the ceremony – stay in the car! Your other-half might be floating around with guests outside. A staff member from Rochford District Council will come and greet you. It’s useful, in this instance, to know what car you’re arriving in (even if it’s your mates Qashqai!)
The car park directly outside Rayleigh Windmill is pay & display – on certain days! It’s free after 1pm on a Saturday, and free on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
The post code is SS6 7ED and you can use the PayByPhone app.

Ceremony

Outside the entrance to the Windmill are some railings which you can arrange to be decorated. In the images above, the flower arch is by Life-Like Flowers, based in Rayleigh Lanes. The real flower bouquets and table centrepiece are by Blume in Rayleigh High Street (literally walking distance!)
As you are probably already aware, the Windmill can seat a maximum of 20 guests. You don’t need to count yourselves, the registrars and the photographer in that number as we’ll be standing during the ceremony.
Double check with the Windmill but from memory they have Bluetooth audio so nominate a person to be in charge of your music. We put our key songs on a couple of Spotify playlists – one for the aisle, 2 for the signing, and one as exit music.
What do we say? You *should* be asked by Essex County Council to fill out the Ceremony Planner. If you haven’t got this then click here. Don’t stress if it’s not completed before their deadline, I only found out about it when we gave notice 4 weeks before lol!
Rayleigh Windmill has a slightly different exit routine to some venues. Here the guests will exit first, line up for confetti in front of the blue door (guided by the photographer usually), then you will exit – to your chosen music (and hopefully some cheering!)

Post Ceremony at the Windmill

After the confetti I tend to leave you alone to greet your guests, this is the best time for me to capture those candid moments as I’ve noticed people tend to be more expressive at this point (the first hello as a married couple!) so go mingle!

We can then attack the group photos (if you wanted them) in the Windmill’s garden next door. This is a good place for these as it’s fairly sheltered and the mature trees around the edge cast some much needed shade in the Summer months! The cherry tree, benches and a few random sculptures make for a bit of background interest / different spaces to pose people if needed. Unfortunately the Windmill is South facing, so if you wanted groups with the Windmill behind you’d end up with harsh shadows across your faces. I tend to opt for a cleaner (greener) background to let the groups do the talking then get more creative with that light for couple photos.

Talking of couple photos – I tend to do these in front of the Windmill away from guests. I like to think of it as just 5-10 minutes of (relative) calm with just you two and me. I’ll set you up in a spot that’s good for lighting and composition (like the blue door!) and let you de-brief! Then move on to any other areas that I get distracted by, finishing up with a walk towards the Mill Hall to get the Windmill in the background.

IMPORTANT NOTE!
I wasn’t too sure where to put this on this page so it’s going here… Rayleigh Windmill doesn’t have toilets. So either tell your guests to cross their legs or point them towards the public loos at Mill Hall (next to the reception desk).

Reception

I’ve shot weddings at Rayleigh Windmill where the couple have chosen to have a garden party afterwards, if that’s not your thing then there are looooads of places you could go in and around Rayleigh. There’s quite a few restaurants and pubs to choose from including La Romantica, Barringtons, Prezzo, Bogaz, Gamboro D’oro, Charcoal & Earth – all of which I’ve eaten in and are very good! Our personal favourite is Marco’s Tapas Bar – that’s where we had our reception (we actually invited everyone there and live streamed the ceremony whilst our friends were getting sloshed at Marcos – it worked pretty well!) All of these places are open as normal restaurants, so you can go check them out on a date night anyway.
Obviously, these are just ideas – it’s your day, have it your way!