WEDDINGS
at Bilsington Priory
Bilsington Priory’s Weddings are the epitome of country elegance, as your guests enjoy the stunning seven acres of gardens, a 13th century Ceremony Hall and an elegant Edwardian Manor House. We’ve won the Kent Wedding Venue of the Year (Heritage) Award for 2019, thanks to our amazing team.
With a keen eye for detail, a high expectation for perfection and a love of a unique challenge, Libby and Zena have the combined experience to ensure your day is perfect. They specialise in bespoke weddings, which won’t break your bank manager’s heart, but cater to the individual tastes of the couples who walk through their door. In-house caterers Robert and Jonathan Emson have worked alongside their dedicated team of professionals since 2007, maintaining their high standards for your wedding, and are more than capable to supply whatever you wish in your wedding breakfast, and more.
You can expect complete exclusivity of our venue, as yours will be the only event hosted on the day. And if that means children, dogs or even horses running around, you’ll be in safe hands and well looked after.
The Reception is held in the marquee, which comfortably seats 120 guests, but we can offer the opportunity to extend the space for more guests if required. The Chapter Room is perfect for a night of dancing and laughter, with a licensed bar cheaper than the pubs a stone’s throw from us. Come rain or shine, you can enjoy the luxury and grandeur of our private country estate for your special occasion.
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Your Dream
CATERING
Our professional in-house catering team, led by Robert and Jonathan Emson, provide the most exceptional standard of food and drink service to your guests.
The service you can expect from Bilsington Priory is meticulous, because we expect the best of our staff so that our couples can enjoy their day and remain stress free. We will Maître d’ for you, ensuring the day is seamless and professionally run, on hand to answer any questions you might have before and during the big day.
Our in-house caterers can cater professionally for all dietsand food allergies are treated with the utmost consideration, taking no risks or chances. Whether you need our guidance to decide on what will be served, or have a very set idea, we’re happy to discuss your catering with you and encourage new ideas from clients.
We supply a large variety of carefully chosen dishes to suit all preferences and palates, from a gourmet six course meal, to pie and mash - the only limit is your imagination! We can also cater for all ethnic wedding menus.
All menus are prepared by our skilled and talented chefs using the finest locally sourced produce. All the meat originates from Kent, as do the fruit and vegetables when available, while the fish is from the regionally acclaimed Roc-a-Nore fisheries in Hastings.
All ingredients are locally sourced, and we action as much sustainable practice as possible, recycling all glass, cardboard and paper, as well as other waste generated on site.
THE BAR
A full complement of staff will serve your post-ceremony drinks, as your guests enjoy the views of the lake and the Old Priory. We will also chill all of your wine, Champagne and juices for the Pre-Wedding Breakfast and Wedding Breakfast service.
Although there is a fully licenced cash bar, we do not charge corkage for the service of drinks. If you’re into specialist Gin, then we have the Gin Bar for you. Whilst still providing a wide variety of beers and wines for you and your guests to enjoy. Our cash bar prices are lower than the pubs only a stone’s throw from us.
REVIEWS
Karen and Martin Ballard
May 2019
When we started looking at planning our wedding the best piece of advice we were given was that you need to get on with all your key suppliers because you are going to spend the whole day with them!
With that in mind we couldn’t help but be bowled over with the team at Bilsington Priory when we first met them. I had heard their advert on the radio, “bespoke weddings”, expensive I thought but when you looked into the detail of what was included I was pleasantly surprised. We loved the location, out in the stunning countryside where we would be the only wedding or indeed event going on that day, total focus on us and our guests. A dog friendly venue was also high on our priority list, this again was no problem for the Bilsington team. With gorgeous trees to provide shade the dogs were happy and content while we mingled with our guests in the gardens. Another item high on our list was wine. Having visited a dozen other venues we couldn’t find anywhere that either had the wine we liked or at a price we deemed acceptable. We were surprised to find that at Bilsington Priory we could bring our own and better still there was no corkage to pay, this saved us nearly £1000! Sticking with the drink theme we didn’t want bar prices to be too high either and we found that the prices at Bilsington were on par if not cheaper than the surrounding pubs – happy days! We wanted to create a relaxed garden party style wedding stepping away from the traditional wedding breakfast and evening buffet and we were able to do this with the bespoke nature of the venue. We didn’t want to be told what we would do and when but we did listen to advice from the team as they have vast experience and know what works and what doesn’t. All in all we had a magical day. Family and friends were talking about it for weeks after saying how relaxing it was. We honestly don’t know how we could have made it any better.