Ashton Memorial Wedding Photographer

Why we love photographing at Ashton Memorial

If you are looking for an Ashton Memorial wedding photographer, the thing to know is that this is a ceremony venue more than a whole-day venue. Lancaster City Council hires out the Memorial in two-hour slots, at 10, 12, 2 or 4, and the ground floor is the part that is licensed. You arrive, you marry under the dome, you have a glass of something and your confetti, and then most couples head down the hill into Lancaster for the rest of the day. We follow you on, whether that is Lancaster Brewery, a hotel or a village hall out in Wyresdale.

The building is worth the fuss. Lord Ashton had it built in 1909 in memory of his wife, John Belcher designed it, and it is Grade I listed, in Portland stone with a copper dome you can see from the M6. It stands on a plateau at the top of Williamson Park, and the ground falls away on every side but the east, so the steps and the terrace look out over Lancaster, the Lune and Morecambe Bay towards the Lake District. Inside, the hall is tall and pale and full of daylight, with a staircase up to the first-floor gallery, which you get sole use of during your hire.

A ceremony of up to 120 fits on the ground floor, counting the registrars and the staff. If you want to stay, the council also does evening hire from 5.30pm to 11.30pm: 80 for a sit-down meal or 120 without tables, with a self-contained caterer because there is no kitchen and no running water in the building. A few couples do the whole day here, with the speeches and the first dance under the dome, and that works well for a smaller wedding.

The honest bit: the park is open 24 hours a day and the Memorial is a public building until 5pm. The council cannot stop a walker wandering up the steps while you are having your drinks, and the public toilets next door stay open. In practice people are polite and keep their distance, and the two of us can usually frame them out. We plan the group photos on the terrace side where the view is, and keep the long shots for the moment the steps are clear.

Light and timing

The Memorial sits on an exposed hilltop, so it is bright and often windy. The hall inside is lit by tall windows and is pale enough to photograph without flash for most of the day, and the house lights are what you get in the evening, so for an evening hire we bring our own lights for the first dance. The steps face west, which means the terrace is in sun from midday and the sunset drops over Morecambe Bay straight in front of the building. A 4pm slot in autumn puts your portraits at golden hour; a 2pm slot in summer means harsh sun on the steps, and we move the groups to the shaded colonnade side. If it rains, the ground floor and the gallery are both big enough for all the family groups, and the Butterfly House is a few minutes away for something green and warm.

Drone

Dom holds the CAA licence and flies the drone. There is no flight restriction zone over Williamson Park. The nearest restricted airspace is EG R444 around Heysham power station, a circle of 2 nautical miles, whose edge is about 5 km to the north-west. The park is council land and open to the public all day, so we ask the park’s events team for permission before we fly and we keep clear of anyone who is not part of your wedding. The aerial shot of the dome with Lancaster and the bay behind it is the reason to add the drone here. Weather permitting, with a refund if we cannot fly. Add it for £149 with photography.