Wedding Photography at Coombe Abbey, Warwickshire

Coombe Abbey is a hotel in a former Cistercian abbey on Brinklow Road, Binley, on the edge of Coventry. Its grounds are Coombe Country Park, run by Coventry City Council, and the hotel has 121 bedrooms and wedding spaces from the 40-guest Harrington and Kellway rooms up to a Marquee on the East Terrace for 500. It is on Warwickshire's list of licensed ceremony venues, and it offers a self-catered Marquee with a list of Asian caterers, which matters for a large wedding.

Our studio is at 21 Joel St, Northwood Hills HA6 1NU, photographing weddings since 2001 and rated 4.8 out of 5 from 580+ Google reviews. Coombe Abbey lets couples use their own suppliers, and we are glad to photograph at Coombe Abbey. Coverage starts from £750; Coombe Abbey is a long drive from Northwood, so travel and any overnight stay are set out in the written quote. Below is what the venue and the council publish, and what they do not.

What a Coombe Abbey wedding costs: the published packages

Coombe Abbey publishes its packages per person. None of the package pages states a year, so check that the figures still apply to your date. Low season is January to April, October and November; high season is May to September and December.

• Anything is Possible (package page): low season £115 Monday to Thursday, £125 Friday and Sunday, £135 Saturday; high season £130, £140 and £150. On top: £19.50 per evening guest, £750 for the ceremony room, £1,300 for the Marquee (minimum 100 guests), and £21.50 per child aged 12 and under. Minimum 50 adults in low season and 70 in high season, or 100 to 500 adults in the Marquee. It includes a four-course menu, half a bottle of house wine per person, a toastmaster, an evening buffet, a dance floor and a Grand Feature Bedchamber for the couple.
• Under the Stars (package page): outdoor ceremonies from the end of March to the end of October, £120 per person in low season and £140 in high season, minimum 60 adults, children £30. The latest ceremony start is 6pm.
• Planned to Perfection (package page): £399 per person, minimum 60 adults, children £45, with a six-course set menu, canapés, champagne for speeches and an optional night-before private dinner at £55 per person.
• Self-catered Marquee (self-catered weddings): exclusive hire from 7am to midnight. Low season £10,500 Monday to Thursday and £12,500 Friday to Sunday; high season £14,000 and £16,000. This excludes staff, décor, catering, crockery, cutlery, glassware and drinks, but includes unlimited corkage, tables and Chiavari chairs, the kitchen, bar, stage, dance floor, two hotel staff and an F&B supervisor.

An undated post on the hotel's blog advertises weddings from £4,500 for 50 guests and an Anything is Possible package from £80 per person (blog post). Those figures are lower than the current package pages, so treat the package pages as the reference and ask the weddings team for a written quote.

Capacity varies by room. Room pages give: The Marquee up to 500; The Cloisters 120 for a ceremony and wedding breakfast; The Courthouse 120 for a ceremony, 120 for dinner in the High Court and 170 in the Centre Court for the evening; The Abbeygate 120 for a ceremony, 100 for the breakfast and 140 for the evening; The Stuart 60 for a ceremony and 40 for the breakfast; The Walnut 40 and 30; The Harrington 40 and 30; The Kellway 40 for a ceremony.

Ceremonies at Coombe Abbey, from the Walnut Room to the Marquee

Coombe Abbey appears on Warwickshire County Council's list of licensed ceremony venues (licensed venues C to D), and the hotel says it is licensed for civil ceremonies of 20 to 500 guests (civil ceremonies page). The ceremony spaces it lists are The Cloisters, The Stuart, The Walnut, Outside Ceremony, The Abbeygate and The Marquee. Separate room pages give ceremony capacities for The Courthouse (120), The Harrington (40) and The Kellway (40). Which rooms are named on the licence itself is not published, so confirm your room with the venue and the registrar. The hotel is in Rugby borough, Warwickshire, so the ceremony is arranged with the Warwickshire registration service.

The Cloisters ceremony can be set in front of the fireplace or facing the large door (Cloisters page). Outdoor ceremonies on the Under the Stars package run from the end of March to the end of October with a latest start of 6pm, and the self-catered Marquee hire includes use of the West Terrace for an outdoor ceremony on request (self-catered weddings). The ceremony room fee on the Anything is Possible package is £750; registrar fees are not published by the hotel.

For Asian weddings, the hotel publishes a self-catered Marquee that "can host up to 500 guests for Asian weddings", with its own kitchen and a skip for your caterer, and lists recommended caterers: Mahirs, Sanjays, Sukhdevs, Saffron, Greenleaf, Five Rivers, Guardian Occasions and Feast Indian. It also has an exclusive partnership with Sanjay Foods for "Asian and multicultural catering" (Sanjay Foods page). External catering is not permitted in The Walnut, The Abbeygate, The Harrington or The Kellway. The hotel does not publish whether a mandap, a havan, a nikah or an anand karaj can be held, or whether a baraat with dhol is allowed on the drive, so ask the weddings team in writing.

Getting ready: the Lady Craven, Dove Cottage and the Lindley Suite

Coombe Abbey has no dedicated bridal suite. Its FAQ says the Lady Craven is the most popular choice, and Dove Cottage and the Lindley Suite are popular for the night before (FAQ). The packages include a Grand Feature Bedchamber for the couple on the wedding night, and 10 Crown and 10 Feature Bedchambers can be held for guests at a special rate, with unbooked rooms released four weeks before the wedding.

Check-in is after 3pm and check-out before 10.30am, with early check-in subject to availability and a supplement. For a morning of preparation at the hotel, book the room for the night before, as the Dove Cottage and Lindley Suite suggestion implies. Where a second party gets ready is not published, so ask which rooms are free. If you prepare at home, tell us the address so the morning can be planned into the quote.

A suggested outline for a Coombe Abbey wedding day

An outline for planning, not a schedule. Times are shown only where the venue publishes them; everything else is a stage to time with you and confirm with the venue.

From the Abbey of Cumbe to a hotel: Coombe Abbey's history

The hotel's own history page traces the land to the Domesday Survey of 1086, when it was the manor of Smitham. The Abbey of Cumbe was founded by Cistercian monks, with the abbey's history dating from 1150, and it was dissolved in 1539 (history of Coombe Abbey). Sir John Harrington bought it in 1581, and Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, was raised there from 1603 for five years; the page says she featured in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, when plotters planned to kidnap her and put her on the throne.

The Craven family acquired the abbey in 1622 and held it for over 300 years, adding the West Wing in 1677 and commissioning Capability Brown to rework the gardens. After Lord Craven's death in 1921 the estate was sold in 1923, Coventry City Council took it over in 1964, the park opened to the public in 1966, and the hotel opened in 1995.

Parking at Coombe Abbey: charges and drop-off

Parking is charged: £6 for up to 8 hours and £12 for up to 24 hours, paid at the machine or online, with 30 minutes free for drop-offs and 48 hours after leaving to pay (parking page). The hotel takes car registrations at check-in, and parking is complimentary for Grand Feature bookings from check-in to 5pm on the day of departure. Unpaid charges lead to a parking charge notice of £100, reduced to £60 within 14 days. The number of spaces and coach arrangements are not published, so tell guests about the charge on the invitation and ask the venue about coaches.

Coombe Abbey wedding photography, frequently asked questions

Other wedding venues we cover

• Warwick Castle, Warwick
• Whittlebury Park, Towcester
• Rushton Hall, Kettering
• Delapré Abbey, Northampton

Related pages

• Wedding Venues in London: What Each One Publishes
• Best Asian Wedding Venues Near London
• Wedding photographer in Coventry
• Asian wedding photographer in Coventry
• Wedding photography
• Asian wedding photographer in London

Enquiries for this venue are handled by Kaushik Bathia, FBIPP and FMPA, who has photographed more than a thousand weddings since 2001 and holds five European Kodak Gold Awards.