Wedding Photography at Delapre Abbey, Northampton

Delapré Abbey is a Grade II* listed house on London Road, Northampton, set in parkland on the edge of the town and run by the Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust, a registered charity. The site began as a Cluniac nunnery founded in 1145. Ceremonies can be held in the Library, the Salon, the Drawing Room or the Dining Room, or outdoors in the Walled Garden under the Abbey's outdoor wedding licence, with marquees on the South Lawn for the largest celebrations (weddings page).

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. We are glad to photograph at Delapré Abbey, and coverage starts from £750. The Abbey is about 48 miles from the studio in a straight line, so travel, and an overnight stay if the timings call for one, are set out in the written quote. Below is what the venue and West Northamptonshire Council publish, and what they do not.

What a Delapré Abbey wedding costs in 2026

The March 2026 weddings brochure publishes four venue packages (weddings brochure, PDF):

• Ceremony only, £2,500: four hours' hire, one ceremony room, one room for a welcome drink reception and one room for interviews. For 2 up to 120 guests.
• Bouverie Package, £4,500: the Library, Salon, Drawing Room, Gallery and the private Walled Garden, the Cottage on the night of the wedding and a room for interviews. For 2 up to 60 guests.
• Delapré Abbey Package, £6,000: the Library, Salon, Drawing Room, Gallery, Dining Room, Inner Courtyard, Medieval Kitchen and Walled Garden, the Cottage on the night of the wedding and a room for interviews. For 2 up to 120 guests.
• Venue hire with external catering, £10,000: the Delapré Abbey Package plus tables, chairs, linen and crockery. For 2 up to 120 guests.

Catering is separate. The brochure lists Package 1 at £55 per person (afternoon tea, Prosecco or orange juice on arrival and for the toast, and half a bottle of house wine each) and Package 2 at £95 per person (wedding breakfast with the same drinks). Both need a minimum of 40 guests and neither includes venue hire. The separate catering menus PDF prices its set wedding menu at £65 per person for 2025 and £70 for 2026, with one starter, main and dessert chosen for the whole party, children at 60% of the listed price or from the children's menu, and canapés from £8.95 for three (catering menus, PDF).

The brochure does not say whether the package prices include VAT, what day of the week or season they apply to, or whether the registrar's fee is extra. Ask the events team for those points in writing. The brochure does not publish a marquee price either, so a South Lawn wedding for more than 120 guests needs its own quote.

Ceremonies at Delapré: the state rooms, the Walled Garden or a marquee

Delapré Abbey is on West Northamptonshire Council's register of approved venues, with an approval period of 1 June 2017 to 31 May 2029. The register lists ten rooms with capacities, from the Dining Room and Conservatory (120 each) and the Drawing Room (100) down to the Game room (16), plus the Courtyard and Walled Garden as linked outside areas (council register). The weddings page names the Library, Salon, Drawing Room and Dining Room for ceremonies and says the Library is a popular choice, and the outdoor wedding licence covers the Walled Garden, where small ceremonies are held in the thatched larder (weddings page).

The brochure gives room capacities by layout. The Library takes up to 60 guests. The Drawing Room takes 80 in theatre or long-table layout, 60 on rounds and 120 standing. The Dining Room takes 120 in theatre or long-table layout, 80 on rounds and 150 standing. The Walled Garden can host up to 499 for a ceremony, with banqueting and theatre layouts for up to 120 (brochure).

A civil ceremony needs a registrar. West Northamptonshire Council asks couples to make a provisional booking with the venue, book the registrar through the council's online ceremony booking service, and only then confirm the venue. Notice of marriage must be given at least a month ahead, and the council recommends eight weeks. Readings and music in a civil ceremony must not contain religious references (council guidance).

Delapré does not publish whether a Hindu, Sikh or Muslim religious ceremony, a mandap or a baraat can be held on the estate, or whether its kitchen offers halal or Asian menus. The £10,000 package is the only published route to external catering. Ask the events team in writing about each of these before you book.

Getting ready in the Wedding Cottage

The Bouverie and Delapré Abbey packages both include the Cottage on the night of the wedding (brochure). The weddings page says the Wedding Cottage opened in 2022 alongside the main house and sleeps up to 6, so the wedding party can stay on site before the day (weddings page). The visitor pages describe it as a three-bedroom cottage with a king master room and two twin rooms (plan your visit), and the brochure adds its own kitchen, a living room and private access to the Walled Garden.

The Abbey's 2022 weddings blog describes the cottage as a bridal suite with a master bedroom, a purpose-built dressing room, a second bedroom, a downstairs kitchen and dining room and a private garden overlooking the Walled Garden (weddings blog, 2022). That makes it the obvious place for preparation photographs, with the Walled Garden a few steps away. A second preparation room for the other half of the couple is not published, so ask.

A suggested order for a Delapré 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.

A Cluniac nunnery, a family house and a restored heritage site

Delapré Abbey began as a Cluniac nunnery founded in 1145. Over nearly 900 years it has been a family home and a battlefield site, and its gardens were once the pride of the Tate and Bouverie families, whose name the Bouverie wedding package carries. In December 1290 the funeral cortège of Eleanor of Castile halted at Delapré overnight; the Eleanor Cross that Edward I raised by the London Road is one of only three still standing (900 years of history).

The house was threatened with destruction several times. It was part-restored with support from West Northants Council, volunteers and a £3.65 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant, and opened to the public for the first time in 2018. The brochure says more than 135 weddings have been held there since 2017, while the 2022 blog dates the first wedding to 2016 (brochure). The house is now run by a charity alongside The Orangery café, the Hibiscus restaurant and a 19th-century stable yard being developed as a wellbeing hub.

Parking at Delapré Abbey for wedding guests

Free car parking is available, with overflow capacity for large events and priority spaces for blue badge holders. Parking is not allowed anywhere on the driveway. The Abbey says there may be a parking charge for some large-scale events to cover marshals and protection of the grounds, and that coach parking can be pre-booked within the car park (plan your visit). Whether a wedding counts as a large-scale event, a space count and overnight parking rules are not published, so confirm them with the events team.

Delapré Abbey wedding photography, frequently asked questions

Other wedding venues we cover

• Whittlebury Park, Towcester
• Rushton Hall, Kettering
• Coombe Abbey, Coventry

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

Kaushik Bathia, established 2001, FBIPP and FMPA, five European Kodak Gold Awards, photographs every wedding himself and travels to any venue from the Northwood studio.