Venue · Blackpool, FY1
Blackpool Tower Ballroom Wedding Photographer
Blackpool Tower Ballroom wedding photography by two local photographers: Frank Matcham’s 1899 ballroom on the Promenade, the Tower Top 380 ft up, and the beach over the road.
Why we love photographing at Blackpool Tower Ballroom
If you have booked the Tower Ballroom and you are looking for a Blackpool Tower Ballroom wedding photographer, this page is the honest version of how we would work the place. We are Lee and Dom, based in Blackpool, so it is our home ground. The ballroom is Frank Matcham’s, built between 1897 and 1898 and opened in 1899 inside the Tower Buildings, which went up in 1894 and are Grade I listed. The sprung floor is 120 ft by 102 ft and made of 30,602 blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut. The Wurlitzer came in 1929 and was replaced in 1935 with the one Reginald Dixon designed. A fire in December 1956 took the floor and the restaurant underneath, and the restoration took two years. Above the stage it still says “Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear”.
That history matters for photography because the room has not been modernised into a function suite. It is gilt, red plush, painted ceiling panels and two tiers of balconies, lit by chandeliers and tungsten house lights. Visit Blackpool gives 750 cabaret-style for the room. The council approves ceremonies in the Ballroom, the Circus and Tower Top, and the Tower says Tower Top, 380 ft above the Promenade, has a wedding licence for up to 150. So there are three places inside one building where the legal bit can happen, and we would want to know which one early, because each needs different kit.
The ballroom is a working attraction in the daytime, open to visitors 10am to 4pm on the days we checked, with tea dances on the floor. Ask the events team how your hire sits around that. For most couples it means the ceremony or the first dance happens when the public has gone and the room is yours, which is the light we like best anyway: the house lights down, the chandeliers up, and the organ console lit at the front of the stage.
Outside the front doors you have the whole of Blackpool’s seafront. The Promenade runs north to south past the Tower, the Comedy Carpet is laid out in front, the beach is down the steps, and the sun sets over the Irish Sea straight ahead of you. In summer that is late, after the breakfast. In October, during the Illuminations, it is around the speeches. We plan the day round whichever it is.
Blackpool Tower Ballroom wedding photography: how the day runs
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Morning
There are no bedrooms at the Tower, so you will get ready at a hotel. The Imperial on North Promenade is a ten-minute walk or a short tram ride, and there are seafront hotels the length of the prom. Tell us where and we split up: Lee with one of you, Dom with the other, and we both arrive at the Tower before the guests.
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Ceremony
In the Ballroom the registrars usually set up on the floor in front of the stage, with the chairs in rows on the sprung floor and the balconies empty above. One of us stays at the front for faces and the rings. The other goes up to the first balcony for the wide shot down the aisle, which is the picture of this room. On Tower Top the ceremony is in a glass-walled space 380 ft up, and the light is daylight from every side, so the kit changes completely.
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Drinks and photographs
This is when we go outside. Down the front steps, across the tram tracks to the Comedy Carpet, then onto the sand if the tide is out. Allow 25 minutes and a coat for each of you, because the prom is windy. The family groups are easier inside, on the ballroom floor with the stage behind, where nobody squints.
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Breakfast and speeches
Round tables on the floor, the top table towards the stage. The balcony above the entrance gives a clean view of the whole room for the speeches without one of us standing in the aisle. The other stays on the floor for reactions at the tables.
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Evening
The first dance on the Tower Ballroom floor is the reason most couples book the room. If the Wurlitzer is playing for it, we want to know, because the organ rises from the stage and we want the moment it comes up. After that it is dancing, the balconies as a vantage point, and a last trip outside to the Promenade with the Tower lit above you.
Best photo spots at Blackpool Tower Ballroom
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The first balcony, looking down the floor
The wide shot of the ceremony or the first dance with the painted ceiling and the stage in one frame. We go up for it and come straight back down.
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The ballroom floor with the stage behind
Group photographs and the couple portrait indoors. Even light from the chandeliers once the house lights are set, and no wind.
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The Comedy Carpet and the Promenade
Straight outside. The Tower goes up behind you and the sea is on the other side. Best an hour either side of sunset, when the sky does the work.
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The beach below the Tower
Down the slipway at low tide. Wet sand reflects the Tower and the sky. Check the tide table when you book us.
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Tower Top at 380 ft
If you marry up there, or just take the lift for ten minutes, the view runs the length of the coast and inland across the Fylde. West-facing, so sunset is straight ahead.
Light and timing
The Ballroom is a dark room with warm light. Chandeliers, tungsten house lights and coloured stage lighting, with no daylight at all. We shoot it on fast lenses at high ISO to keep the atmosphere, and we carry off-camera flash for the groups and the dancing so faces are clean and the gilt still glows. We set the colour so the room looks as warm as it feels rather than orange. Tower Top is the opposite: glass on every side, daylight from everywhere, and a west-facing sunset. The Promenade is west-facing too, with hard light at midday and a long golden hour over the sea. It is windy on the front almost every day of the year, so we keep the outdoor portraits short and plan for hair and veils. Rain plan: the Tower has plenty under cover, including the entrance hall, the lift lobbies and the balconies, so a wet day loses the beach and nothing else.
Drone
The Tower stands about 0.6 km north of the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone, which is a 2.5 nautical mile circle from the airport at Squires Gate plus runway strips, up to 2,000 ft. The airport says flights between Central Pier and Starr Gate need its permission. The beach and the Promenade south of the Tower are inside the circle. The Comedy Carpet and the front of the Tower are just outside it. The launch spot decides whether we need permission, which takes 72 hours through the airport. We check Drone Assist on the morning, because the Air Show and the Illuminations bring temporary restrictions, and we keep 50 m from anyone not part of the wedding, which on Blackpool front in summer rules out a lot of the day. A short aerial of the Tower and the sea from the north side, with photography, is £149. More on our drone page.
Questions about photographing a wedding at Blackpool Tower Ballroom
How do you photograph a ceremony in the Tower Ballroom?
Two of us, one at the front for faces and the rings, one on the first balcony for the wide shot down the aisle. Fast lenses, no flash during the vows unless the registrar says it is fine, and we agree the plan with the registrar before you walk in.
Can we get photographs on the beach and the Promenade?
Yes, and we would push for it. Across the tram tracks to the Comedy Carpet, then down to the sand if the tide allows. Allow 25 minutes and bring a coat. We check the tide times before the day.
Is the Tower Ballroom too dark for good photographs?
It is dark, and that is the look. We shoot the room as it is on fast lenses and add flash for the groups and the dance floor so faces are sharp and clean. You get the gilt and the chandeliers without a flat, flash-lit look.
Which package do we need for a Tower Ballroom wedding?
Most couples here want preparations at the hotel through to the first dance, which is Full Day from £1,049. If you are marrying at the Tower in the afternoon and holding the reception elsewhere, Half Day from £599 covers the ceremony, groups and the Promenade.
Can you fly the drone at Blackpool Tower?
From the right spot, yes. The Tower is just outside the airport zone, the beach to the south is inside it. We check the exact launch point against the airport map and apply for permission if the spot needs it. A flight is never guaranteed on the day because of weather and temporary restrictions.
Nearby venues
Booking us for Blackpool Tower Ballroom
Do you really bring two photographers to every wedding?
Yes. It’s Lee and Dom, every time.
Do you charge for travel?
Travel within 10 miles of our base (FY6) is free. After that it’s 50p a mile, and we travel up to 60 miles.
How do we book?
Check your date, choose a package and pay a £100 deposit online. We hold a date for 7 days while you decide.
When do we get our photos?
A sneak peek within 48 hours, and the full gallery within six weeks.
Getting married at Blackpool Tower Ballroom?
We reply within 24 hours. If it’s quicker to talk, we’re on WhatsApp and the phone most days.